Allegories, Similes, and Metaphors, Oh My!

Okay, so as you may have noticed Dante is a main character in this here story. That comes with certain obligations. Dante was very concerned with the responsibility of the writer to the reader and conversely the reader’s responsibility to be a “good” reader. 

So, I’m just going to throw out there that the references in the text don’t just lay there. As much as possible, (I’m no Dante. I’m not even Dickinson. I don’t even know the words to the Yellow Rose of Texas.), I tried to make every word justify its life in the story. References do have relationships (mostly just dating, nothing serious. These references have been around the block a few times.) with other references .

For example: When Dante’s heart leaps like a salmon in his chest swimming up the broken rapids of the River Po. It's intended as: 1) a funny statement 2) an intro to the parallels between Paolo and Francesca vs. Buffy and Spike. Francesca lived in Ravenna which is within the Po River Delta. 3) A river reference, which Dante was very fond of using 4) the river is broken, referring  to the broken and violent nature of desire 5) the salmon swims upstream to spawn. 6) A reference to Edgar Allen Po(e), sad death depressed guy, with those buried alive fears, AKA Buffy. 7) A reference to the band Po(e), which was playing when I wrote this.

Okay, so not every statement in the story is like that (I’m not that good a writer), but I tried as much as possible. Or not. I can be capricious.

  1. By no means or thought or deed should it be thought that I own: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel the Series, the Divine Commedia, the Aeneid or anyone else that I mention in the story. Of course, the bulk of everyone is waaaaay out of copy write. Heck, they barely had writing much less copy.
  2. Well, known literature fact. (Note: once you know, you can never go back.) You can recite any and all of the poetry of Emily Dickinson to the melody of the Yellow Rose of Texas. Try it.
  3. S-1, Calliope, Musing Greek of epic poetry. Edith Hamilton, Lesser Gods of Olympus.
  4. S-1  Melpomene, Tragic Greek of poetic musing. Edith Hamilton, Lesser Gods of Olympus.
  5. S-1, Terspichore, Rap Tap Tapping, Spinning, Waltzing, Hip Hopping Muse of the Dance. Edith Hamilton, Lesser Gods of Olympus.
  6. S-1, Isn’t it incredibly coincidental that Spike would fight an amalgamation of the creatures that attacked Dante at the beginning of Inferno? Inferno I.
  7. S-1, Gotta love literary quotes like that. Purgatory IX.
  8. S-1, Laurell Hamilton writes a series of books about Anita Blake, vampire executioner. It’s a very tight series with a well developed world (the supernatural is real, the ACLU got Vampires/Demons/ Werecritters rights under the law). They are also really, really, Really violent. And then there’s the sex. Weird supernatural, descriptive, well I guess a supernatural being could do that, tilt your head to one side, eh?, wow, sex. Each book being somewhat more so. So, yeah, Spike and Buffy might be influenced. A Kiss of Twilight, Laurell Hamilton.
  9. S-1, Ah, yes. Block of cement. For those not into hanging around Buffy message boards, the idea is that James Marsters has so much charisma that you could pair him romantically with a block of cement and we (the fans) would all end up becoming Spike/block of cement shippers. The funny thing is that block of cement also works well with the whole desire, rima petrosa theme I’ve got going. 
  10. S-1, The White Guelphs were a political party in medieval Florence who supported the Pope as a political figure or was it the Holy Roman Emperor? Whatever. Medieval politics.
  11.  S-1, Phaeton, son of Apollo/Helios and the nymph Clymene, borrowed his father’s car (the sun) and crashed it. Phaeton was not insured. Metamorphoses bk I.
  12. S-1, Mars, it comes up a lot. Cause you know. It’s red and all violent and stuff.
  13. S-1Area on the Po where they raise eels.
  14. S-1Erato, yet another muse. The muse of luuuve poetry. Edith Hamilton, Lesser Gods of Olympus.
  15. S-1Antiope, an Amazon Queen. Wife to Theseus. Then she died. Actually, I think I remember that one from Phaedra by Jean Racine, which is more than a little second hand.
  16. S-1Titan dude, had like a 1000 eyes. Hermes was sent to rescue Zeus’ new main squeeze, who had, get this, been transformed into a cow. MOO. The fly actually stung the cow not Argus, but this sounded cooler and well, Dante did not exactly speak Greek. Metamorphoses, bk I.
