Author: Dante Alighieri
Cited by
- Daniel Mason (1)
- IN: The Piano Turner (2002) Fiction, American
EPIGRAPH: "Brothers," I said, "o younwho have crossed a hundred thousand dangers, reach the west to this brief waking time that is left unto your senses, you must not deny experience of that which lies beyond the sun, and all the world that is unpeopled.
FROM: Inferno from Divine Comedy, (1472), Poem, Italy
- Thomas Mann (1)
- IN: Doctor Faustus (1947) Fiction, German
EPIGRAPH: Lo giorno se n'andava e l'aere bruno / toglieva gli animai che sono in terra / dalle fatiche loro, ed io sol uno / ,'apparecchiava a sostener la guerra / si del cammino e si della pietate, / che ritrarra la mente wue non erra. / O Muse, o alto ingegno, or m'aiutate, / o mente che scrivesti cio ch'io vidi, / qui si parra la tua nobilitate.
FROM: Inferno, Canto II, (1472), Poem, Italy
- Penelope Fitzgerald (1)
- IN: offshore (1979) Fiction, British
EPIGRAPH: che mena il vento, e che batte la pioggia, e che s'incontran con si aspre lingue.
FROM: Inferno, (1472), Poem, Italy
- Dan Brown (1)
- IN: Inferno (2013) Fiction, Novel, American
EPIGRAPH: The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis
FROM: Divine Comedy, (1472), Poem, US
- O' Grady, Timothy (1)
- IN: Motherland (1989) Fiction, American
EPIGRAPH: I spoke; he moved; so, setting out anew, I entered on that savage path...
FROM: The Divine Comedy, (1472), Poem, Italy
- James Merrill (1)
- IN: The Changing Light At Sandover (1982) Poetry , American
EPIGRAPH: Tu credi 'l vero; che i minori e' grandi di questa vita miran ne lo spegelio in che, prima che pensi, il pensier pandi
FROM: The Divine Comedy, (1472), Poem, Italy
- Kofi Awoonor (1)
- IN: This Earth, My Brother: An Allegorial Tale of Africa (1971) Fiction, NULL
EPIGRAPH: In the middle of the journey of our life I came to myself within a dark wood where the straight way was lost. Ah, how hard a thing it is to tell of that wood, savage and harsh and dense, the thought of which renews my fear! So bitter is it that death is hardly more.
FROM: Inferno, Canto 1, (1472), NULL, Italy
- Victoria Scott (2)
- IN: The Warrior: A Dante Walker Novel (2014) Fiction, American
EPIGRAPH: Remember tonight... for it is the beginning of always.
FROM: Inferno, (1472), Poem, Italy
- IN: The Warrior (2014) Fiction, Young Adult Fiction, American
EPIGRAPH: Remember tonight... for it is the beginning of always.
FROM: Inferno, (1472), NULL, Italy
- Felix Cheong (1)
- IN: Broken by the Rain (2004) Poetry, Singaporean
EPIGRAPH: ...for the ruinous fault of gluttony, as you see, / I am broken by the rain and I, in my misery, / am not alone, for these endure / the same penalty for the same fault.
FROM: Inferno, (1472), Epic poem, Italy
- Meg Cabot (5)
- IN: Awaken (2013) Fiction, Young Adult Fiction, American
EPIGRAPH: My son, Here may indeed be torment, but not death.
FROM: Purgatorio, (1472), NULL, Italy
- Kady Cross (1)
- IN: Sisters of blood and spirit (2015) Fiction, Young Adult Fiction, NULL
EPIGRAPH: Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.
FROM: Divine Comedy, (1472), Poem, Italy
- Donna Hosie (1)
- IN: The Devil's Banshee (2016) Fiction, Young Adult Fiction, British
EPIGRAPH: From a little spark may burst a flame.
FROM: Divine Comedy, (1472), Poem, Italy
- David Jones (1)
- IN: The Roman Quarry (1981) Fiction, Anthology, British
EPIGRAPH: Qui sarai tu poco tempo silvano,
e sarai meco sanza fine cive
di quella Roma onde Cristo e Romano.
(Here shalt thou be short time a forester, and with me everlastingly shalt be a citizen of that Rome whereof Christ is a Roman.)
FROM: Purgatorio, (1472), Poem, Italy
- Leila Sales (1)
- IN: This Song Will Save Your Life (2013) Fiction, Young Adult Fiction, American
EPIGRAPH: We go down to the indie idsco every Thursday night. Dance to our favourite indie hits until the morning light.
