Inferno: Canto XIV
Because the charity of my native placeConstrained me, gathered I the scattered leaves,And gave them back to him, who now was hoarse.
Then came we to the confine, where dispartedThe second round is from the third, and whereA horrible form of Justice is beheld.
Clearly to manifest these novel things,I say that we arrived upon a plain,Which from its bed rejecteth every plant;
The dolorous forest is a garland to itAll round about, as the sad moat to that;There close upon the edge we stayed our feet.
The soil was of an arid and thick sand,Not of another fashion made than thatWhich by the feet of Cato once was pressed.
Vengeance of God, O how much oughtest thouBy each one to be dreaded, who doth readThat which was manifest unto mine eyes!
Of naked souls beheld I many herds,Who all were weeping very miserably,And over them seemed set a law diverse.
Supine upon the ground some folk were lying;And some were sitting all drawn up together,And others went about continually.
Those who were going round were far the more,And those were less who lay down to their torment,But had their tongues more loosed to lamentation.
O’er all the sand-waste, with a gradual fall,Were raining down dilated flakes of fire,As of the snow on Alp without a wind.
As Alexander, in those torrid partsOf India, beheld upon his hostFlames fall unbroken till they reached the ground.
Whence he provided with his phalanxesTo trample down the soil, because the vapourBetter extinguished was while it was single;
Thus was descending the eternal heat,Whereby the sand was set on fire, like tinderBeneath the steel, for doubling of the dole.
Without repose forever was the danceOf miserable hands, now there, now here,Shaking away from off them the fresh gleeds.
“Master,” began I, “thou who overcomestAll things except the demons dire, that issuedAgainst us at the entrance of the gate,
Who is that mighty one who seems to heed notThe fire, and lieth lowering and disdainful,So that the rain seems not to ripen him?”
And he himself, who had become awareThat I was questioning my Guide about him,Cried: “Such as I was living, am I, dead.
If Jove should weary out his smith, from whomHe seized in anger the sharp thunderbolt,Wherewith upon the last day I was smitten,
And if he wearied out by turns the othersIn Mongibello at the swarthy forge,Vociferating, ‘Help, good Vulcan, help!’
Even as he did there at the fight of Phlegra,And shot his bolts at me with all his might,He would not have thereby a joyous vengeance.”
Then did my Leader speak with such great force,That I had never heard him speak so loud:“O Capaneus, in that is not extinguished
Thine arrogance, thou punished art the more;Not any torment, saving thine own rage,Would be unto thy fury pain complete.”
Then he turned round to me with better lip,Saying: “One of the Seven Kings was heWho Thebes besieged, and held, and seems to hold
God in disdain, and little seems to prize him;But, as I said to him, his own despitesAre for his breast the fittest ornaments.
Now follow me, and mind thou do not placeAs yet thy feet upon the burning sand,But always keep them close unto the wood.”
Speaking no word, we came to where there gushesForth from the wood a little rivulet,Whose redness makes my hair still stand on end.
As from the Bulicame springs the brooklet,The sinful women later share among them,So downward through the sand it went its way.
The bottom of it, and both sloping banks,Were made of stone, and the margins at the side;Whence I perceived that there the passage was.
“In all the rest which I have shown to theeSince we have entered in within the gateWhose threshold unto no one is denied,
Nothing has been discovered by thine eyesSo notable as is the present river,Which all the little flames above it quenches.”
These words were of my Leader; whence I prayed himThat he would give me largess of the food,For which he had given me largess of desire.
“In the mid-sea there sits a wasted land,”Said he thereafterward, “whose name is Crete,Under whose king the world of old was chaste.
There is a mountain there, that once was gladWith waters and with leaves, which was called Ida;Now ’tis deserted, as a thing worn out.
Rhea once chose it for the faithful cradleOf her own son; and to conceal him better,Whene’er he cried, she there had clamours made.
A grand old man stands in the mount erect,Who holds his shoulders turned tow’rds Damietta,And looks at Rome as if it were his mirror.
His head is fashioned of refined gold,And of pure silver are the arms and breast;Then he is brass as far down as the fork.
From that point downward all is chosen iron,Save that the right foot is of kiln-baked clay,And more he stands on that than on the other.