  17. S-1Convivio, which is Italian for banquet. Dante intended it as a summation of philosophical thought in terms laymen, and laywomen could understand. Mainly, it was a nah, nah, see how much I know. How about ya rescind that exile thing. Haven't read it yet, but anything that starts, "As the Philosopher says at the beginning of the First Philosophy, all men by nature desire to know. The reason for this can be and is that each thing, impelled by a force provided by its own nature, inclines towards its own perfection. Since knowledge is the ultimate perfection of our soul, in which resides our ultimate happiness, we are all therefore by nature subject to a desire for it." sounds pretty cool.
  18. S-1I hate to annotate this hoary chestnut, but whatever. Left handed – i.e. sinister
  19. S-1, Yes, that’s right. Virgil is dead, a ghost, a shade, he’s got a body, but it’s buried off somewhere else. The funny thing is, he can pick things up, carry things, but living people can’t touch him. Unless, you’re Dante. In which case, there’s God-al (like Papal only better) dispensation. Well, actually in the books it’s saved people who can’t touch him, cause you know, wandering around the realms of the dead, but you know whatever.
  20. S-1Christ said, “Don’t hide your light under a bushel.” Virgil was unfortunately, has this been mentioned yet, died before Christ was born. Matthew 5:16
  21. S-1For those who don’t hang out on Buffy Message Boards, at the start of S6 some fans (not liking the turn in Spike’s character) started referring to Spike as Brad. In their opinion the “real” Spike was off somewhere cavorting with Drucilla and being all things Evil. Evil I say.
  22. S-1Hades, lord of the Dead, and Persephone, his wife, goddess of Spring. So, basically, here they are, she’s gone 6 months out of the year. When she comes home, I’m thinking big time reunion. Anyway, I wanted to play with the whole notion of looking up and down. What with the stair fetish on the show. Metamorphoses bk V.
  23. S-1Les Laisons  Dangereuses. So, sue me. It had to be done. SMG was in a like modern remake, Cruel Intentions.
  24. S-1A wild and wacky Roman Emperor somewhat after Virgil’s time. Question is has Buffy been watching I Claudius or the X-rated movie Caligula?
  25. S-2By Garbage. Very depressing song about not being able to deal with stuff anymore. Which means that I love the song.
  26. S-2Funny thing is Dante met Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord. Inferno XXXI, Genesis 10:9
  27. S-2Psychotic drunks of Greek mythology. Don’t get them started. Really. Metamorphoses Bk XI.
  28. S-2, Ah, yes, the bit with the pope with the feet. One of Dante’s biggest political nemeses was the pope in his day. Although, the Pope was alive at the time that Dante wrote the book, Dante has another damned pope (damned as in he’s in hell, not an in an expletive) foresee that Pope Pius will soon be roasting in hell. Never mess with a poet.
  29. S-2Carthage – home of Dido, who Venus, Aeneas’ mom, causes to fall in love with Aeneas so Dido will help him do plot stuff. They become lovers, but his destiny is elsewhere, so he abandons her. Poor Dido. As she watches him sail away, she sets herself on fire, cause you know, that’ll show him. The bit about abandoning his wife is actually a separate matter. So, Troy was on fire. Aeneas threw his father over one shoulder, grabbed his son’s hand and ran for safety. His wife, who really should have been able to keep up, didn’t and died horribly, horribly, tragically, tragically in the fire. Oh, well.
  30. S-2, Umm…30 pieces of silver was the price that Judas took to sell out Christ. Then he felt bad and hung himself. Then Dante saw him in hell being chewed on by Satan. So, given the whole Buffy messiah thing (she did come back from the dead, twice!) this may have been a bad idea on Spike’s part.
  31. S-2It’s late, the sun is rising in France.
  32. S-2It's remarkably odd that Virgil doesn't know what an apocalypse is and yet knows the difference between the Love's Bitch theory and the Love's Bitch theory. On one hand it may be that whole, he's damned so can't understand salvation thing or I might suspect him of humor.
