Why does Dante tell what appears to be the self-indulgent tale about smashing the baptismal font in Florence?

                                            They seemed to me

Not any wider or smaller than those designed

for the baptizings in my fair San Giovanni-

One of which many years ago I broke,
To save one drowning there:
(lines 14-18) 

Dante describes the 3rd ditch of circle 8 to contain multiple holes the same size of the holes which lie next to the baptismal tanks in the Florentine churches. It is important to note Dante's word choice as he describes these holes.  When Dante talks of these hellish holes, he does not use words such as 'similar to' or 'approximately'; rather he stresses their direct correlation to the Church's holes: "Not any wider or smaller than those designed". They are identical. He is highlighting the exactness of this comparison and saying 'watch reader, watch for this is specific and "not wider nor smaller', but it is exact. Through this line, Dante is saying in bold letters 'I am about to make a direct statement which contains exact significance. It is important to note that every line of Dante's Inferno has purpose. He is highlightind the fact that this line has purpose here by his word choice.

In this Canto, Dante makes some very bold and at worst blasphemous statements about the Church. He casts three popes in Hell, and he declares their very presence has produced fissures in the rocks. In Matthew 16, Jesus declares that "on this rock I shall build my church". With that scripture in mind, Dante is presenting the case that the popes have cracked and broken the rock of the original church. Dante is doing exactly what he did at San Giovanni, he is damaging the elements of the church. However since the reader has already been told by Dante that the above passage is exact and therefore purposeful, then we must take into serius consideration what happened in those above lines. He destroyed parts of the church to save someone. Dante is then also saying that he is breaking the church "to save" it from "drowning". Dante is exposing the dire faults of the church only to save it.

How Does the Geography of the Wood of Suicides contribute to the Meaning of the Text?

The 'total meaning' of the text in this wood of suicides is to show the consequences and dangers of selfishness. The meaning hints at the negation of things (specifically the negation of self). The 'total meaning' strives to represent the cost of things unnatural. Here in Canto XV, the poetry deals with the sin of Suicide.  Suicide is the sin, which is the very embodiment of negation (For you are literally negating the very thing which allows you to have the power of negation) but the root of this sin is selfishness. Also the act of this sin is to defy nature. The landscape of this canto is a barbaric wood with bare trees and thorny thickets. "The leaves not green, earth -hued;/ The boughs not smooth, knotted and crooked-forked;" This landscape is the very inverse of nature. Natural forests are lush and have green leaves. Also as Pinksy's notes so clearly explain the very poetry depicts the idea opf negation "the leaves not green... the boughs not smooth, knotted." The theme of selfishness is explored through the theme of contropasso. On earth above, the suicides were obsessed with self-pity and self-absorption, so as a consequence these suicides are forced to not have a recognizable being. Nobody else can see the 'self' or the identity of these suicides unless they harm these living bushes. This is the inversion of their act of sin. For in the suicide's act of sin, they attempted to exalt themselves and give identity to themselves
by harming themselves.

Close Encounter With Farinata

At the start of Canto X, the poets journey through the haunting sixth circle. In this Canto they reach the heretics, who lie in open graves. Farinata, calls out to Dante from his deep grave. He asks Dante to recount his ancestry, Farinta declares his separation from Dante, as Farinata has a more impressive family line. In this Canto, Dante the pilgrim, learns the punishment of the damned. They are clear about the history of the past and are able to prophecy the shifting future. However these heretics are unable to locate the events. Farinta attempts to once again show his supremacy over Dante by claiming the victory of his party over Dante's Guelf party. Yet Farinata's curse keeps him back from understanding the present, and Dante tells how the Guelfs have exiled Farinata's Ghibellines. The conversation is interrupted by another sinner, the father of Dnate's companion Guido. When their conversation renews, Farinata has had time to contemplate. He asks Dante why the Ghibellines have been outlawed. Dante tells him it was the carnage they brought upon Florence. Essentially the Ghibellines attack and division against their home city brought them exile. Farinata highlights the theme of division once again by declaring that he alone apposed the Ghibelline's plan to siege Florence. Then Farinata explains his curse to Dante, and he hints at Dante's gloomy future in exile. Farintata references some of the other sinners who lie with Him, and on this note... Dante departs.

