While reading Inferno, I realized the effect that Dante's past may have had on the epic.

Dante wrote this epic after he had received his lifelong exile sentence. He had also just lost the
one he loved the most, Beatrice. While analyzing the epic, I discovered the negative tone the epic
had, as well as the negative messages it included. There was especially negativity towards
religion throughout Inferno. This made sense to me as I put the pieces together from Dante's
exile from Florence.
In the introduction of the epic, Dante's political issues are briefly explained. Dante was a
leader of the White faction, who believed in being independent and did not want to be under the
pope's power. The problem was the opposition the White faction felt towards the Black faction.
The Black faction wanted the pope on their side, so they supported him. Even though Dante's
faction began with the power, the Black faction ended up with the power. As a result, Dante was
told to never return to Florence again.
The first hint of negativity in Inferno is the fact that it is completely about a journey
through hell. Dante may have felt he was realistically going through a journey through hell while
in exile since he had just lost Beatrice, as well as everything he knew in Florence. Throughout
the epic, it is obvious that Dante has a lot of depressing and dark feelings. For example, in the
beginning of the epic, he explains how he feels lost in sin. This is a result of guilt due to the
trouble he caused in Florence.
There is a lot of negativity towards religion in the epic. This is understandable because it
was the pope who exiled Dante from Florence. He must have felt a lot of hate for the pope, as
well as religion itself. When Dante speaks about religion or uses a religion allusion, he speaks
with sarcasm. For example, in one instance he reads, "Through me the way into the suffering
city, through me the way to the eternal pain, though me the way that runs among the lost". He is
clearly mocking God, who began many statements the same way.
The connection between Inferno and Dante's troubled past seemed obvious. I feel that if
he had not experienced the things he did, he would not have had so many dark feelings to
express in an epic. The negativity in the epic, especially towards religion, was not a coincidence.
Dante was miserable while in exile, and this epic was a portrayal of the misery he was feeling.