Each part, except the gold, is by a fissureAsunder cleft, that dripping is with tears,Which gathered together perforate that cavern.
From rock to rock they fall into this valley;Acheron, Styx, and Phlegethon they form;Then downward go along this narrow sluice
Unto that point where is no more descending.They form Cocytus; what that pool may beThou shalt behold, so here ’tis not narrated.”
And I to him: “If so the present runnelDoth take its rise in this way from our world,Why only on this verge appears it to us?”
And he to me: “Thou knowest the place is round,And notwithstanding thou hast journeyed far,Still to the left descending to the bottom,
Thou hast not yet through all the circle turned.Therefore if something new appear to us,It should not bring amazement to thy face.”
And I again: “Master, where shall be foundLethe and Phlegethon, for of one thou’rt silent,And sayest the other of this rain is made?”
“In all thy questions truly thou dost please me,”Replied he; “but the boiling of the redWater might well solve one of them thou makest.
Thou shalt see Lethe, but outside this moat,There where the souls repair to lave themselves,When sin repented of has been removed.”
Then said he: “It is time now to abandonThe wood; take heed that thou come after me;A way the margins make that are not burning,
And over them all vapours are extinguished.”
Words in this poem 23
- dolorous a.
- Full of grief; sad; sorrowful; doleful; dismal; as, a dolorous object; dolorous discourses. [L. dolorosus, from dolor: cf. F. douloureux. See Dolor.]
- stayed a.
- Staid; fixed; settled; sober; -- now written staid. See Staid.
- miserably adv.
- In a miserable; unhappily; calamitously; wretchedly; meanly.
- supine a.
- Lying on the back, or with the face upward; -- opposed to prone. [L. supinus, akin to sub under, super above. Cf. Sub-, Super-.]
- folk n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- vapour n.
- Any substance in the gaseous, or aëriform, state, the condition of which is ordinarily that of a liquid or solid. [OE. vapour, OF. vapour, vapor, vapeur, F. vapeur, L. vapor; probably for cvapor, and akin to Gr. kvepti to breathe, smell, Russ. kopote fine soot. Cf. Vapid.]
- dire a.
- Ill-boding; portentous; as, dire omens. [L. dirus; of uncertain origin.]
- jove n.
- The chief divinity of the ancient Romans; Jupiter. [L. Jupiter, gen. Jovis, OL. Jovis, nom. & gen. for Djovis; akin to E. Tuesday. See Tuesday, and cf. Jupiter.]
- thunderbolt n.
- A shaft of lightning; a brilliant stream of electricity passing from one part of the heavens to another, or from the clouds to the earth.
- wherewith adv.
- With which; -- used relatively.
- largess n.
- Liberality; generosity; bounty. [F. largesse, fr. large. See Large, a.]
- dripping n.
- A falling in drops, or the sound so made.
- acheron n.
- A river in the Nether World or infernal regions; also, the infernal regions themselves. By some of the English poets it was supposed to be a flaming lake or gulf.
- styx n.
- The principal river of the lower world, which had to be crossed in passing to the regions of the dead.
- phlegethon n.
- One of the principal rivers of Hades, in the channel of which fire flowed instead of water.
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- runnel n.
- A rivulet or small brook. [From Run. Cf. Rundle.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- amazement n.
- The condition of being amazed; bewilderment ; overwhelming wonder, as from surprise, sudden fear, horror, or admiration.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- lethe n.
- A river of Hades whose waters when drunk caused forgetfulness of the past.
- lave v. t.
- To lade, dip, or pour out. [OE. laven. See Lavish.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Inferno: Canto XIV is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Divine Comedy, Project Gutenberg ebook #1004, the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Dante Alighieri, Inferno: Canto XIV, in The Divine Comedy (1867), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1004, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dante-divine-comedy/inferno-canto-xiv.html, id L14101.
