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