rvanderwende

The quote “He listens well who takes notes. (The Divine Comedy)” is highly evident in cantos 11-15 in Dante’s The Inferno. The quote means that a good listener is one hears not words but meanings and stores the information away. It is evident in these cantos when Virgil is describing parts of hell and also when he is observing the “I” character. It is also evident when the “I” character makes observations. Listening is understanding and both are shown in the chapters.

“ ‘Master’, I said ‘the clarity of your mind impresses all you touch. I see quite clearly the orders of the dark pit of the blind.’ (Canto XI, Lines 67-69) This is the “I” character talking to Virgil, his guide. Virgil has just explained about the divisions of lower hell. If the “I” character had not listened to Virgil’s words, he would not have understood them. Not only words are a form of listening.

“I think perhaps he thought that I was thinking those cries rose from among the twisted roots through which the spirits of the damned were slinking to hide from us. (Cantos XIII, Lines 25-28)” This is the “I” character speaking about what he believes Virgil thinks about how he is feeling. Virgil is caught in the act of listening and so is the “I” character. Both have taken note on each other and both are reacting therefore both are listening and taking notes directly relating to the main quote. The main quote also applies to relating outer knowledge to a situation.

“ ‘Poet,’ I said ‘master of every dread we have encountered, other than those fiends who sallied from the last gate of the dead. (Canto XIV Lines, 40-42)” This is the “I” character applying his knowledge of what are fiends to tell what is not. He has listened in the past and is drawing on the notes he has taken to know what he is looking at. It is clear that listening and note taking is not always listening to words and using pen and paper but observing and taking mental notes. This is how the quote “He listens well who takes notes. (The Divine Comedy)” is highly evident in cantos 11-15 in Dante’s The Inferno.