Reply to the students discussion below 300 words. YOU ARE NOT TO GRADE, CRITIQUE, OR CRITICIZE THEIR WORK. ONLY ADD TO THE DISCUSSION/ CONVERSATION STAYING ON TOPIC. Original topic of discussion:  As an epic journey to Hell and back, The Inferno clearly traces its ancestry, in part, to The Aeneid . As an "autobiographical" record of a spiritual struggle, it also has equally obvious roots in Augustine's Confessions . We come to this book, then, uniquely well-versed in its literary antecedents. Where do you see the influence of The Aeneid in Dante's poem? Of Confessions ?  Student to respond to, Dante’s Inferno is a narrative of a journey he traveled through hell in order for him to find peace and spirituality. It starts with him being lost in his sin and then the Virgil appears as a spiritual guide. As a spiritual guide, Virgil tells Dante that he can only erase or get rid of his sins and darkness is to take him to a journey through hell. This would help Dante recognize that his sins had consequences and he would be able to experience those consequences. Through his journey, Dante sees punishment for all those who are damned into hell and he also sees faces that he recognizes. This scares Dante, but for him it was even more terrifying when he interacts with these individuals and they are able to foretell his life if he continued to sin as he was. They continued the journey and Dante keeps seeing unspeakable punishments until they finally reach Purgatory. I found there were a few similarities between the Aeneid, Inferno, and Confessions. Dante’s classic was definitely influenced by Virgil and Augustine’s works. I was able to see those influences throughout the poem. One example was, earlier in Dante’s Inferno, he is struggling and drowning in despair, during this time Virgil finds Dante and this is where their journey starts. The scene was predisposed by Augustine’s explanation of how he was spiritually lost during his earlier years. Augustine gave into temptations, turned away from his god, and as a result lived in misery. Another example that was inspired by Augustine was the journey of his soul of becoming closer to god. Dante was inspired with Augustine’s journey, but Dante’s trip to hell was described as literal and figurative rather than Augustine’s whose journey was more of a metaphorical journey. Both of their journeys was very different, but the end result was the same for both, to obtain the ultimate closeness to god. In Confessions, Dante’s inspiration comes from Virgil’s Aeneid. Besides Virgil being the actual spiritual guide, Inferno and Aeneid consists of epic journeys. The Aeneid was a poem about his path to find homes for those Trojans who were left homeless due to the Trojan War. During his travels, he has to take a trip to hell. Dante and Aeneas are led through hell by a guardian. Aeneas is led by a mortal with god-like powers from Zeus called Sybil, while Dante is led by Virgil. By making Virgil a char ...

1. Reply to the students discussion below 300 words.
YOU ARE NOT TO GRADE, CRITIQUE, OR CRITICIZE
THEIR WORK. ONLY ADD TO THE DISCUSSION/
CONVERSATION STAYING ON TOPIC.
Original topic of discussion:
As an epic journey to Hell and back,
The Inferno
clearly traces its ancestry, in part, to
The Aeneid
. As an "autobiographical" record of a spiritual struggle, it also
has equally obvious roots in Augustine's
Confessions
. We come to this book, then, uniquely well-versed in its
literary antecedents. Where do you see the influence of
The Aeneid
in Dante's poem? Of
Confessions
?
Student to respond to,
Dante’s Inferno is a narrative of a journey he traveled through

2. hell in order for him to find peace and spirituality. It starts with
him being lost in his sin and then the Virgil appears as a
spiritual guide. As a spiritual guide, Virgil tells Dante that he
can only erase or get rid of his sins and darkness is to take him
to a journey through hell. This would help Dante recognize that
his sins had consequences and he would be able to experience
those consequences. Through his journey, Dante sees
punishment for all those who are damned into hell and he also
sees faces that he recognizes. This scares Dante, but for him it
was even more terrifying when he interacts with these
individuals and they are able to foretell his life if he continued
to sin as he was. They continued the journey and Dante keeps
seeing unspeakable punishments until they finally reach
Purgatory.
I found there were a few similarities between the Aeneid,
Inferno, and Confessions. Dante’s classic was definitely
influenced by Virgil and Augustine’s works. I was able to see
those influences throughout the poem. One example was, earlier
in Dante’s Inferno, he is struggling and drowning in despair,
during this time Virgil finds Dante and this is where their
journey starts. The scene was predisposed by Augustine’s
explanation of how he was spiritually lost during his earlier
years. Augustine gave into temptations, turned away from his
god, and as a result lived in misery. Another example that was
inspired by Augustine was the journey of his soul of becoming
closer to god. Dante was inspired with Augustine’s journey, but
Dante’s trip to hell was described as literal and figurative rather
than Augustine’s whose journey was more of a metaphorical
journey. Both of their journeys was very different, but the end
result was the same for both, to obtain the ultimate closeness to
god.
In Confessions, Dante’s inspiration comes from Virgil’s Aeneid.

3. Besides Virgil being the actual spiritual guide, Inferno and
Aeneid consists of epic journeys. The Aeneid was a poem about
his path to find homes for those Trojans who were left homeless
due to the Trojan War. During his travels, he has to take a trip
to hell. Dante and Aeneas are led through hell by a guardian.
Aeneas is led by a mortal with god-like powers from Zeus
called Sybil, while Dante is led by Virgil. By making Virgil a
character in his poem, it proves that Dante was deeply impacted
by Virgil’s work. Dante recognizes the similarities of both
stories. During both stories, the guardians are represented as
protectors of the men they are guiding through this horrific
place. In The Aeneid, when Sybil and Aeneas are threatened by
Charon, we see how Sybil stands up to him. We also see how
during The Inferno, Virgil is the guardian protecting Dante from
all the evil and dangers that surround him during his journey to
hell. Virgil says to Dante in Canto 9, “Now turn your back and
cover your eyes, for if the Gorgon comes and you should see
her, there would be no returning to the world,” (Puchner, 1628).
At this point Virgil makes sure to cover Dante’s eyes so that he
does not turn into stone.
In conclusion, it appears that the characters all interact with the
dead. In The Aeneid, Aeneas asks a dead person about his
disfigured face, and Dante illustrates the idea of talking to dead
people. When Dante met the Jovial Friars he asks, “Who are
you, distilling tears of grief, so many I see running down your
cheek, and what kind of pain is that it can glitter,” (1678). I
found that many of the stories detailed in Dante’s Inferno came
from Confessions and The Aeneid and he adjusted many of his
works from previous writers.
References
Puchner, Martin, ed. The Norton Anthology of Western

4. Literature. 9th ed. New York: W.W.
Norton & Company, Inc., 2014. Print.