"Midway in our life's journey, I went astray / from the straight road and woke to find myself / alone in a dark wood / . . .How I came to it I cannot rightly say, / So drugged and loose with sleep had I become."
That's how Dante starts Inferno. He was 35 years old, half-way through the "Christian" life-span of 70. The allegory could be read as strictly religious; that Dante has strayed from a life of virtue and has fallen into sin. Or, you could read it as more secular –that a now 30-something Dante is waking up to a life riddled with promise but also broken dreams, a non-existent career, and an uncertain future. He was an exile, an artist, a political visionary . . .and at this time lost in his life. Sometimes that feeling is scary. Dante, in his poem, after all, has to travel to Hell and back. But I think sometimes that feeling can be inspirational, being in the dark wood can lend us wisdom (Virgil does come to Dante there!) . . .I'm not saying you'll write something as good as the Divine Comedy, but I think Dante used the same feelings that you're experiencing and describing in this essay to attend to his art.
What an insightful thought. I like the idea that you could take it either way, I do feel like many people experience this in some sense. so many things pulling us in so many directions, which is both inspiring and distracting.
"Midway in our life's journey, I went astray / from the straight road and woke to find myself / alone in a dark wood / . . .How I came to it I cannot rightly say, / So drugged and loose with sleep had I become."
That's how Dante starts Inferno. He was 35 years old, half-way through the "Christian" life-span of 70. The allegory could be read as strictly religious; that Dante has strayed from a life of virtue and has fallen into sin. Or, you could read it as more secular –that a now 30-something Dante is waking up to a life riddled with promise but also broken dreams, a non-existent career, and an uncertain future. He was an exile, an artist, a political visionary . . .and at this time lost in his life. Sometimes that feeling is scary. Dante, in his poem, after all, has to travel to Hell and back. But I think sometimes that feeling can be inspirational, being in the dark wood can lend us wisdom (Virgil does come to Dante there!) . . .I'm not saying you'll write something as good as the Divine Comedy, but I think Dante used the same feelings that you're experiencing and describing in this essay to attend to his art.
What an insightful thought. I like the idea that you could take it either way, I do feel like many people experience this in some sense. so many things pulling us in so many directions, which is both inspiring and distracting.
Thanks for the comment good sir 👌🏾