How Much Classical Imagery Can One Poem Take? INFERNO, Canto IX, Lines 34 - 63
This passage is surely the densest thicket of classical allegory we've yet encountered in INFERNO. The references are so heavy and quickly applied that the poet even steps out from behind the curtain to ask us to notice it all as a giant allegorical scheme in COMEDY.But a scheme of what? Which part of all this time among the wrathful is allegorical? All of it? Even Phlegyas' boat? Or just the Furies? Or just the threat of Medusa's arrival? Or even just Virgil's hands, which get placed over the pilgrim's eyes?To make matters worse, this passage starts with a distinct problem: Memory fails in a…
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