FROM: The Divine Comedy, (1472), Poem, Italy
- Rick Yancey (1)
- IN: The Final Descent (2013) Fiction, Young Adult Fiction, American
EPIGRAPH: Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra via mi ritrovai per una selva oscura, che la diritta via era smarrita.
FROM: NULL, (None), NULL, Italy
- Kathryn Burak (2)
- IN: Emily's Dress and Other Missing Things (2012) Fiction, Young Adult Fiction, American
EPIGRAPH: And then the hunger had more
Power than even sorrow had over me.
FROM: Inferno, (1472), Book, Italy
- IN: Emily's Dress (2012) Fiction, Young Adult Fiction, American
EPIGRAPH: And then the hunger had more
Power than even sorrow had over me.
FROM: Inferno, XXXIII, 71-72, (1472), Poem, Italy
- Page Morgan (1)
- IN: The Beautiful and the Cursed (2013) Fiction, Young Adult Fiction, American
EPIGRAPH: I wept not, so to stone within I grew.
FROM: Inferno, (1472), NULL, Italy
- Jon McGregor (1)
- IN: Even the Dogs (None) Fiction, British
EPIGRAPH: Cut off from hope, we live on in desire.
FROM: The Inferno, (1472), Poem, Italy
- Chris F. Holm (1)
- IN: Dead Harvest (2012) Fiction, American
EPIGRAPH: There is no greater sorrow
Than to be mindful of the happy time
In misery.
FROM: Divine Comedy, (1472), Poem, Italy
- John Connolly (1)
- IN: Bad Men (2015) Fiction, Irish
EPIGRAPH: ...they are not towers but giants. They stand in the well from the navel down; and stationed round its bank they mount guard on the final pit of Hell.
FROM: Inferno, Canto XXXI, (1472), Poem, Italy
- Mark Helprin (1)
- IN: In Sunlight and In Shadow (2012) Fiction, American
EPIGRAPH: Amor mi mosse, che mi fa parlare
FROM: Inferno, II, (1472), Book, Italy
- Mike Gayle (1)
- IN: Turning Forty (2013) Fiction, British
EPIGRAPH: In the middle of the journey of our life
I found myself in a dark wood,
for the straight way was lost.
FROM: Divine Comedy, (1472), Poem, Italy
- Anne Korkeakivi (1)
- IN: One Unexpected Quest (2012) Fiction, American
EPIGRAPH: "Needs must thou find another way to flee,"
He answered, seeing my eyes with weeping fill,
"If thou from this wild place wouldst get thee free;
Because this beast, at which thou criest still,
Suffereth none to go upon her path,
But hindereth and entangleth till she kill,
And hath a nature so perverse in wrath,
Her craving maw never is satiated
But after food the fiercer hunger hath."
FROM: The Inferno, Canto I, 91-99, (1472), Poem, Italy
- (Jr.) James Kimmel (1)
- IN: The Trial of Fallen Angels (2012) Fiction, American
EPIGRAPH: I think it will you follow me and I will be your guide and lead you forth through an eternal place. There you shall see the ancient spirits tried.
FROM: The Inferno, (1472), Poem, Italy
- Thomas K. King (1)
- IN: A Once Crowded Sky (2012) Fiction, American
EPIGRAPH: Her skywards gaze inspired my imagination,
compelling my eyes to mirror her action,
and I looked upon the sun for longer men usually are able.
More power is allowed there than here
by the nature of the virtue of that place,
the true home of the human species.
Still I could not bear the shine for long;
I was only able but to glance at the light's rolling sparkle,
like molten iron escaping from the fire.
Then suddenly the day blared too bright,
as if the One Who Has The Power
had adorned the heavens with another sun.
Her eyes remained fixed on the eternal circles;
even as I turned away from the light;
And set my eyes back upon her.
Now seeing her, I began to change
as once mortal Glaucus changed after eating an herb that
allowed him to roam the sea in the company of the gods.
Such superhuman transformations cannot be
expressed in words; let this story serve as a smile
until grace grant you the experience.
FROM: Paradiso, (1472), Poem, Italy
- Lilith Saintcrow (1)
- IN: Working for the Devil (2006) Fiction, American
EPIGRAPH: Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita
mi ritrovai per una selva oscura,
che la diritta via era smarrita
FROM: Inferno, (1472), Poem, Italy
- Paul McAuley (2)
- IN: Shrine of Stars (1999) Fiction, British
EPIGRAPH: Think on why you were created;
Not to exist like animals indeed,
But to seek virtue and knowledge.