Form and metre
Inferno: Canto XIV is 142 lines in 48 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.4 syllables. 39 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 27% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter, other poems in blank verse.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 30 A-A eyesA · river · quenchesA
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Because the charity of my native place | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Constrained me, gathered I the scattered leaves, | 10 | ˘/·/˘··/˘· |
| And gave them back to him, who now was hoarse. | 10 | ·········· |
| Then came we to the confine, where disparted | 11 | ·····˘/···· |
| The second round is from the third, and where | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| A horrible form of Justice is beheld. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Clearly to manifest these novel things, | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| I say that we arrived upon a plain, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Which from its bed rejecteth every plant; | 10 | ····˘/˘/˘· |
| The dolorous forest is a garland to it | 12 | ·/˘˘/˘··/˘·· |
| All round about, as the sad moat to that; | 10 | ·········· |
| There close upon the edge we stayed our feet. | 10 | ········/· |
| The soil was of an arid and thick sand, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Not of another fashion made than that | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| Which by the feet of Cato once was pressed. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Vengeance of God, O how much oughtest thou | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| By each one to be dreaded, who doth read | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| That which was manifest unto mine eyes! | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Of naked souls beheld I many herds, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘· |
| Who all were weeping very miserably, | 11 | ···/˘/˘/˘˘˘ |
| And over them seemed set a law diverse. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Supine upon the ground some folk were lying; | 11 | ˘/·······/˘ |
| And some were sitting all drawn up together, | 11 | ···/˘···˘/˘ |
| And others went about continually. | 11 | ·/˘···˘/˘˘˘ |
| Those who were going round were far the more, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And those were less who lay down to their torment, | 11 | ·········/· |
| But had their tongues more loosed to lamentation. | 11 | ··········· |
| O’er all the sand-waste, with a gradual fall, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Were raining down dilated flakes of fire, | 11 | ·/˘·˘/˘··/˘ |
| As of the snow on Alp without a wind. | 10 | ·········· |
| As Alexander, in those torrid parts | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Of India, beheld upon his host | 10 | ·/˘˘˘/···· |
| Flames fall unbroken till they reached the ground. | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Whence he provided with his phalanxes | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘˘ |
| To trample down the soil, because the vapour | 11 | ·/˘······/˘ |
| Better extinguished was while it was single; | 11 | /˘˘/˘····/˘ |
| Thus was descending the eternal heat, | 10 | ··˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| Whereby the sand was set on fire, like tinder | 11 | ·······/·/˘ |
| Beneath the steel, for doubling of the dole. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Without repose forever was the dance | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| Of miserable hands, now there, now here, | 10 | ·/˘˘˘····· |
| Shaking away from off them the fresh gleeds. | 10 | /˘˘/······ |
| “Master,” began I, “thou who overcomest | 11 | /˘˘/···/˘·˘ |
| All things except the demons dire, that issued | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Against us at the entrance of the gate, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Who is that mighty one who seems to heed not | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| The fire, and lieth lowering and disdainful, | 11 | ·/··/˘˘·˘/˘ |
| So that the rain seems not to ripen him?” | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And he himself, who had become aware | 10 | ··˘/··˘/˘/ |
| That I was questioning my Guide about him, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Cried: “Such as I was living, am I, dead. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| If Jove should weary out his smith, from whom | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| He seized in anger the sharp thunderbolt, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Wherewith upon the last day I was smitten, | 11 | ˘/·······/˘ |
| And if he wearied out by turns the others | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| In Mongibello at the swarthy forge, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Vociferating, ‘Help, good Vulcan, help!’ | 10 | ˘/˘˘˘··/˘· |
| Even as he did there at the fight of Phlegra, | 11 | /·········· |
| And shot his bolts at me with all his might, | 10 | ·········· |
| He would not have thereby a joyous vengeance.” | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Then did my Leader speak with such great force, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| That I had never heard him speak so loud: | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| “O Capaneus, in that is not extinguished | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| Thine arrogance, thou punished art the more; | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘··· |
| Not any torment, saving thine own rage, | 10 | ·/˘/·/˘··· |
| Would be unto thy fury pain complete.” | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Then he turned round to me with better lip, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Saying: “One of the Seven Kings was he | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Who Thebes besieged, and held, and seems to hold | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| God in disdain, and little seems to prize him; | 11 | ··˘/·/˘···· |
| But, as I said to him, his own despites | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Are for his breast the fittest ornaments. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| Now follow me, and mind thou do not place | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| As yet thy feet upon the burning sand, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| But always keep them close unto the wood.” | 10 | ·/········ |
