DIVINE COMEDY SERIES
Dante’s Inferno: Canto VIII
We know they say that some things are better left unsaid, but here we can’t avoid thinking ‘Cry me a river’!
Introductory note
Most University courses, high school and even open courses now skip this chapter and the next ones, jumping to more “academic” parts straight to 26 and 33.
This confuses many (including myself) and makes reading the Divine Comedy feel more like a chore than something to learn from. I strongly challenge this method, because Dante is intriguing, mentally challenging, knowledgeable and also fun!
That said, let’s start with something different from the classic black-and-white pictures shown until now. We have a beautiful oil painting from Eugène Delacroix (The Barque of Dante, 1822).
This artist captured so vividly the place we are approaching now, the famous river Styx (yes the river looks as busy as the place where this painting is, the Louvre Museum).
Trip to the 6th Circle of Damned
Continuing around the Fifth Circle of Hell, Virgil and Dante come to a tall tower standing on the river bank of the Styx, its pinnacle bursting with flames (another one with an identical…