FROM: The Divine Comedy, (1472), Poem, Italy
- Reginald Hill (1)
- IN: Under World (1988) Fiction, American
EPIGRAPH: Hear truth: I stood on the steep brink whereunder
Runs down the dolorous chasm of the Pit,
Ringing with infinite groans like gathered thunder.
Deep, dense, and by no faintest glimmer lit
It lay, and though I strained my sight to find
Bottom, not one thing could I see in it.
Down must we go, to that dark world and blind.
FROM: Divine Comedy, (1472), Poem, Italy
- Tanis Rideout (1)
- IN: Above All Things (2012) Fiction, American
EPIGRAPH: Upward I looked, and beheld its shoulders,
Vested already with that planet's rays
Which leadeth others right by every road.
Then was my fear a little quieted.
FROM: Inferno, (1472), Poem, Italy
- Ali Shaw (1)
- IN: The Trees (2016) Fiction, American
EPIGRAPH: Midway along the journey of our life
I awoke to find myself in a dark wood
FROM: Inferno, (1472), Poem, Italy
- Duane Swierczynski (4)
- IN: Fun and Games (2011) Fiction, American
EPIGRAPH: Che sempre l’omo in cui pensier rampolla sovra pensier, da sé dilunga il segno perché la foga l’un de l’altro insolla.
FROM: Purgatorio, canto 5, lines 16–18, (1472), Poem, Italy
- IN: Hell and Gone (2011) Fiction, American
EPIGRAPH: Ma prima avea ciascun la lingua stretta
coi denti, verso lor duca, per cenno;
ed elli avea del cul fatto trombetta.
FROM: Inferno, canto 21, lines 137–39, (1472), Poem, Italy
- IN: Point and Shoot (2013) Fiction, American
EPIGRAPH: Tu proverai sì come sa di sale
lo pane altrui, e come è duro calle
lo scendere e 'l salir per l'altrui scale
FROM: Paradise, (1472), Poem, Italy
- IN: Point & Shoot (2013) Fiction, American
EPIGRAPH: Tu proverai sì come sa di sale
lo pane altrui, e come è duro calle
lo scendere e'l salir per l'altrui scale
FROM: Paradiso, Canto XVII, lines 58-60, (1472), Poem, Italy
- Percy Bysshe Shelley (1)
- IN: Zastrozzi (1810) Fiction, British
EPIGRAPH: May prove their foe, and with repenting hand Abolish his own works--This would surpass Common revenge.
FROM: Paradise Lost, (1667), Poem, Italy
- Jean-Philippe Toussaint (1)
- IN: Naked (2013) Fiction, NULL
EPIGRAPH: To write of her that which has never been written of any other woman.
FROM: La Vita Nuova, (1924), Poem, Italy
- Diane Thomas (1)
- IN: in wilderness (2015) Fiction, American
EPIGRAPH: In the midst of life's journey
I found myself in a dark wood,
for the right path was lost.
FROM: Inferno, (1472), Poem, Italy
- Paul Theroux (1)
- IN: The Lower River (2012) Fiction, American
EPIGRAPH: I said to him: "I've come -- but not for keeps. But who are you, become so horrible?" He answers: "Look. I am the one who weeps."
FROM: The Inferno, (1472), Poem, Italy
- Jon Grimwood (1)
- IN: Effendi (2001) Fiction, British
EPIGRAPH: I saw three faces on one head. One was an angry red, another between pale and yellow, the last like those who live where the Nile rises . . .
FROM: Inferno, Canto XXXIV, (1472), Poem, Italy
- David Hewson (1)
- IN: Dante's Numbers (2013) Fiction, British
EPIGRAPH: Midway upon the journey of our life
I found myself within a forest dark,
For the straightforward pathway had been lost.
FROM: The Divine Comedy, Inferno, Canto I., (1472), Poem, Italy
- Dan Simmons (1)
- IN: The Hollow Man (1992) Fiction, American
EPIGRAPH: Wandering between two worlds, one dead
The other powerless to be born
Thou shalt prove how salty tastes another’s bread, and how hard a path it is to go up and down another’s stairs.
FROM: Paradiso XVII, (1472), Poem, Italy
- Chioma Okereke (1)
- IN: Bitter Leaf (2010) Fiction, NULL
EPIGRAPH: O gifted men, vainglorious for first place, how short a time the laurel crown stays green.
FROM: The Divine Comedy, (1472), Book, Italy
- D. A. Mishani (1)
- IN: The Man Who Wanted to Know Everything (2015) Fiction, NULL
EPIGRAPH: When half way through the journey of our life
I found that I was in a gloomy wood,
because the path which led aright was lost.
