Q3B4: paradiso

For my final journal for this quarter, I cost to discuss an excerpt from the last canto of the last cantica of Divine Comedy, Paradiso. This is the end of Dante's journey, when he witnesses heaven and God in their full glory.

This excerpt is important because it round off Dante's journey through hell and purgatory to reach the end of everything that is God himself. The exultant way he describes the experience of the beam of high light shows how glorious he expects heaven to be. This contributes to his purpose for writing this piece, to narrate a journey to God and encourage a moral life on order to take this journey, by exalting the end of such a pious life.

The main device used in this passage is simile. He compares his fading, yet vivid in some parts, memory of the light of heaven and God to the memory of a dream after waking. Although the details fade as time passes and the vision of his memory is almost entirely gone, the passion he felt because of the brilliant light, coming through in "droplets of ... sweetness." He also compares the light of God to the sun and the passage of time. The sun shines brilliantly and gives life, but also melts away the beautiful snow just like the passage of time causes his memory of this beautiful moment to fade. It is similarly compared to the wind, blowing away the leaves of his memory.

This except has a different feel from the first cantica, Inferno. Dante is sad that he is starting to lose his memory of the events in Paradiso, but he wants to be able to forget the horrors he witnessed in Inferno. However, touring both hell and heaven is beneficial, so the memories of each are just important as the other. Dante wanted his readers to know the glory of God and how they must act to find it and not have to experience the infernal suffering of hell.

Q3B3 INFERNOOO

One of the poems Dante is most famous for is his epic, three part poem, Divine Comedy. The part I read and annotated for my essay was the first several cantos of Inferno, the first cantica. In the part I read after reading it for the paper, Dante, led by Virgil, has begun traveling into the depths of Hell.

One device that Dante really likes to use is allusion. Throughout the inferno, Dante meets many people, historical and fiction, suffering in the inferno for the respective sins. He meets the ancient poets Homer, Horace, Ovid, and Lucian in limbo, because they died before they could be baptized into the Christian faith (as it did not exist at the time they were alive). There is supposedly a hidden allusion to Dante's benefactor Cangrande della Scala, whose name could mean "great dog," hidden in the great hound that is destined one day to chase back to hell the she-wolf that confronts Dante in the forest. There are also allusions to characters from Virgil's Aeneid, mythological figures like Charon, Minos, and Cerberus; and biblical and religious figures like St. Lucia and the Virgin Mother. The purpose of these allusions might be to make the poem more contemporary to people reading around the time of its writing because of its contemporary allusions, as well as to people of any age because of its ageless biblical and mythological allusions.

Something that interested me was the title, Divine Comedy. Usually when I think of a piece of literature as comedy, I think it would be humorous is some way. I knew what this work was about, so I was confused why Dante would call it Comedy. I looked it up and it turns out that comedy back then meant a less formal tale with a happy ending written in the vulgar, as opposed to the high "tragedy," written about more formal topics in Latin.

Q3B2: Sestina Sestina Sestina Sestina Sestina Sestina

One of Dante's poems that is not thousands of lines long is "Sestina of the Lady Pietra degli Scrovigni." It is a sestina, which is a poetic form I had not read before this. A sestina is a poem consisting of sestets, with the last words of each line repeating in each stanza, with the order differing by a pattern. For example, the first stanza has the last words of shade, hills, grass, green, stone, and lady; the second stanza has lady, shade, stone, hills, green, and grass. It seems like a really interesting structure, but it would seem like it would be difficult to follow the pattern without making the poem sound too repetitive or forced. However, Dante is able to follow the structure while keeping a natural rhythm and diction, along with giving each sestet a different meaning so they do not all have similar topics with only the order of sentences mixed up. He also uses some words, like stone, shade, and hills, in different ways each time. Sometimes they have a literal, physical meaning, but they can sometimes also use a more figurative use of the word. In fact, the first time I was reading it, it took me a few stanzas to notice that the ending words were repeating.

