The Inferno

Well, in the short life of this blog, poetry and art have not drawn a significant number of comments--about zero. Theology seems to hit or miss and movies generally draw a reliable response. Of course everyone wants to hear about the Chicago Cubs (who have won 6 out of their last 7). That being said, I am well aware that many of you read without ever commenting--like my family--so judging what to write about by counting comments is perhaps as reliable as a good voter exit poll.

Anyways, I thought I would try poetry again--not mine of course. Dante. I want to share this fraction of a poem because it has some personal value. My life experience has prompted my mind to often reflect upon the opening lines to The Inferno. In fact, I have started reading the entire poem many different times only to get as far as these few lines...from a translation by Robert Pinsky:


Midway on our life's journey, I found myself
In dark woods, the right road lost. To tell
About those woods is hard--so tangled and rough

And savage that thinking of it now, I feel
The old fear stirring: death is hardly more bitter.
And yet, to treat the good I found there as well

I'll tell what I saw, though how I came to enter
I cannot well say, being so full of sleep
Whatever moment it was I began to blunder

Off the true path.


I usually do not like to be the first to comment on art--I don't like to dominate interpretive views. But since this is poetry and I might be the only one commenting, I will share some of why I found it to be meaningful to me.

This part of The Inferno became potent for me when I was battling an intense depression a few years ago. The depression was largely my fault--I burned myself out with my life style. However, I thought that I was doing good...doing 'God's will' even. Needless to say, depression was like a dark wood. I had no idea how I got there at the time and as I started getting better years later I was fearful that I would somehow find my way back there.

Like Dante's traveler I could not say much about how I happened into the dark wood, but I could also find some good there. I am continuing to become a new person--not necessarily better--definitely different. It has been 5 years since Dante and my depression happened upon me, but there have been many other occasions to reflect upon The Inferno's first lines as well.

Maybe now I can get to the rest of the poem...