And ah, how hard it is to say just what
this wild and rough and stubborn woodland was,
the very thought of which renews my fear!
So bitter 't is, that death is little worse;
but of the good to treat which there I found,
I'll speak of what I else discovered there.
FROM: Inferno, (1472), Poem, Italy
- Declan Hughes (1)
- IN: The Color of Blood (2007) Fiction, Irish
EPIGRAPH: We from the bridge’s head descended, where
To the eighth mound it joins, and then the chasm
Opening to view, I saw a crowd within
Of serpents terrible, so strange of shape
And hideous, that remembrance in my veins
Yet shrinks the vital current…
Amid this dread exuberance of woe
Ran naked spirits wing’d with horrid fear,
Nor hope had they of crevice where to hide,
Or heliotrope to charm them out of view.
FROM: The Divine Comedy, Inferno
Canto xxiv, (1472), Poem, Italy
- Anna Maria Porter (2)
- IN: The Knight of St. John: A Romance (1817) Fiction, British
EPIGRAPH: “Let its pure flame ** From Virtue flow, and love can never fail “To warm another's bosom, so the light “ Shine manifestly forth.”
FROM: Carey's Dante, (1814), Poem, Italy
- IN: The Fast of St. Magdalen (1819) Fiction, British
EPIGRAPH: Thou shalt leave Each thing beloved most dearly : 'tis the last shaft Shot from the bow of exile.
FROM: Carey's Dante, (1814), Poem, Italy
- R. Zamora Linmark (1)
- IN: Leche (2011) Fiction, American
EPIGRAPH: But to draw the lessons of the good that came my way, I will describe the other things I saw.
FROM: Inferno, (1472), Poem, Italy
- Alexander Lernet-Holenia (1)
- IN: Mona Lisa (1987) Fiction, German
EPIGRAPH: the Love that moves the sun and the other stars
FROM: The Divine Comedy, (1472), Poem, Italy
- Simon Levay (1)
- IN: The Donation of Constantine (2013) Fiction, British
EPIGRAPH: Ahi, Constantin, di quanto mal fu matre,
non la tua conversion, ma quella dote
che da te prese il primo ricco patre!
(Ah Constantine, how many evils did your deed give birth to -- not your conversion, but the gift that the first rich Pope received from you!
FROM: Inferno, (1472), Poem, Italy
- Alex Gordon (1)
- IN: Gideon (2015) Fiction, American
EPIGRAPH: Midway in our life's journey, I went astray from the straight road and woke to find myself alone in a dark wood.
FROM: Inferno, (1472), Poem, Italy
- Deborah Copaken Kogan (1)
- IN: Between Here and April (2008) Fiction, American
EPIGRAPH: Midway in our life's journey, I went astray from the straight road and woke to find myself alone in a dark wood.
FROM: The Inferno, (1472), Poem, Italy
- De Robertis, Carolina (1)
- IN: The Invisible Mountain (2009) Fiction, American
EPIGRAPH: But you, why do you return to so much woe? Why do ou not climb the delectable mountain, the source and cause of every happiness?
FROM: Inferno, (1814), Poem, Italy
- Jim DeFelice (1)
- IN: Leopards Kill (2007) Fiction, American
EPIGRAPH: Half along life's road
I lost my way in a dark wood,
Savage and fierce, its
Shadows more desolate than death.
I do not know how I got myself there,
But this is how I came back.
FROM: The Divine Comedy, (1472), Poem, Italy
- Steve Alten (1)
- IN: Grim Reaper: End of Days (2010) Science Fiction, Thriller, Suspense, American
EPIGRAPH: The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.
FROM: Dante’s Inferno, (1472), Poem, Italy
- Raffaella Barker (1)
- IN: A Perfect Life (2006) Fiction, NULL
EPIGRAPH: Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita
Mi ritrouvai per una selva oscura
Che la diritta via era smarrita.
In the middle of our life's path
I found myself in a dark wood
And the way forward was overgrown.
FROM: Divina Commedia 'Inferno', (1472), Poem, Italy
- David Guterson (1)
- IN: Snow Falling on Cedars (1995) Fiction, American
EPIGRAPH: In the middle of the journey of our life I came to myself
within a dark wood where the straight way was lost.
Ah, how hard a thing it is to tell what a wild,
and rough, and stubborn wood this was,
which in my thought renews the fear!
FROM: The Divine Comedy, (1472), Poem, Italy
- Gabriele D'Annunzio (3)
- IN: Il Fuoco (The Flame) (1900) Fiction, NULL
EPIGRAPH: fa come natura face in foco.