  33. S-2Ah, Willow. This is chock full of stuff, which aren’t going to get separate references. People in the afterlife (who can see the future) are always making predictions to Dante, which are true because the book is set in 1300 and was written years later. Dante did go to Rome and was subsequently exiled from Florence. He ended up in Ravenna. Dante saw both the Furies and Ulysses in Hell. And yes, there are levels in hell for both witches and gays. However, since he seems a bit choked up about his gay teacher and well, 1300, I don’t hold it against him. Willow on the other hand has a right to be irked as a triply damned: Jewish, Lesbian, Witch, which she isn’t anymore, because has a problem with the magic.
  34. S-2Fortune favors the brave, but abandons the timid. Aeneid, bk. 10, l. 284 
  35. S-2This is my favorite Tick quote.
  36. S-2No definitely humor. Odysseus is a character in the Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer (not Simpson). Odysseus’s plan, the Trojan horse, brought about the fall of Troy/fair Illium. As he was on his wonder tour of the Mediterranean, see the Odyssey, he came to the land of the lotus eaters. Ahem, Lotus Land is a nickname for LA. Odyssey Book IX.
  37. S-2This is the third book to the Ars Amatoria – Aka the guide to picking up chicks in ancient Rome. This would tend to indicate that Spike knows perfectly well who Virgil is and is being a jerk. Oh, and I suppose I should mention that the 3rd book of the Ars is about how to fall out of love. 
  38. S-2Absalom rebelled against his father, King David. However, David, asked his generals to be kind to Absalom for his sake. Joab killed Absalom. Oddly enough, Joab ends up chewing David out for being all full of sack cloth lamentation. Told it like he saw it did Joab.  2 Samuel 18&19.
  39. S-2Zephyrus, Greek god of the west wind. Nice guy too. Very mild. Hesiod.
  40. S-3Athenian orator who used to practice public speaking with rocks in his mouth to improve his pronunciation. He was later accused of taking a bribe, which come to think of it is pretty similar to Dante. Later, unlike Dante, he poisoned himself with ink from a quill pen. Also, alleged to have wandered around with a lantern looking for an honest man. No wait, that was Diogenes. Never mind. Diogenes, Damocles, Demosthenes. All these dead white guys in chitonic (although not chuthuloid)  togas look alike.
  41. S-3Greek Fire - not invented until the middle ages. How does Virgil know about it? Virgil gets Nova and the History channel, he knows everything. Dante however has no idea what gasoline or internal combustion are or will be, but lived well after they started lobbing Greek Fire at ships. Does this count as another seafaring reference? At which point you ask, I just wanted to know what Greek fire was...well, ahem, think napalm only medieval and with a base of Texas tea, oil that is. Source. I don't  know. My formerly of the SCA, but still my, friends.
  42. S-3Monday and Tuesday of course. Monday/Lunae dies (Latin) is the moon’s day.  Tuesday / Mars dies (Latin) is dedicated to the Germanic (Tiw) and Roman (Mars) gods of war respectively. And since I’m short on astrological references, I had Virgil reference Mars, the red planet., rather than Mars the god of war. I think someone on the Buffy Philosophy board mentioned this one.
  43. S-3Yes, Xander has the sound track to the Little Mermaid. So, if this is a song about accepting who you are and the weirdness that is your life, hmmm.
  44. S-3, Dante is talking about the Wood of the Suicides in Hell. Basically, if you kill yourself, not only do you go straight to Hell, but unlike everyone else in Hell, you don’t exist in your previous shape. You become a twisted, bent, knotty tree. When someone (namely the harpies) breaks a branch, the tree bleeds and begins to speak in sibilant whispers, like a hanged man (or woman, Hell is equal opportunity. Well, actually, come to think of it, there aren’t many women in Hell. I’m not going to do a count, but there may be more Popes than women. Then again percentage wise, more Popes had armies at the time.).
  45. S-3His daughter, thus so obliquely referred to in the Vita Nuova.
  46. S-3The Sabine brides were kidnapped by the Trojans, who somehow forgot to bring their wives with them from Troy. Oh, well. (Okay, actually I'm told that it was Romulus for his brand new city, Tatius VII. So, much for accuracy.) And, of course, this is from the Aeneid by our boy Virgil, bk VIII. Really, that parts true. It's on a pretty shield. A very big shield.