When looking up what sestinas were, I read that they are commonly used to reflect a meaning of the poem, since their complexity and awkwardness make it a less commonly used form. The difficulty and complexity of the poem form reflects the difficulty and complexity of the narrator's situation in the sestina. He is in love with a woman, but he knows that it can never be because the femme fatale does not feel the same. Unrequited love and love that must be avoided for safety can prove to be very complicated and difficult.

DANTE

Dante is most famous for his work, the Divine Comedy, a three-part work describing his journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. He also wrote a number of other pieces of poetry, describing his life and experiences.

I'm really enjoying the Inferno so far, because his descriptions of the scenery and people, are quite vivid. Although, I feel like it would be even better in the original Italian, as the translator probably doesn't stay one hundred percent true to the original. One thing I noticed while reading is that his ego seems a bit large. Although it's probably allegorical or something, he writes about how his love Beatrice, some saint, probably the Virgin Mary, and the great poet Virgil are all worried for his well-being and send Virgil to personally guide him. Also, when Virgil shows Dante the circle in hell where he resides, Limbo, he introduces him to Virgil's group of great poet friends, including Homer, Horace, Ovid, and Lucan. This group of poets honor Dante as one of their own (except it's actually Dante writing himself in).

Another thing that is interesting to consider when reading Dante is that he was married to a woman named Gemma after being promised in marriage to her when he was twelve. He makes no mention of her in any of his poems, but mentions Beatrice—the woman he met once, maybe twice, and fell instantly in love with—countless times, exalting her beauty. Even though it was an arranged marriage and Gemma probably didn't love Dante much either, she probably didn't feel too good with her husband writing thousands and thousands of lines of poetry about some other woman, with no mention of his wife.

All in all, though, I am enjoying his writings. The Divine Comedy is kind of like fantasy with its descriptions of otherworldly landscapes and creatures, and it gives a look into the religious beliefs of that time period regarding eternal punishment. All that I've read of his other poetry is the sonnet, which is similar to all of the other thousands of sonnets about love, but this one coupled with Dante's background of impossible love make for an interesting read.

This Is Water

 Watching the “This is Water” speech by David Foster Wallace brought to light some very interesting questions and philosophies about life. After graduation, and after four or so years of college, I will be entering the adult world of new responsibility. The speech introduces the harsh reality of the rat race, usually obscured by the optimistic view of freedom and new possibility. But it also teaches that we have the choice to make things not seem so depressingly tedious and frustrating. With education, we are given real freedom to choose to be aware of our situation, and avoid the tedium of the daily grind. The speech also brings up something I have been trying to think about each day, the fact that everyone who is “in our way” has their own place to be, their own schedule, their own cross to bear. We try to dehumanize people and convince ourselves they are merely our supporting cast, impeding the progression of our all-important plot. It really is important to stop doing that as frequently as possible, in order to not assume that everyone is in our way and inconveniencing us just to spite us, and see them as human beings with feelings and purposes of their own. The speech has reminded me of the importance of this task, and emphasized the importance it plays in being aware.

The idea of leading a boring, repetitive life working at a desk job everyday is not pleasing to me in the least. My ideal job, although I am not sure how likely it will be that I have it, would be one that does not require a strict schedule or dress code, and where work varies and is not the same task day after day. Even if I land this ideal job, I will still have to deal with other responsibilities, like shopping and scheduling appointments. I will try to apply the philosophy suggested by the video and choose not to assume the worst of everyone and every situation, instead opting for a more realistic view in order to avoid falling into the easily accepted, negative view of life's routine nature.

Q2 Blog 4: The Doom That Came to Sarnath

Nothing like staying up late reading Lovecraft! Next up in the Dream Cycle is "The Doom That Came to Sarnath."

In H. P. Lovecraft's "The Doom That Came to Sarnath," the history of the city of Sarnath is told.

