Hello my fellow students! For this post, I want to discuss Dante now that I have gone through most of our trip to Italy.

 

(I figure since I’m writing this in Bologna, this picture is appropriate)

In my Dante class, one of our assignments was to write a creative piece about our experience in Italy and how it relates to Dante. I decided to write a poem since my creative bulb was not quite lit and it was the only thing I could think of. I have it posted below. Feel free to read it or not. Fair warning, it is cheesy and rhymey:

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I descended into Italy like Dante into Hell

I thought about what to to expect and thought it would be swell.

Yet just like Dante I was filled with a little trepidation,

Cause being without much world culture, I was facing my damnation.

But I knew I had to journey on ignoring all my fears,

Not going on this trip, I knew, I’d regret it all my years

Because aside from fun and class I knew this trip would bring

By going back to where I’m from, I’d hope to find something-

Something greater than a treasure, I’d find myself like Dante

For Italy is my dark woods, I want to come to me

So first I stopped in Rome and saw the amazing Coliseum,

Which filled me with the hope and wonder of a lost civilization.

And then I found my grace with God as I went into His home

And truly felt like I was there, sitting on his throne.

I felt a special connection to God and Dante did as well

So after I packed up my things, I descended further into Hell.

The welcome was a cold and wet one as I stepped into this city

The city of Firenze warmed me with Brunelleschi and Da Vinci

And not a man, this David I saw, but something so much more.

He was a symbol for inspiration, his shadow reflecting off the marble floor

And so I sit here and reflect on the things that I have seen

That I can’t seem to get enough, like the sinners of greed

Yet it is with the unbaptized that I feel like I relate

Cause being here has made me stop and think about my fate

By seeing what the artists, with their simple times, what they can do

Then what is stopping me from achieving greatness too?

Going into this I did not know what quite to expect

But now I realize, along with Dante, how intense this is, our trek

Like Dante, i hope, I will find out my life’s true meaning

Even if i lose myself, I know I’ll be found beaming

Because my journey has already started and there is no turning back

I will soon find out the meaning of my life in which I lack.

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No matter where I go or what I see, there is a little bit of Dante everywhere. Dante, like Italy, has helped to inspire me in ways I haven’t before. I want to follow the Italian Renaissance philosophy that Humans can do anything. Whether you believe in a God/Higher power(s) or not, you still have the ability to achieve great things. All the great artists we saw on this trip had nothing compared to what we do today. The building they made, paintings they designed, statues they carved, all could be done faster and simpler in modern times. But the artist refused to let that stop them. They pushed onward and found a way to do what they wanted to do. And that, my friends, is inspiration.

You do not have to go on some amazing journey or write a really, really, really  long poem to be great like Dante. You just have to show your passion and your mind and be yourself.  This trip was valuable to me in so many ways and I am truly fortunate I got to share it all with you. We have grown bigger, become smarter, more aware, and most importantly, closer as friends and even “families”.