The purpose of this conversation for Dante and the poem as a whole is twofold. Firstly, this passage highlights multiple divisions. Dante, the poet, stresses the divisions between Dante(the pilgrim) and Farinta in areas of ancestry, political standings, and knowledge of things past and future, Dante is able to showcase the problems with division in politics. Also he exposes the larger picture that heresy embodies and swears fidelity to division. In addition this passage's purpose is to dramatize Dante(the pilgim's) development. In his close encounters to this point Dante has responded incorrectly. He has either sided with the sinner in pity or he has enjoyed watching his enemies experiencing pain However he has not yet seen the righteousness of Divine Justice, he has failed to understand how each sinner experiencing ample punishment is the result of God's character and is therefore just. However after the conversation, the poem exposes Dante's thinking process. "My thoughts at work/ mulling over the words that bore such menace to me." Virgil explains to Dante "when you confront her radiance, whose eyes can see/ everything in their fair clarity, be assured  Then you shall learn what your life's journey will be" Though "the words" which Dante speaks of refer to the prophecy of his exile, still these lines tell that this close encounter deeply affected Dante and have lead to his development as a pilgrim.

Outline the fall of Constantinople in the context of the Fourth Crusade

The city of Constantinople had always marked the Christian (slightly) Western border against the harsh Islamic (Middle) East. However in 1202 western armies gathered for the 4th crusade. They were unable to raise enough funds to reach the Holy land, and took a detour to Venice. IN Venice the crusaders decided to work for money. The Venice politicians hired the crusaders to go to Constantinople and place the desired Venezian candidate up in Byzantium. The crusaders completed the task; yet the Byzantines killed the Prince shortly. The crusades were very upset, confused, and battle hungry. In this confusion they sacked Constantinople for the fist time and set up their own Latin Kingdom. The city which had consistently fought against Muslims now fell to its own Christian brothers.

Augustine to Roland Timeline

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Summarize Dante's journey thus far ...

Dante's journey begins in the middle of his life. Dante fully comprehends that he is lost and is not on the right road. He needs help. He tries to climb up a mountain to reach the illuminating sun. However he is forced back by three majestically beasts. The shade of the poet Virgil appears to Dante and offers to take Dante by another path to reach Dante's goal. On their way Virgil explains to Dante that this journey is divinely Willed. Virgil explains that he was commissioned by the beautiful Beatrice to be Dante's guide. They reach the haunting gates of Hell.
They cross over the River Acheron. Virgil shows Dante his eternal dwelling the place of Limbo. Here, Dante sees many virtuous pagans and becomes one of the six great poets. The poets descend deeper into hell. They reach the beast Minos, responsible to carrying out justice and casting the damned to their rightful place in hell. Here Dante sees the lustful, and talks with the two lovers Paolo and Francesca. Dante reaches the third circle, where the gluttonous dwell. Dante meets his acquaintance, Ciacco. Dante  reveals some political knowledge to Ciacco, Ciacco in-turn talks of a Florentine prophecy.
The poets come upon Plutus, a foul demon. In this 4th circle Virgil shows Dante the souls overcome by anger, and reveals some wisdom about Justice and the Divine. The poet, Dante, spends much time describing the clergy who after a life of arguing are forced to crash boulders into each other.  The poets are ferried across cross the river Styx to the hellish city Dis. Virgil is unable to convince the fallen angles to allow them passage through Dis' gates. The poets wait until heaven sends down a powerful angel, he forces the demons away and opens the gates for the poets' passage. The poets continue through circle 6. Here, Dante sees the heretics buried in their graves. Dante meets Epicurus and Farinata, who know the past and future well but are muddled about the future. This dispels the myth that the damned are omniscient.
In Canto XI the poets pause to become accustomed to the smell. Here Virgil explains the landscape of Hell to be a descending funnel. He lays out the three rings of the upcoming circle, circle 7.In circle 7, the poets meet three centaurs. One named Nessus helps Dante cross the river of blood, where those who committed sins of blood-lust and violence drown. They enter into the circle's second ring to the forest of suicides. All the souls here negated their own being either by suicide or out-spending their own resources. As Dante enters the third ring, he describes its intriguing, dream-like structure, which has some similarities and landmarks of the above earth. The poets descend deeper into the funnel; Dante sees his mentor Brunetto Latini. Among Brunetto are those who committed sodomy. The humanist and the nature-defying character of Brunetto is portrayed as Dante's intellectual father. This exposes how intellectualism has its limits and punishments for Dante. In these last cantos in ring three of Hell's 7th circle Dante meets three sodomites, who were once Florentine politicians. The poets ride the Geryon out of the seventh circle. This awe-full monster is a mix of classical and biblical legend and prophecy. His fearful and disgusting presence chills Dante.
The poets enter the eight circle which consists of multiple evil-pouches. In these pouches lie souls who committed sins of fraud. They lie caked in filth and mud. In the first pouch Dante discourses with an ashamed
Florentine politician.