One thing that took me by surprise when reading this was when Lovecraft begins to describe the gardens made by the old king of Sarnath, Zokkar. He uses beautiful imagery that gives a sense of peaceful tranquility, such as in the lines: "There ran little streams over bright pebbles, dividing meads of green and gardens of many hues, and spanned by a multitude of bridges.... Over the streams and lakelets rode white swans, whilst the music of rare birds chimed in with the melody of the waters." This beautiful imagery contrasts with the usual nightmarish vistas Lovecraft enjoys explaining with great detail. After the above quote, the story continues right away with the merry, jubilant festival in Sarnath celebrating the anniversary of the destruction of the city of Ib and the genocide of its inhabitants. This contrast could serve to show that there is no pure evil or pure good, and that although the city of Sarnath committed some cruel acts, they could still possess gardens and feasts of great beauty.

A device the author seems to employ throughout the story is understatement. There are many instances where Lovecraft briefly mentions something, which upon closer inspection, has some deeper meaning of hint of foreshadowing. In one instance he mentions a throne "wrought of one piece of ivory, though no man lives who knows whence so vast a piece could have come." It must have come from some colossal beast, seeing as the tusk from the already large elephant is nowhere near big enough to fashion a throne from. The sentence invokes an image of a massive, unearthly creature that might not be invoked if not read as carefully. Another instance is when the beings of Ib are described as "weak, and soft as jelly," with "bulging eyes, pouting, flabby lips, and curious ears, and were without voice." They were slain easily by the men of Sarnath, but combined with the obvious foreshadowing of the title and the beginning of the story, the reader might have a feeling that these creatures are not so innocent and vulnerable and that they might not appreciate having their city destroyed and lives taken.

As a reward for getting through the spooky stuff:

That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And with strange aeons even death may die.

Q2 Blog 3: Beyond the Wall of Sleep

For my third blog this quarter, to continue with my Lovecraft spree, I went back to read "Beyond the Wall of Sleep."

The short story "Beyond the Wall of Sleep" by H. P. Lovecraft is the story of an imaginative worker of the state psychopathic institution and his encounter with Joe Slater, described as a barbaric, degenerate hill-dweller from the Catskills. Slater was brought in after beating his neighbor to death in a hysterical fit, and is found to have waking nightmares that possess his being.

What I like about this story's structure is how the narrator frames the account in a way, so it is not just a narrative of events, but it shows the narrator's thoughts and gives the story a sort of credibility. In the beginning, the narrator gives a sort of introduction, revealing his views on dreams and how they might be truer than material life. At the end, he instructs the reader to take the story as whatever he or she wants, as he realizes how fantastic and "rhetorical" it turns out. Also, the quotation he pulls at the end from the supposed writings of an astronomer stating apparent evidence of the events of which the narrator spoke wraps the story up with spooky tone.

A possible purpose of this story (and possibly of the Dream Cycle as a whole) is to present the concept of dreams in a new light. When the narrator uses his apparatus to enter the dreamworld of the dying Slater and to speak to the entity that possesses him, he experiences firsthand and is told of the reality of dreams. The thought he expresses at the beginning that the dream world is truer than the material world is reinforces when he experiences the "palatial magnificence" of "this elysian realm." He states that he  "dwelt not as a stranger, for each sight and sound was familiar" and that he was being recalled back to earth, where he "least wished to go." It seems that he feels more at home, or more alive in this ethereal existence. The entity expresses how dreams transcend all physical limitations of time, space, and other dimensions. It says that it looks forward to meeting the narrator in ancient Egypt, after the end of the universe, on planets orbiting a distant star, or on the moon of Jupiter with creatures referred to as "insect-philosophers." This also plays into the narrator's belief that the corporeal world is secondary to the ethereal and our true spirits are "held back by bodily encumbrances."

All in all, another spooky Lovecraftian story to leave you with some creepy philosophy to ponder over Christmas.

Artist Michael Bukowski's rendition of the
insect-philosopher of the fourth moon of Jupiter