Classics Challenge - The Inferno

Okay, I'm back with another epic poem to add to my completed list! Dante's Inferno. This one was completed with the help of Anthony Esolen and his translation/notes. I'm not well read enough to tell you it was a "good translation" or not but I enjoyed both his translation and his notes and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have gotten through it without those notes. As it was, quite a bit of it still went over my head.

I'm not sure what else to say here because truthfully, my goal in reading these poems is not to do anything but finish. I don't mean that in a checking off a box sort of way, it's just this is very stretching for me so I'm not looking to make deep connections or search for big themes or anything but read it, try to understand the basics and let it soak in. If I had more of an agenda, I'd be disappointed with myself. But that also makes it hard to write about or review! It's good, I mean, it's Dante! And while I did feel like I was mostly treading water, there were two or three distict times when I had to put it down to ponder something beyond what is he literally saying here to the level of "oh, I had never thought about sin that way" or "that's a unique way of viewing human nature and God's response" And those times made it worth it so I do hope to someday finish the series. And they've got to me a little bit peppier than a whole poem about hell, right?

The Inferno was my Back to the Classics Challenge Translation Selection...I'm getting close to the end!