Canto V Paragraphs. Before and After Revisions.

Canto V Tone Paragraph

Dante’s cruel diction fulfills Dante’s purpose of making the reader scared of and not-wanting to go to Circle Two of Hell. When Dante approaches the second circle he can begin to hear and feel the wickedness; He says,” I can hear the notes of agony In sad crescendo beginning to reach my ear; Now I am where the noise of lamentation Comes at me in blasts of sorrow” (5:24-27). In using expressions as malicious as “I can hear the notes of agony in sad crescendo,” and,” Noise of lamentation comes at me in blasts of sorrow” the noise and scene is vividly imagined by the reader to be incredibly sinister. Later in the canto constant tempest in the second circle is described by Dante. Dante writes,” The hurricane of Hell in perpetual motion Sweeping the ravaged spirits as it rends, Twists, and torments them. Drives as if to land, They reach the ruin: groaning, tears, laments” (5:30-34). Phrases like, “Sweeping the ravaged spirits as it rends, twists, and torments them,” invoke feelings of pain in the reader by being so brutally descriptive.  By using grim and pain-invoking diction in Canto 5, Dante makes the reader want to avoid ever going to Hell and its second circle.

Canto V Tone Paragraph Revised

Dante’s cruel diction fulfills Dante’s purpose of making the reader terrified of and not-wanting to go to Circle Two of Hell. When Dante approaches the second circle he begins to hear and feel the wickedness. Dante says,” I can hear the notes of agony In sad crescendo beginning to reach my ear; Now I am where the noise of lamentation Comes at me in blasts of sorrow” (5:24-27). Dante’s point in using expressions like “I can hear the notes of agony in sad crescendo,” and,” Noise of lamentation comes at me in blasts of sorrow” is so the noise and scene is vividly imagined by the reader to be incredibly sinister and horrid so the reader will try to never go there. Later in the canto Dante describes the constant tempest in the Second Circle of Hell. Dante writes,” The hurricane of Hell in perpetual motion sweeping the ravaged spirits as it rends, Twists, and torments them. Drives as if to land, they reach the ruin: groaning, tears, laments” (5:30-34). Dante’s purpose in using malicious phrases like, “Sweeping the ravaged spirits as it rends, twists, and torments them,” is to invoke feelings of pain in the reader by being so brutally descriptive.  By using grim and pain-invoking diction in Canto 5, Dante makes the reader want to avoid ever going to Hell and its second circle.