  47. S-3Aurora – Roman Goddess of the Dawn. Footnotes from my Dante translation.
  48. S-3Unforgiven II, by Metallica. I have varied tastes.
  49. A-1Venus, the morning star, is in conjunction with the constellation of the Fishes in the spring. Purgatorio, Bk I.
  50. A-1Hannibal Lector, in both the book and the movie Hannibal, recites the Dream of the Burning Heart from Dante’s Vita Nuova to the wife of a man that he is planning on giving a lesson in medieval literature (i.e., don’t cross Hannibal or he will get medieval on your prosterior.). In the poem of the Burning Heart, Dante wakes from a dream to see Love standing before him holding Beatrice. Love give Beatrice Dante’s burning heart to eat, which she does, timidly. Dante being Dante, wrote a poem about it. Hannibal being Hannibal, did something else.
  51. A-1Psalm 137, By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and we wept when we remembered Sion…Psalms, 136. Hebrew courtesy of O'Jerusalem. Because I'm not that educated.
  52. A-1You’d think that this would sum up the reference, but no. Cause ya see, I just want to rub in/just make sure that you like know the whole, Dante went into exile thing. Well, that’s it. The question is what does the Everclear symbolize? The transparent nature of the soul in heaven?
  53. A-2The Bridge of Sighs is a bridge in Venice which leads between the Palace of the Doge and the prison next door. It was called the Bridge of Sighs because prisoners sighed as they saw the sky for the last time. By common tradition, it was a one way journey. The tour guide.
  54. A-2 Ahem, this is a Virgilian simile. Think sheep, fields, pastoral splendor in the green, green grass by the great gray green greasy Limpopo river. Oh, wait that’s Kipling. Never mind. Well, okay, it is a Virgilian simile. It's lifted from Purgatory, but I won't say from where. Bwahaha, ahem.
  55. A-2Let the scales be lifted from those of my readers who wish to know. This scene should have happened in Sunnydale at the gates Dis. Then maybe Buffy and Lilah/Medusa could have gotten into a cat fight. But alas, Manos, Hand of Fate intervened and put this scene here instead. Or perhaps, Manos put it here for a reason. Furies, Slayers, Medusa, Sirens, Persephone wandering in the Dreaming.
  56. A-2Dante wrote some fairly va, va, voom poems about a hard cruel woman who made him like stone. Rima Petrosa
  57. A-2Samson (of Samson and Delilah fame), told a riddle about honey and a lion. Judges 14:18.
  58. A-2Publius Decius Mus. How odd that Dante would be making a reference based on a word similarity in Modern English. (Although, I'm reliably informed that Mus is Latin for mouse, so whatever) Anyway, Mus was a Roman general, who sacrificed his life that the Roman army might achieve victory. It was a really funky battle plan. Two Roman generals facing, blah, blah, overwhelming odds. The first Roman general whose army had to fall back, had to sacrifice his life (with appropriate dedications to the gods of war and death), thus ensuring the Roman victory. Funny thing is that it worked, in a really high casualty sort of way. Hero's in Hell series and assorted Encyclopedia.
  59. A-2How remarkably similar to Purgatory II, the encounter with Sordello. Although, that entailed more poetry and less gunplay. But that’s what I’ve always felt that Dante needed, more gun-foo. Although, you should know that I said precisely the same thing about Joss Whedon's Pride and Prejudice.
  60. A-2Virgil and Dante are calling Lilah a harpy. This is the description given in, wait for, the Aeneid, bk 3.
  61. A-2Hercules, because we couldn’t just say Hercules. Nope, gotta dance around the issue. 
  62. A-2, Ah, yes, all the various pagans (i.e., people alive before Christ) mentioned in the Commedia, who got “Get out of Limbo/Hell free cards” and are going to Heaven. I might and will add that Virgil isn’t one of them. Although, Virgil, Saladin and Averoes and others do live in the high rent district of Limbo. Well lit, bit of a lawn, some fountains, and apparently cable.
  63. A-2The minotaur. Half man, half beast, all grumpy.
  64. A-2The Dawn, a description which is word for word Dante. Never make up what you can steal. Oh, and well, Aurora (Eos) was married to Tithonius, a mortal. Be careful what you wish for. She wished him immortal and it was done, but doh, she forgot to ask for eternal youth as well. So, it kind of sucks to be Tithonius. Again with the Dante footnotes.
