In INFERNO, Canto I, Dante comes awake in a dark wood. So now what? He knows he has to walk out. But where? And how?

This fourth episode of WALKING WITH DANTE is actually is the second passage we cover from INFERNO itself. Intriguingly, this is one of the few moments in the poem in which our pilgrim, Dante, is all by himself.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I start the first steps of the journey with the pilgrim. In this passage, we'll discover some of the lush poetry that has made COMEDY endure for over 700 years.

The first steps in a lot of journeys are rarely in the right direction. Particularly when you don't have a map.

Here's a breakdown of the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:

[01:13] My English translation of this passage: INFERNO, Canto 1, Lines 10 - 27. If you'd like to read along, print it off, make notes, or drop a comment, please go to my website: markscarbrough.com.

[02:48] The balance between the two central characters of the COMEDY: the poet who is writing the work and the pilgrim who is walking the journey.

[06:40] Is this a dream poem?

[08:49] The hill ahead--both for the pilgrim, as he starts his journey; and for us, as we start the poem.

[11:19] The lake of the heart: the start of the gorgeous language of Dante's poem.

[13:56] The poem's first simile: shipwreck.

[16:32] More about that hill just ahead.