rvanderwende

The quote “A time to be born, a time to die A time to plant, a time to reap…” Written in the book of Ecclesiastes and put to a melody by Pete Seeger is highly evident in Dante’ The Inferno. The quote is just staying that there is a time for everything. It relates to the story in that the souls in hell were born, sewed the seeds of sin, died and are reaping what they sewed. This process is found throughout cantos XXX-XXXIV.

“And there I saw another husk of sin, show, had in his legs been trimmed away at the groin, who have looked for all the world like a mandolin.( Canto XXX Lines, 49-51). This is the “I” character observing the sinner Master Adam. In his life, he was a counterfeiter. This sin sewn in his life is being reaped in his death. The rare many more examples in these cantos.

“His very babbling testifies the wrong he did on earth: he is Nimrod, through whose evil mankind no longer speaks a common tongue. ( Cantos XXXI Lines, 76-78.)” This is Virgil explaining to the “I” character what they are looking at. Nimrod was the builder of the Tower of Babble. Because of his actions, mankind has different languages. He sewed the seed of sin and now mankind is still reaping it. There is much reaping going on in these pages.

“I heard a voice cry: ‘watch which way you turn: take care you do not trample on the heads of the foreworn and miserable brethren.’ (Canto XXXII Lines, 19-21).” This is the “I” character staying what just heard. The people who he may tread on are those who had sewn the seed of treachery against those who held special ties with them. In life, the sinners sewed the seed of treachery and in death they are reaping the consequences. Throughout the entire book, sinners are reaping from the seeds of their sins.