How do the stylistic figures of Dante's Inferno directly impact the way poetry creates meaning?

In canto X, Virgil instructs Dante to "choose fitting words". Dante is truly a master of language; every word he uses combines the power of specific definition, sound, and symbolism to create truth and overall meaning. Pinsky stays true to Dante's intention and recreates Dante's overall meaning with fitly framed words as well. All over the Inferno readers find examples of literary figures creating deeper meaning with in the poetry. For this blog I will focus on the first three lines of Canto VII.

"Pape Satan, pape Satan, aleppe!"
          Plutus began in a gluttural, clucking voice.
          The courteous sage who knew all reassured me:

The first line is gibberish, yet the words sound as if they resemble the phrase "father satan, father satan, the first one." In the words of Nicole Pinksy, Dante's "skillfully written nonsense" "has succeeded in putting evocative gibberish the poem. This is an example of Dante using word definition to create meaning. He skilfully plays with the words so their exact definition is unclear yet the meaning is clear. In this first phrase certain sounds are repeated such as the 'p' and the 'eh' sound at the end of pape. Also the next line includes onomatopoeia words (clucking) which This provides a "gluttural" sound which causes the demonic words to pop out, and therefore add to the fear and disturbing feeling Dante experiences while in Hell.  Dante also uses a blend of chiasmus and antithesis The beginning of the line begins with confusion. The language is of demonic tongue. Yet it ends with the word "reassured". Instead of the beginning of the line paralleling the end of the terza rhima, instead the end of the line provides juxtaposition to the beginning of the line. This rearrangement of chiasmus gives the first terza rhima a complete feeling which causes this episode to stay inside the reader's mind. It also highlights how Hell is incomplete, or just-not-right, and slightly off-
balance.  

Canto 8 Summary and Analysis of Imagery

Dante and Virgil continue on towards a fire-lit tower. Here, Phlegyas the boatman carries them across River Styx to the city, Dis. As they glide over the cloudy channel, Dante recognizes his political enemy, Filippo. Dante is truly pleased to see him suffering ample punishment. Upon their arrival of Dis, Virgil leaves the boat to discuss their passage through the gates. Dante is forced to wait, guide-less, The rebellious demons refuse Virgil. The Roman poet returns to Dante, and claims as their journey is Willed in heaven they must await divine assistance.

The canto opens with the poets eyes following two small flames (fiammette), towards a tower (Dante Canto 8; ll. 3). These faint lights are answered by a barley visible beacon from far away. A boat travels towards them, as quickly as an arrow through skimming across the sky. All this imagery alludes to something far away... the small lights, the far-away beacon, a boat forced to travel far distances like an arrow. The imagery exposes how something far that "the eye could barely catch" is coming (Dante Canto 8; ll. 6). In line 64, the poets enter the city of Dis, which is where the more intense punishments take place (Dante Canto 8). Also Dis is the place of Virgil's underworld (Aeneid Book 6). The previous landscape of the poem set the tone for the deeper and harsher part of hell.

"The walls of that bleak city, which seemed cast

of solid iron;" (Dante Canto 8; ll. 73-74)

Why does Dante Choose the Roman Poet Virgil as His Guide Through Hell?

"Then you are Virgil? Are you the font that pours

So overwhelming a river of human speech?" (Dante, lines 61-62)

As Dante chooses Virgil as his guide through hell, he is setting his Commedia up as an insta-classic. Virgil's works were highly revered among medieval Florence, and in saying that Vigil is the guide of Dante, the journeyer, Dante is sort of saying that Virgil is the symbolic guide of the poet Dante. Any works done in the guidance of Virgil would be classics (Not to mention Dante borrows Virgil's concept, landscape and characters of Hell). Dante is placing himself amongst the greats by referencing and including Virgil, the great.

In addition when considering Virgil's role in the Inferno, it is important to note the role of a guide. A guide pushes the traveler. The guide helps and well guides... The guide does not create the exact experience of the traveler, rather he sets the journeyer up in a better position to better experience the journey. Dante consatnly places Virgil under "the false gods who lied" . Perhaps by giving Virgil the role of guide, Dante is stating that he is taking off were Virgil left off. Dante's works are the Christian classic and the only way he could have got to writhing the Christian classic was by standing on the pre-established shoulders of Virgil.