The poem starts on Maundy Thursday in the year 1300.

[2] The narrator, Dante himself, is thirty-five

years old, and thus "halfway along our life's path" (Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita) half of the
Biblical lifespan of seventy (Psalms 89:10, Vulgate). The poet finds himself lost in a
dark wood (selva oscura) in front of a mountain, assailed by three beasts (a lion, a lonza [usually
rendered as "leopard" or "leopon"],[3] and a she-wolf) he cannot evade. Unable to find the "straight
way" (diritta via, also translatable as "right way") to salvation, he is conscious that he is ruining
himself and falling into a "deep place" (basso loco) where the sun is silent (l sol tace).
Dante is at last rescued by the Roman poet Virgil, who claims to have been sent by Beatrice, and
the two of them begin their journey to the underworld. Each sin's punishment inInferno is
a contrapasso, a symbolic instance of poetic justice; for example, fortune-tellers have to walk
forward with their heads on backward, unable to see what is ahead, because they tried to see the
future through forbidden means. Such a contrapasso "functions not merely as a form of divine
revenge, but rather as the fulfilment of a destinyfreely chosen by each soul during his or her life."[4]
Dante passes through the gate of Hell, which bears an inscription ending with the famous phrase
"Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate", most frequently translated as "Abandon all hope, ye who
enter here."[5]
Before entering Hell completely, Dante and his guide see the Uncommitted, souls of people who in
life did nothing, neither for good nor evil; among these Dante recognizes eitherPope Celestine
V or Pontius Pilate (the text is ambiguous). Mixed with them are outcasts who took no side in
the Rebellion of Angels. These souls are neither in Hell nor out of it, but reside on the shores of
the Acheron, their punishment to eternally pursue a banner (i.e. self interest) while pursued
by wasps and hornets that continually sting them asmaggots and other such insects drink their blood
and tears. This symbolizes the sting of their conscience and the repugnance of sin. This may also be
seen as a reflection of the spiritual stagnation they lived in. As with the Purgatorio and Paradiso,
the Inferno has a structure of 9+1=10, with this "vestibule" different in nature from the nine circles of
Hell, and separated from them by the Acheron.