Figurative Language
Dante makes reference to this mythical monster to give the reader a quick understanding of the potential danger of becoming stone.
Who is Medusa?
For this reason does Dante close his eyes.
Who is Medusa? or What is turning to stone?
The phrase "beating down, bearing off branches" has this type of sound device.
What is alliteration?
The choice of the words "optic nerve" in place of eyes adds this mood to the poem.
What is discomfort or creeps?
Dante describes the angel in a figurative comparison in the line "had the look of one who is obsessed by other cares" to suggest this about the angel.
Dante notes this emotion in response to the Furies to compliment the description and reinforce his tone.
What is fear?
When the angel pushes the "thick air from his face" the word "thick" acts like a pseudo onomatopoeia for this reason.
How is the th sound is slow to pronounce especially followed by an i?
The word "harbor" in the angels question about why the Furies "harbor" their pride, has this meaning that would differ from something simpler like keep.
Dante uses this kind of device in "beneath the veil of verses" to point out that there is hidden meaning in his writing.
What is a metaphor?
Dante speaks to the reader saying they are "possessed of sturdy intellect" in order to have this response from his reader.
What is feeling complimented?
What is the breathy H sound?
The angel avoids actually naming this but rather uses "Will" to emphasize that these monsters are so far from this that they don't even get to hear the name.
What is God or Heaven?
The line "as frogs confronted by their enemy, the snake, will scatter underwater ... ruined souls I saw" is particularly relevant to this particular location for this reason.
What is the setting of a dirty river?
Dante uses this aside in the first tercet to suggest that his physical body and mind were out of place in hell.
What is the line about not remembering because of his eyes?
The translator uses the phrase "reboantic fracas" which has this sound pattern/quality to make the sound parallel to the meaning. The phrase means a loud echoing and chaotic noise.
How is it difficult to say, lots of percussive letters, etc?
The use of the word disdain suggests this about the angel, which is actually ironic and suggests both Heaven and Hell are to be feared.
The angel and the Furies are both described in terms of this metaphor/noun, which creates tension because one is good and the others bad.
What is a snake?
Dante gives a description of the Furies that makes this assumption about the reader, and it results in a jumbled and partial description.
What is assuming the reader knows about Furies?
This quality of the lines introducing Medusa versus the Furies suggests that Medusa is more graceful or regal
"Queen of never-ending lamentation- said: "Look at the ferocious Erinyes! That is Megaera on the left, and she who weeps upon the right, that is Allecto; Tisiphone's between them"
What is the way the Medusa line flows with an even rhythm, while the Fury lines have a very chaotic and disrupted meter?
In the last given line, he uses "lamentation" and "atrocious" to show two parallel descriptions of the circle because they have this difference in meaning.
What is crying out to tell about a sadness versus a bad thing that is also repulsive?