FROM: Paradiso, (1472), Poem, Italy
- IN: Francesca Da Rimini (1901) Play, NULL
EPIGRAPH: Amor che al cor gentil ratto s'apprende...
Amor che a nullo amato amar perdona...
Amor condusse noi ad una morte.
FROM: Inferno, (1472), Poem, Italy
- IN: The Flame of Life (Il Fuoco) (1900) Fiction, NULL
EPIGRAPH: fa come natura face in foco
FROM: NULL, (None), NULL, Italy
- Maurice Hewlett (1)
- IN: The Life and Death of Richard Yea-and-Nay (1900) Novel, British
EPIGRAPH: Sì che a bene sperar mi era cagione
Di quella fera alla gaietta pelle
FROM: Inf. i. 41., (1472), Poem, Italy
- Juan José Saer (1)
- IN: La Grande (2014) Fiction, NULL
EPIGRAPH: e vidi lume in forma di rivera
fulvido di fulgore, intra due rive
dipinte di mirabil primavera.
FROM: Paradiso, XXX 61-63, (1472), Poem, Italy
- Catherine Fisher (1)
- IN: Sapphique (2008) Fiction, Young Adult, British
EPIGRAPH: L'amor che muove il sole e l'altre stelle.
FROM: Divine Comedy, (1472), Poem, Italy
- Robert Penn Warren (1)
- IN: All the King's Men (1974) Fiction, American
EPIGRAPH: Mentre che la speranza ha fior del verde
FROM: La Divina Commedia, Purgatorio, III, (1472), Poem, Italy
- Amanda Craig (1)
- IN: In a Dark Wood (2000) Fiction, British
EPIGRAPH: Midway upon the journey of our life
I found that I had strayed into a wood
So dark the right road was completely lost.
How hard a thing it is for me to tell
Of that wild wood, so rugged and so harsh --
The very thought of it renews my fear!
So bitter it is, death were hardly worse.
But to explain the good I found therein
I will relate the other things I saw.
FROM: The Divine Comedy, Hell, Canto One, (1472), Poem, Italy
- Jennifer Donnelly (1)
- IN: Revolution (2010) Fiction, American
EPIGRAPH: I found myself within a forest dark,
For the straightforward pathway had been lost.
Ah me! How hard a thing it is to say,
What was this forest savage, rough, and stern,
Which in the very thought renews the fear.
So bitter is it, death is little more...
FROM: The Divine Comedy, (1472), Poem, Italy
- Richard Stern (1)
- IN: Other Men's Daughters (1973) Fiction, American
EPIGRAPH: For A
Cavalcando l'altr'ier per un cammino pensoso dell'andar, che mi sgradia, trovai Amor nel mezzo della via, in abito leggier di peregrino.
FROM: Vita Nuova, (1294), NULL, Italy
- Tom Sweterlitsch (1)
- IN: The Gone World (2018) Fiction, American
EPIGRAPH: If I have heard correctly, all of you can see ahead to what the future holds but your knowledge of the present is not clear.
FROM: Inferno, Canto X, (1472), NULL, Italy
- Julie Wassmer (1)
- IN: Murder on the Pilgrims Way (2017) Fiction, British
EPIGRAPH: What chance or destiny has brought you here before your final day?
And who is he who leads your pilgrimage?
FROM: Inferno, (1472), NULL, Italy
- Guy Gavriel Kay (1)
- IN: Tigana (1990) Fantasy, NULL
EPIGRAPH: All that you held most dear you will put by
and leave behind you; and this is the arrow
the longbow of your exile first lets fly.
You will come to know how bitter as salt and stone
is the bread of others, how hard the way that goes
up and down stairs that never are your own.
FROM: The Paradiso, (1472), Poem, Italy
- T. S. Eliot (1)
- IN: The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (1915) Poetry, British
EPIGRAPH: S'io credesse che mia riposta fosse
A persona che mai tornasse al mondo,
Questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse.
Ma perciocche giammai di questo fondo
Non torno vivo alcun, s'i'odo il vero,
Senza tema d'infamia ti rispondo.
FROM: Inferno, (1472), Poem, NULL
- de Assis, Machado (1)
- IN: Ésau e Jacó (1904) Novel, NULL
EPIGRAPH: Dico, che quando l'anima mal nata...
FROM: Inferno, (1472), Poem, NULL
- Romain Rolland (1)
- IN: Jean-Christophe (1904) Novel, French
EPIGRAPH: Dianzi, nell'alba che precede al giorno,
Quando l'anima tua dentro dormìa....
FROM: Purgatorio, ix., (1472), Poem, Italy