Famous Inferno Poems by Famous Poets
These are examples of famous Inferno poems written by some of the greatest and most-well-known modern and classical poets. PoetrySoup is a great educational poetry resource of famous inferno poems. These examples illustrate what a famous inferno poem looks like and its form, scheme, or style (where appropriate).
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by
Alighieri, Dante
...CANTO I
ONE night, when half my life behind me lay,
I wandered from the straight lost path afar.
Through the great dark was no releasing way;
Above that dark was no relieving star.
If yet that terrored night I think or say,
As death's cold hands its fears resuming are.
Gladly the dreads I felt, too dire to tell,
The hopeless, ...Read more of this...
by
Alighieri, Dante
...LA DIVINA COMMEDIA di Dante Alighieri INFERNO
Inferno: Canto I
Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita
mi ritrovai per una selva oscura
ch? la diritta via era smarrita.
Ahi quanto a dir qual era ? cosa dura
esta selva selvaggia e aspra e forte
che nel pensier rinova la paura!
Tant'? amara che poco ? pi? morte;
ma per trattar del ben ch'i' vi trovai,
dir? de l'altre cose ch'i' v'h...Read more of this...
by
Alighieri, Dante
...Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita
mi ritrovai per una selva oscura
ch? la diritta via era smarrita .
When I had journeyed half of our life's way,
I found myself within a shadowed forest,
for I had lost the path that does not stray.
Ahi quanto a dir qual era ? cosa dura
esta selva selvaggia e aspra e forte
che nel pensier rinova la paura !
Ah,...Read more of this...
by
Alighieri, Dante
...Lo giorno se n'andava, e l'aere bruno
toglieva li animai che sono in terra
da le fatiche loro; e io sol uno
The day was now departing; the dark air
released the living beings of the earth
from work and weariness; and I myself
m'apparecchiava a sostener la guerra
s? del cammino e s? de la pietate,
che ritrarr? la mente che non erra .
alone ...Read more of this...
by
Alighieri, Dante
...ot rebels
nor faithful to their God, but stood apart.
Caccianli i ciel per non esser men belli,
n? lo profondo inferno li riceve,
ch'alcuna gloria i rei avrebber d'elli ».
The heavens, that their beauty not be lessened,
have cast them out, nor will deep Hell receive them-
even the wicked cannot glory in them."
E io: «Maestro, che ? tanto greve
a lor, che lamentar li fa s? forte?».
Rispuose: «Dicerolti molto breve .
And I: "What is it, mast...Read more of this...
by
Tate, James
...couldn't breathe.
The colors were definitely not of this world,
peaches dripping opium,
pandemonium of tangerines,
inferno of irises,
Plutonian emeralds,
all swirling and churning, swabbing,
like it was playing with us,
like we were nothing,
as if our whole lives were a preparation for this,
this for which nothing could have prepared us
and for which we could not have been less prepared.
The mockery of it all stung us bitterly.
And when it was finally over
we ...Read more of this...
by
Taylor, Edward
...couldn't breathe.
The colors were definitely not of this world,
peaches dripping opium,
pandemonium of tangerines,
inferno of irises,
Plutonian emeralds,
all swirling and churning, swabbing,
like it was playing with us,
like we were nothing,
as if our whole lives were a preparation for this,
this for which nothing could have prepared us
and for which we could not have been less prepared.
The mockery of it all stung us bitterly.
And when it was finally over
we ...Read more of this...
by
Gilbert, Jack
...three rivers. The authority of them.
The gritty alleys where we played every evening were
stained pink by the inferno always surging in the sky,
as though Christ and the Father were still fashioning the Earth.
Locomotives driving through the cold rain,
lordly and bestial in their strength. Massive water
flowing morning and night throughout a city
girded with ninety bridges. Sumptuous-shouldered,
sleek-thighed, obstinate and majestic, unquenchable.<...Read more of this...
by
Eliot, T S (Thomas Stearns)
...e:
"Fourmillante cite;, cite; pleine de
reves,
Ou le spectre en plein jour raccroche le
passant."
63. Cf. Inferno, iii. 55-7.
"si lunga tratta
di gente, ch'io non avrei mai creduto
che morte tanta n'avesse disfatta."
64. Cf. Inferno, iv. 25-7:
"Quivi, secondo che per ascoltare,
"non avea pianto, ma' che di sospiri,
"che l'aura eterna facevan tremare."
68. A phenomenon which I have often noticed.
74. Cf. the Dirge...Read more of this...
by
Plath, Sylvia
...ndows--she is neat.
So neat she is transparent, like a spirit.
how shyly she superimposes her neat self
On the inferno of African oranges, the heel-hung pigs.
She is deferring to reality.
It is I. It is I--
Tasting the bitterness between my teeth.
The incalculable malice of the everyday.
FIRST VOICE:
How long can I be a wall, keeping the wind off?
How long can I be
Gentling the sun with the shade of my hand,
Intercepting the blue bolts of a cold ...Read more of this...
by
Seeger, Alan
...Florence, rejoice! For thou o'er land and sea
So spread'st thy pinions that the fame of thee
Hath reached no less into the depths of Hell.
So noble were the five I found to dwell
Therein -- thy sons -- whence shame accrues to me
And no great praise is thine; but if it be
That truth unveil in dreamings before dawn,
Then is the vengeful hour not f...Read more of this...
by
Padel, Ruth
...th Vader
From Star Wars. She's trapped, in a house she didn't realize
Was burning. Her letter was a gate to the inferno.
........
(This poem appeared in Pushkin: An Anthology, ed. E. Feinstein, Carcanet 1999)...Read more of this...
by
Gibran, Kahlil
...agments and lead me into the dungeons of harshness and stupidity. What I thought was glory is naught but an eternal inferno."
He gathered himself wearily and walked slowly toward the palace, sighing and repeating, "Is this what people call wealth? Is this the god I am serving and worshipping? Is this what I seek of the earth? Why can I not trade it for one particle of contentment? Who would sell me one beautiful thought for a ton of gold? Who would give me one momen...Read more of this...
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