| Speaking no word, we came to where there gushes | 11 | /˘·······/˘ |
| Forth from the wood a little rivulet, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| Whose redness makes my hair still stand on end. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| As from the Bulicame springs the brooklet, | 10 | ········/˘ |
| The sinful women later share among them, | 11 | ·/˘/˘/˘···· |
| So downward through the sand it went its way. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| The bottom of it, and both sloping banks, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Were made of stone, and the margins at the side; | 11 | ······/˘··· |
| Whence I perceived that there the passage was. | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| “In all the rest which I have shown to thee | 10 | ·········· |
| Since we have entered in within the gate | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Whose threshold unto no one is denied, | 10 | ·/······˘/ |
| Nothing has been discovered by thine eyes | 10 | /˘··˘/˘··· |
| So notable as is the present river, | 11 | ·/˘˘···/˘/˘ |
| Which all the little flames above it quenches.” | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| These words were of my Leader; whence I prayed him | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| That he would give me largess of the food, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| For which he had given me largess of desire. | 11 | ····/·/˘·˘/ |
| “In the mid-sea there sits a wasted land,” | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Said he thereafterward, “whose name is Crete, | 10 | ·········· |
| Under whose king the world of old was chaste. | 10 | ·········· |
| There is a mountain there, that once was glad | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| With waters and with leaves, which was called Ida; | 11 | ·/˘······/˘ |
| Now ’tis deserted, as a thing worn out. | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Rhea once chose it for the faithful cradle | 11 | /˘·····/˘/˘ |
| Of her own son; and to conceal him better, | 11 | ······˘/·/˘ |
| Whene’er he cried, she there had clamours made. | 11 | ········/˘· |
| A grand old man stands in the mount erect, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Who holds his shoulders turned tow’rds Damietta, | 11 | ···/˘···˘/˘ |
| And looks at Rome as if it were his mirror. | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| His head is fashioned of refined gold, | 10 | ···/˘˘·˘/· |
| And of pure silver are the arms and breast; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Then he is brass as far down as the fork. | 10 | ·········· |
| From that point downward all is chosen iron, | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Save that the right foot is of kiln-baked clay, | 10 | ·········· |
| And more he stands on that than on the other. | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Each part, except the gold, is by a fissure | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Asunder cleft, that dripping is with tears, | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘··· |
| Which gathered together perforate that cavern. | 12 | ·/˘˘/˘/˘··/˘ |
| From rock to rock they fall into this valley; | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Acheron, Styx, and Phlegethon they form; | 10 | /˘˘··/˘˘·· |
| Then downward go along this narrow sluice | 10 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘· |
| Unto that point where is no more descending. | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| They form Cocytus; what that pool may be | 10 | ·········· |
| Thou shalt behold, so here ’tis not narrated.” | 11 | ··˘/····/·˘ |
| And I to him: “If so the present runnel | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Doth take its rise in this way from our world, | 10 | ········/· |
| Why only on this verge appears it to us?” | 11 | ·/˘···˘/··· |
| And he to me: “Thou knowest the place is round, | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| And notwithstanding thou hast journeyed far, | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Still to the left descending to the bottom, | 11 | ····˘/˘··/˘ |
| Thou hast not yet through all the circle turned. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Therefore if something new appear to us, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| It should not bring amazement to thy face.” | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| And I again: “Master, where shall be found | 10 | ··˘//˘···· |
| Lethe and Phlegethon, for of one thou’rt silent, | 12 | /˘·/˘˘····/˘ |
| And sayest the other of this rain is made?” | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| “In all thy questions truly thou dost please me,” | 11 | ···/˘/˘···· |
| Replied he; “but the boiling of the red | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| Water might well solve one of them thou makest. | 11 | /˘········· |
| Thou shalt see Lethe, but outside this moat, | 10 | ···/˘·//·· |
| There where the souls repair to lave themselves, | 10 | ····˘/··˘/ |
| When sin repented of has been removed.” | 10 | ··˘/˘···˘/ |
| Then said he: “It is time now to abandon | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| The wood; take heed that thou come after me; | 10 | ·········· |
| A way the margins make that are not burning, | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| And over them all vapours are extinguished.” | 11 | ·····/˘·˘/˘ |
Notes from the edition 14
Longfellow, 1867 · <a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Divine_Comedy_(Longfellow_1867)/Volume_1/Notes">source</a>
- Stanza 1, line 1 In this third round of the seventh circle are punished the Violent against God,
"In heart denying and blaspheming him,
And by disdaining Nature and her bounty." - Stanza 5, line 15 When he retreated across the Libyan desert with the remnant of Pompey's army after the battle of Pharsalia. Lucan, Pharsalia, Book IX.:—
"Foremost, behold, I lead you to the toil,
My feet shall foremost print the dusty soil." - Stanza 11, line 31 Boccaccio confesses that he does not know where Dante found this tradition of Alexander. Benvenuto da Imola says it is in a letter which Alexander wrote to Aristotle. He quotes the passage as follows: "In India ignited vapors fell from heaven like snow. I commanded my soldiers to trample them under foot."
