Dear Mr. Dante Alighieri

 Dear Mr. Dante Alighieri,

          In regards to your most intriguing of novels, I've decided to openly express the few elements of the first novel of your Divine Comedy trilogy that concerned me. Hopefully my rather critical and harsh outlook on everything and anything which I without restraints perceive, does not come as a shock to you. 

 

 

You speak of Hell as though you've been there
And make up things as you go along

Not retracting steps to answer questions

Leaving notes behind in your intricate song

 

And this Hell you imagined, can it really be true

Really, so much worse than Hell right here

When you’ve been exiled, shunned, yet not hunted down
What really all is there for you to fear

 

With Virgil by your side, the bleakness seems brighter

And the night's not so dark, the wind's not so harsh

To guide you through the dark woods of error

And across the banks of Styx's marsh

 

Through these circles your path is cleared

The people you meet, you snidely put down

Betray trust, get crueler, is this what your Heaven wants

Cause you don't need to stay and hang around.

 

You're partial, everyone knows it already

The people you like, you place higher up

Just retribution - a myth you uphold

Cause the truth of the matter - you're a vindictive pup

 

And these people in hell  - half don't belong

But they’re punished eternally for minor flaws

Flattery? Fortunetelling? Life calls for measures

Desperate as they may be, you don't make these laws

 

You're against the Greeks, but Trojans all the way?

Paris should be in Dis' jaw, but he's flying around

Yet a Greek warrior who told a white little lie

Is paralyzed with fever and can't get off the ground?

 

Horace and Homer, Ovid and Lucan

These people you admire, you flatter without care

Follow them, see how far Human Reason gets you

Obviously you've lost it, so how will you fare?

 

And all you Romans think you're all that

The Trojans were your forefathers, another lie?

Cause in your time Italy's fighting civil war

And your fantastic kinsmen are the ones to die

 

You never speak of your own troubles

The stinking snow and the freezing rain

These obviously affect everyone but you

Cause you've hardly described this unendurable pain

 

Promoting your "invincibility"

You're human, fool, such things exist not

And you don't know these people you tear apart

Following oral fictions, who knows who actually fought

 

Beat down the weak, sin is unavoidable

This pristine perfection attached to the Heaven's gate

A being so immaculate you've never met

So by your law, for everyone, it's already too late

 

So Virgil's got some power, he's your "master" now

You treat him like a father; he's only on a chore

As if he cares what you do after he's through

He'll just throw you away like another w***e

 

Muslims in Hell but Jews in Heaven?

You’re all monotheistic you ignorant whelp

But 'course deities are different even if their duties are the same

Don't turn to me for sure when you need help… 

 

Do you understand your ordering?

Nearly half these circles are the same

You reprimand the  same sinners differently

 You've turned the after life into a game

 

Empowered must you feel to wave this almighty pen

An impact on your ego, humoring it so

When your only way of petty comebacks

Is to send people where they fear to go

 

Far and wide you've covered your enemies

For everything they've done you've assigned them a sentence

And then you sit in your paramount place 

Watching them all go through just repentance

 

You've abused the pen, which is mightier than the sword

Countless here have fallen for no reason at all

A witless writer with sadistic notions

A spineless coward too fearful to take his call

 

How your precious Virgil would shake his head
To see your blemish on the literate world

For all to read these answerless enigmas

 Which inside your mind apparently unfurled

 

For I shake my head in shame at you

As Horace the satirist would have surely done

Because you've combined the sacred and the secular

An epic failure in the name of fun?

 

And to your Divine Comedy, I bid it adieu

And turn my back on a read not worth my time

But unfortunately forced to openly accept you

And read an epic which in itself is a crime

 

Just another Ambitious Writer

 

Author's Note

Haha, yes i loathe this guy, and though i should probably be rereading the inferno and taking notes, I've decided to spend the past hour writing about how much i hate the dead guy that wrote it. :) haha have mercy on it >_<

Reviews

[Rick Puetter]

Dear Bhavana,

Marie Anzalone sent me a read request for this piece. I'm glad she did. I read the piece and was astonished by the maturity of your critique. I was doubly floored when I discovered your age. This is an amazing accomplishment. You are to be commended.

Now, it stands to reason that the Divine Comedy would be self-centered and narrow minded. That needs to be put aside. It is still a masterful work despite the content. It's sort of like looking at a fabulous painting of a murder. The art can be admired while the content despised. That said, I absolutely loved your piece. Very nicely done and you put Dante properly in his place.

Great write. You clearly have talent and can tackle extremely difficult pieces. My congratulations to you.

Best regards,

Rick

[Worms]

mercy on Dante more like it
you shredded him eloquently

[Frifthor (D^2)]

Yes.
Yes.
(I liked it, and your critique of both the poem and personal nature works lovely.)
Yes.
(Good job.)

[AFX787359]

Where's the I f*****g love this button?

Bhav - This is AWESOME! And I love you for writing this! :D

[Essie]

love it. your feelings about the Inferno definitely shine through in this piece. i totally agree that Dante acts as if he has room to judge others and ultimately punish them for what he views as flaws, when he does not. although i must say i admire the book as a whole, i do not agree with it at all. the matter of just retribution is all based off of opinion by far and the combination of the secular and spiritual worlds- i also view as an "epic failure". intriguing write!!

[talulu love]

its so deep and good word usagee

[Legion]

Definetely a write worth reading here. Brilliant. Hope Dante is cringing right now. ;)

[Marie Anzalone]

Now, Bhavana, tell us how you REALLY feel???

This was great! Truly... great. I've already sent it on to two others. I am frankly astounded by your ability. Forget about your age for a moment. What you did here is masterful. You ripped apart the logical fallacies of a classic piece of writing in a manner that shows remarkable insight, keen wit, and a striking intelligence. You ask some very difficult questions, and you challenge the author on the narrowness of his views, and even his own perception of the world. There are people twice you age who cannot think like you do! Aside from that, the writing was flawless, and your command of vocabulary is intimidating.

Please, whatever you do, do not give up writing, girl. You are truly gifted.

[LivingDeath]

Great write, your choice of vocabulary throughout the entire write really makes it stand out. Your ways of how you describe situations and points in time are amazing. With the amount of descriptive vocabulary it injects a mental image into the readers mind which really makes this poem/story stand out to me. Great write.

[Kristopher]

It's great. Loved it!