Just Spondee all over the place, it helps.

I think I have been working too hard on Dante’s Inferno.

I had a dream about it last night.

I’m not kidding! It was horrible! I had died, and I was taken to this place where they taught us about Heaven and how glorious and fun it would be, but we had to go through hell to get there.

Now, I can’t remember details, but it was maybe the second worst nightmares I have had. (The reoccurring ones about my friend killing himself because of me still wins for the scariest.) It definitely gave me some insight on how Dante must have felt, being alive and going through hell. He also stopped to hear many people’s stories, and I can’t even imagine those feelings on top of everything else. I don’e blame him for fainting/passing out every chapter.

Yeah. I just thought I would share that with you all.

(“Aerolator” is the brand of our filter/fan things at work… it made me giggle.)

After 5 days straight of work (a total of 38 hours) I finally have time to blog! I feel like there wasn’t even a weekend… like that I somehow missed it. Ugh. There is a lot going on at work. Way too much drama for a fast food store. (Oh, I’m sorry, “Wayyyy better than fast food”). I’m still working hard though. I recently bought myself a laptop, but I haven’t been able to get internet on it yet… once I get that working, I think I will have more time to get things done.

But anyway. Back to hell!
The first circle: Limbo. Here are “virtuous pagans” whose only crime was that they were not baptized. The main thing that struck me about this circle is that their only pain is that they have no hope. Like, whoa. I don’t know about you, but in my life, there have been times when hope was the only thing that got me through. I can’t even imagine not having hope. There is contention in my mind over which is worse: no hope or being chased by bees (etc.).
The second circle: This is where the monster Minos is where souls are judged and sent to the level of hell that they belong in. The number of coils he wraps his tail around himself symbolizes the level of hell the soul must go to. The second circle is for carnal sins and lust; those who betrayed reason to their appetites. These people are forever trapped in a whirlwind. One of my old friends once said falling into the trap of lust is like Pringles. Once you start, you just can’t stop. With that in mind, being trapped in a whirlwind seems perfectly just. Dante stopped to hear some of the poor soul’s stories, and ‘I felt my senses reel and faint away with anguish. I was swept by such a swoon as death is, and I fell, as a corpse might fall, to the deal floor of Hell.”

(Dante faints/passes out/ falls asleep just about every chapter.)

So I have been reading a whole lot lately, even when I’m at work. (yeah… Wendy’s gets pretty slow sometimes.) Right now Dante is travelling through the second circle of hell. The first thing that really caught me was when they first entered, BEFORE the first ring of hell, they saw angels who had not taken a side in the revolt of angels and people who were neither good nor evil but only for themselves. They are neither in hell, nor out of it.

“These wretches never born and never dead ran naked in a swarm of wasps and hornets that goaded them the more the more they fled, and made their faces stream with bloody gouts of pus and tears that dribbled to their feet to be swallowed there by loathesome worms and maggots.”

Wow. To be honest, that scares the hell out of me (no pun intended). Seems like a harsh punishment for being neutral.  I mean, usually people dont think being neutral and staying out of things is a problem, if anything, many times it is seen as a solution. That just really struck me and is a great intro to the rest of hell. If people that were neutral and unknown that dont even get INTO hell get punished like that, I can’t even imagine how the rest of hell is going to be like.

Now I am reading into the 3rd circle of hell, and its getting pretty intense. I am going to write new blogs combining a few circles at a time. [coming soon!]

The moral of the story: take a stand, otherwise you will not only be unknown, but chased around by bees being stung and bleeding pus dripping down to your feet where maggots consume it. But hey, at least you didn’t make it into hell, right?

Hey everyone!

(This is Rebecca Truckey, by the way… I probably should have included that in my username.)

We just got the assignment for our final, and I am determined to not procrastinate this semester. That is one of my main problems, but its not going to happen! I am a pretty busy person; I work anywhere from 21 to 30 hours a week and trying to finish my homework when I have time can get quite stressful. But I’m not going to let that get in my way. That is definitely one of my goals this year. Yay for Becca!

So at first I was really unsure as to what book I was going to choose. After much pondering, I decided this would be an excellent time to learn about Dante’s Inferno. My deceased grandfather had started some illustrations for the book a few years before he passed, and my older sister, who is also an artist, has also done some pieces based on the book. Their art intrigued me, and I wanted to learn more about the book, but was told I probably would not understand it. This was understandable, considering I was many years younger. However, now, after learning how to understand Milton and Homer better, I feel better prepared to take on Dante’s Inferno.

Also, I know there are many allusions out there about Dante’s Inferno, and… well, I like feeling like a geek and understanding those subtle allusions. I actually caught a Shakespeare allusion on NCIS the other day, and while watching it with my entire family, I was the only one that giggled. Haha.

So I’m actually looking forward to this assignment, though I know I will get stressed out about it at one point or another, but there’s no escaping that. I’ll work through it.