�O human race born to fly upward, wherefore at a little wind dost thou fall.�

The Divine Comedy

This quote directly connects to Cantos six through ten in The Inferno. It means that humans are supposed to go to heaven, but without wind, which possibly could be religion or faith, they would certainly go down to hell. In Cantos six Virgil and Dante travel into the six �circle� as Dante refers to it. They come upon Gluttons which are men who took the things God gave them and littered the great world they received with garbage. They received these gifts but did not use �wind� or perhaps religion to use these things and travel to paradise. �We made our way across the sodden mess of souls the rain beat down, and when our steps fell on a body, they sank through emptiness.� (66) As they passed through the Gluttons they would step on their souls and there would be nothing to step on. The gluttons were empty, and they had nothing to believe in without the �wind� that God once showed them and they disregarded. One may speculate that the gluttons were sprawled over the ground, as garbage that God didn�t want because they discarded the things God gave them on the ground.

Cantos seven explains the fourth �Circle� of Upper Hell. These people are the hoarders and the wasters. They had a lifestyle that revolved directly around money. There was no God in their day to day life. They disregarded God completely with their obsessions for objects that now don�t mean a thing. Virgil explains these sinners, �In the first life beneath the sun they were so skewed and squinteyed in their minds their misering or extravagance mocked all reason.�(73) This connects to the quote from The Divine Comedy because they had no wind under their wings. They focused on money, and materialistic things that they were not able to understand the reasoning of God and what God has given them. They were not able to rise to heaven with just the wind that God gave them. They slowly lost sight of what they were bound to do, go to heaven, until eventually they didn�t have a chance.

In Cantos eight, Virgil and Dante try to enter the metropolis of Hell but they are turned away by the lost souls that guard it. �Take heart. Nothing can take our passage from us when such a power has given warrant for it.� (83) This is the antithesis to the other two examples that I have given. This is Virgil telling Dante that God has told him his path is to reach heaven, even if it means going through hell first, and with the strength of the wind that God has given him, nothing can stop him. Dante, being a paradise bound man, does not live the life of a sinner and his faithfulness to his religion is enough wind to push him towards heaven. At this point and time it doesnt seem like there is any doubt that  Dante will reach paradise. He has not been thworted by any one creature or anything else that Virgil could not handle.

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Posted by: dreid    in: My entries

Modified on January 4, 2006 at 6:53 PM

 ï¿½In the middle of the journey of our life I came to myself within a dark wood where the straight way was lost.�  The Divine Comedy

The first five Cantos of The Inferno are directly connected to this quote because it is the turning point in the �I� character�s journey and the beginning of our story. The first stanza in the story is almost identical to the quote itself. It says �Midway in our life�s journey, I went astray from the straight road and woke to find myself along in a dark wood.� (28) �I� or maybe directly Dante finds himself in a turning point in his life. It is a banal point where every person will one day, if they have not already, will reach. This could be his death, where his birth was the beginning, death is the middle, and the after life is denouement. He has woken in the wood, after perhaps death, of his life, and now he is on his journey to paradise, but as we find in the first five Cantos, he must travel through hell in order to reach heaven.

Throughout the rest of the first Cantos and into the next five, we find that �I� or Dante wanders to find site of his way. As he continues his travels three beasts stop him from continuing on his way to paradise. He is blocked on his path, and �the straight way� is still lost. He meets Virgil who shows him the path that he must follow to once again find the �straight way�. �you follow me and I will be your guide and lead you forth through an eternal place.� (31) Virgil will show him through hell in order to help him get around this imminent quandry of which "I" has run into. He must go around in order to reach the place he wishes to reach.

Soon after Virgil and �I� pass through the gates of hell and through into the first circle. They rest and awake to a loud crash of thunder. �I leaped up with a start. And having risen; rested and renewed, I studied out the landmarks of the gloom to find my best bearing there as best I could.� (50) This is directly connected to the quote because �I� is in a strange place and this place in nebulous to him. He searches around trying to understand his surroundings, just as in the quote from The Devine Comedy where �I� is searching for the �straight way� once again. He looks for landmarks in order to remember where he has awaken incase he finds himself there again one day.

The Life of Dante Alighieri

I. Younge:
   A. Born-1265
   B. Lesser noblility family
   C. His childhood was filled with stories about struggles of the families people
   D. Impacted his writtings (Struggle stories) "Comedy" "Inferno" "Pergatory"
   E. MOther died when he was young
   F. Father remarried
   G. Dante was orphaned, longed parents, shown in "Comedy"
II. Middle
   A. ABeatrice Prtiniari
      1. Dantes greates influence, Sonnets of love, "Comedy" iludes to her.
   B.1289 was the first record of Dantes political activities
      1. Enrolled in the Guild
      2. Spoke in the  "Counsil of Hundreds"
      3. filled minor ambassadorship
   C. Political carreer raised.
   D.Studied in Paris at Oxford
III.
   A. Last years he was more excepted in politics
   B. Became ill and died after a diplomatic mission to Venice

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Posted by: dreid    in: My entries

Modified on December 22, 2005 at 10:37 PM

    This question is based upon the fact that our country today is a melting pot of religions and cultures, but we have a very monotheistic past and whether we like to except it or not we based the American lifestryles around our religion as mainly Catholic and Jewish people. We see now changes and the exceptance of other religions in the government but religion still becomes a factor today. It should not be a matter of religion in government, government should be seperate and for everyone from every religion.
    It is so obviouse that we have strayed from this idea and government has been easily affected by the main religions of the people. Its forged into the words of even the Pledge of Allegiance that we all said all throughout elementary school, whatever religion we were. "One nation under god...." These things are now being questioned and some who follow different religions have challenged governmental issues like this.
    As I read some of the responses from my other classmates, they seemed to spark some very important issues. One was of the question of abortion. In our past election between John Carey and President George W. Bush I watched a debate between the two. The question of abortion came up based upon their religious stand points they had their own opinions. Mr. Bush was against abortion becasue he is Christian, and there isn't anything wrong with that because thats what he believes in, but it should not be a law that someone can't have an abortion, just because the religion says its wrong to. Many Americans are  Christian and thats fine, but many of them aren't. I myself have thought about abortion and where I stand on the topic. I feel that it may seem wrong to take a life away and it would be incredibly tough, this coming from a confermed 16 year old, but I may never know how it would feel to have to go through something like that unless I myself were a part of one and I can't say what I would do. But one can't say that just because their religion is against something, that it  should be a law. Their rules may not aply to everyone.
    It will be tough to completely rid our government religious beliefs because of who influenced it in the first place, but seperating church from state should be manditory in order to apply the American lifestyle to everyone.

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Posted by: dreid    in: My entries

Modified on December 6, 2005 at 8:47 PM