Dante perhaps took the incident from the old metrical Romance of Alexander, which in some form or other was current in his time. In the English version of it, published by the Roxburghe Club, we find the rain of fire, and a fall of snow; but it is the snow, and not the fire, that the soldiers trample down. So likewise in the French version. The English runs as follows, line 4164:—
"Than fandis he furth as I finde five and twenti days,
Come to a velanus vale thare was a vile cheele,
Quare flaggis of the fell snawe fell fra the heven,
That was a brade, sais the buke, as battes ere of wolle.
Than bett he many brigt fire and lest it bin nold,
And made his folk with thaire fcete as flores it to trede. ***** Than fell ther fra the firmament as it ware fell sparkes,
Ropand doune o rede fire, than any rayne thikir." - Stanza 15, line 45 Canto VIII. 83.
- Stanza 19, line 56 Mount Etna, under which, with his Cyclops, Vulcan forged the thunderbolts of Jove.
- Stanza 21, line 63 Capaneus was one of the seven kings who besieged Thebes. Euripides, Phœnissæ, line 1188, thus describes his death:—
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Also Gower, Confes. Amant., I.:—
"As he the cite wolde assaile, God toke him selfe the bataile Ayen his pride, and fro the sky A firy thonder sudeinly He sende and him to pouder smote." - Stanza 24, line 72 Like Hawthorne's scarlet letter, at once an ornament and a punishment.
- Stanza 27, line 79 The Bulicame or Hot Springs of Viterbo. Villani, Cronica, Book I. Ch. 51, gives the following brief account of these springs, and of the origin of the name of Viterbo:—
"The city of Viterbo was built by the Romans, and in old times was called Vigezia, and the citizens Vigentians. And the Romans sent the sick there on account of the baths which flow from the Bulicame, and therefore it was called Vita Erbo, that is, life of the sick, or city of life." - Stanza 27, line 80 "The building thus appropriated," says Mr. Barlow, Contributions to the Study of the Divine Comedy, p. 129, " would appear to have been the large ruined edifice known as the Bagno di Ser Paolo Benigno, situated between the Bulicame and Viterbo. About half a mile beyond the Porta di Faule, which leads to Toscanella, we come to a way called Riello, after which we arrive at the said ruined edifice, which received the water from the Bulicame by conduits, and has popularly been regarded as the Bagno delle Meretrici alluded to by Dante; there is no other building here found, which can dispute with it the claim to this distinction."
- Stanza 34, line 102 The shouts and cymbals of the Corybantes, drowning the cries of the infant Jove, lest Saturn should find him and devour him.
- Stanza 35, line 103 The statue of Time, turning its back upon the East and looking towards Rome, Compare Daniel ii. 31.
- Stanza 35, line 105 The Ages of Gold, Silver, Brass, and Iron. See Ovid, Metamorph. I.
See also Don Quixote's discourse to the goatherds, inspired by the acorns they gave him. Book II. Chap. 3; and Tasso's Ode to the Golden Age, in the Aminta. - Stanza 38, line 113 The Tears of Time, forming the infernal rivers that flow into Cocytus.
Milton, Parad. Lost, II. 577:—
"Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly hate; Sad Acheron of sorrow, black and deep; Cocytus, named of lamentation loud Heard on the rueful stream; fierce Phlegeton, Whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage. Far off from these a slow and silent stream, Lethè, the river of oblivion, rolls Her watery labyrinth, whereof who drinks Forthwith his former state and being forgets, Forgets both joy and grief, pleasure and pain." - Stanza 46, line 136 See Purgatorio XXVIII.
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.