Canto 26

When Dante spoke to Ulysses or Odysseus, Ulysses said to Dante, “Language, the tip of it flickering to and fro threw out a voice and answered.” The fact that Ulysses is in hell telling this tale reminded me of another body of literature. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is embodied in this Canto due to the similarity of the pain both characters suffer in sharing their tale. In the Ancient Mariner, the Mariner is cursed to tell his tale to those who come across his path, it is similar to Ulysses because he is in hell suffering and Dante comes along and he tells his tale. This connection brought me back to my high school days because my AP English class focused on the Ancient Mariner and I saw it embodied in canto 26. I believe this supports the work as a whole because Dante did use many other references but he was able to indiscreetly mention another body of work.

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