English

Miriam Greene

20 January, 21:35

Read this excerpt from Canto XII of Dante's Inferno, in which Virgil describes sinners who are punished for their violence:

"But fasten your eyes below down to the plain

Where we approach a river of blood boiling

Those who harm their neighbors by violence."

Which sentence best explains Dante's intended use of symbolism in this passage?

A. The figurative language makes abstract ideas, like harm, more concrete.

B. The river of boiling blood represents the blood that the sinners spilled in life.

C. The sinners who are guilty of violence are immersed in a river of boiling blood.

D. The river represents armies marching toward a common cause: warfare.