The bright sunlight that basks the mountain’s side represents the knowledge gained after experiencing a journey. The personification of the mountainside as “delightful” and “full of joy” hints that the joy gained from climbing the mountain is everlasting. (I.77). When compared to the forest below the mountain, one can argue that the joy gained from mountain is the achievement of knowledge. The mountain however, represents the journey required in order to achieve this happiness, rather only through the exposure of the sunlight on the mountainside does one truly gain knowledge. The poem’s personification of the sun’s rays
The dark and isolated forest represents a location without sunlight, thus location depraved of intelligence. Dante’s description of the forest as a “dark wood” where he “was lost” depicts him as not containing any knowledge, since one who knows and understands an area won’t become lost (I.2). Furthermore, Dante’s use of alliteration in “so savage” and “strong” emphasizes the words savage and strong. In particular, the word is often associated with untamed people who don’t value intelligence (I.5). Furthermore, the natural location of the forest itself suggests that the woods are typically viewed as an area without knowledge. Dante’s personification of the mountain’s “shoulders cloth[ing] the rays of the planet,” emphasizes the idea that the forest is without the sun’s intelligent rays and describing the eerie shadow that the mountain casts upon the forest below it…show more content… Its important for poem to describe Dante as lost in a forest underneath the mountain’s shadow, since it establishes Dante’s character. Dante wonders endlessly throughout the forest ignorant and incapable of discovering wisdom of the sun, because his primal instincts of greed, violence, and fraud prevent him from truly achieving