  65. A-2Dante’s Prayer by Loreena McKennitt. Both reflecting the message that I want to get across and yet incredibly cheesy of me to use.
  66. A-2Ripped off from the Vita Nuova, XXIII.
  67. A-3First line of Let’s Face the Music and Dance. So, sue me. I have a thing for Fred Astaire and Irving Berlin.
  68. A-3And in a deep and philosophical moment, let us pause and reflect on the symbolism of the butterfly. Transformation, blah, blah, blah. Representing the soul in Greek myth. And plus. Pretty. I looked that up two years ago for a short story, source, eh.
  69. A-3, Modulating the exponential. Heh! Okay, you do know that I don’t know what the heck I’m talking about?
  70. A-3Icarus didn’t take dad’s advice, flew too close to the sun, his waxy wings grew melted and icky and ended up dating several nice mermaids. Metamorphoses, bk VIII.
  71. A-3Misdirected Love and it’s opposite, ahem, Caritas are a big deal in the Commedia.
  72. A-3Grass for a belt. At the beginning of Purgatory, Virgil gives Dante a smooth reed, symbolizing stuff, for a new belt. They lost the last one, a knotty rope, in Hell.
  73. A-3God of the sun before Apollo snaked his job. The internet is a wonderful thing.
  74. A-3Oh, light supreme that art so far exalted above mortal conceiving, grant to my mind again a little of what thou appearest and give my tongue such power that it may leave but a gleam of thy glory to the people yet to come. Paradisio, final canto, XXXIII.
  75. A-3, The sweet new style. Dante was a big, big dude in the poetic movement of that name. Basically, lighter more natural poetry. It’s like saying, I’m a Grunge Poet, or I’m a mad, mod, poet god.
  76. A-3Lancelot, from the tale of the Knight of the Cart by Chretien de Troyes.
  77. E-1, You may have noticed the numbering symbolism. You may not have noticed the numbering symbolism at all. Whatever. There’s symbolism in the numbering. Dante favored the number 9 as the perfect number (3*3). Cause you know, God=3. In the Vita Nuova, everything happens at 9. 9 years, 9th hour, etc. 7 and 3 are also big biblical numbers of importance.
  78. E-1Big nasty hell critter. Face like a judge. Nuff said. Inferno, XVII.
  79. E-1Medieval legend had it that Erichtho summoned Virgil from the dead for his first jaunt about hell as a tour guide. Well, okay and the Thebiad, bk II. Statius.
  80. E-1Yes, indeed in Paradiso, St. Thomas Aquinas says that Giles is barefoot. Surely it could not be coincidence. "Barefoot goes Giles, barefoot goes Sylvester, after the bridgegroom, so greatly does the bride delight them." Paradisio XI.
  81. E-1Empyrean – Heaven, I’m in heaven.
  82. E-1, Dante and Virgil meeting Statius is one of my favorite bits in Purgatory. When they meet Statius, he tells them that he started thinking about God/Christ after reading Virgil, who was such an incredible writer, and if only he could meet him and thank him, because was so great. Dante, of course, is practically dying to say something, but Virgil is kind of embarrassed. Eventually, he lets Dante, who would have blown up from laughter in about 10 seconds, blab and they all end up walking and talking about poetry.
  83. E-1Babies, from Music for Elevators as sung by, yes, Anthony Stewart Head. All about missing his kids. Ahhh…
  84. E-1Bitter is the taste –Giles quotes Dante. Giles therefore rocks. Well, actually Giles rocks anyway. Go, sexy librarian go.
  85. E-1The name of my grandmother, who turned 90 on April 12, 2002. So, it’s pretty amazing that she’s shown up in Bath. Especially, since the man with her is most certainly not my grandpater. Hmmm… No, reference. But it's totally true.
  86. E-3This is a reference to one of the lais of Marie de France. I couldn’t work in a reference to Le Fresne, which is my email name. Fair enough, this one actually works much better. Bisclavret is the story of a courtly and refined werewolf from Southern France. As opposed to the mean nasty werewolves, the Garwaf, of Northern France. Grrr. Argh. It’s a story that revolves around the difference between honest appearances and internal truths, reining yourself to social obligations, subtleties of behavior, retribution, all in about five pages. Great story. Lais of Marie de France, Bisclavret.
  87. E-3Ummm…the first line of the Commedia. Inferno I.

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