The First Three Circles of Hell by Dante Alighieri

Read the nine circles of Scary Mommy’s Inferno here. “So don’t ‘Abandon all hope, ye who enter’ motherhood for, though the hours and days of motherhood be long, the years are short…or so I hear.” –Sarah Harris, “Mommy’s Inferno,” Scary Mommy (published updated December 2, 2020) I guess that’s the point of Mommy’s Inferno….that the inescapable moments of suffering we endure as mommies makes us stronger, better equipped to handle the challenges that come next, and more ready to enjoy the light of the good days that always follow the darkest nights of motherhood. “Dante had to figuratively travel through hell and back before enjoying the peace that came at the end of his journey. I think, had Dante been a Mommy, his Nine Circles of Hell may have looked a bit different…but no less dreadful.

I have learned that motherhood is both divine and, often, a comedy….and yes, there is suffering.

In fact, I haven’t even read Inferno, which is part of the epic poem the Divine Comedy, since the first time I trudged through (parts of) it in college, but I am a Mommy of three little kids. Now I’m no major Italian poet, nor am I on a quest to save my soul, allegorically or spiritually. “In his poem Inferno, Dante travels through nine separate circles of human suffering on his journey towards spiritual salvation. Tagged with: 2018, Africa, Circles of Hell, Côte d'Ivoire, Europe, France, Heaven, Hell, Inferno, Ivory Coast, Journeys, Justice, Painting, Purgatory, Redemption, Suffering Mommy’s Inferno, from Scary Mommy Weislogel and Laurent Ferri (2021 retrieved October 26, 2022) My Inferno is a theatre, a global vision of Hell and its circles, but also a sacred song of redemption.'” - Artistic Interpretations: Frank Schroeder, Cornell University Library’s Visions of Dante Exhibition, curated by Andrew C. Our souls can be delivered from evil through this long and hard journey. My Inferno becomes a ballet where souls, evils, judgments and penalties are mixed… Maybe we can be better and win our place in Heaven walking through the Good and The Bad. For me, Hell is not necessarily black and dark… The use of colors is also to illustrate the three parts of the poem: Hell, Purgatory and Heaven. I wanted to describe all the mixed feelings in Hell: justice, tears, cries, desperation, evil, suffering, redemption and sorrows.

“Of this work, Schroeder writes: ‘After reading The Divine Comedy, I was interested in having my own version of Hell and its different circles… I wanted my version more like a play than a painting.

The First Three Circles of Hell by Dante Alighieri