"Such is the dance this wretched race must lead..."See in text(Canto 7)
Dante discovers that the bubbles he sees at the surface of the Styx are actually signs of the breathing of spirits who are trapped in the mud at the bottom of the under worldly river.
"Within the mount, upright
An ancient form there stands and huge..."See in text(Canto 14)
This line refers to a colossal statue inside Mount Ida, an invention of Dante's. Its material—gold for the head, silver for arms and chest, brass for the waist, iron for the lower body—comprise a metaphorical representation of the ages of man, starting with the Golden Age, the earthly Paradise, but devolving to an age characterized by base metal, iron.
"But that the wind, arising to my face..."See in text(Canto 17)
In an example of verisimilitude—creating the semblance of reality—Dante takes great care to describe the flight of Dante and Virgil on Geryon realistically. As they descend, the air rushes up into Dante's face.
"E'en thus the cook bestirs him, with his grooms,
To thrust the flesh into the caldron down
With flesh-hooks, that it float not on the top..."See in text(Canto 21)
Dante compares the way the demons push the sinners back under the boiling tar to the way cooks push stewing meat back into the broth when it rises to the top of the cooking pot.
"When as the rime upon the earth puts on
Her dazzling sister's image..."See in text(Canto 24)
It is winter, most likely January. It is the time when hoarfrost—frozen dew that looks like a light coating of snow-—imitates snow on the ground, "her dazzling sister's image."
"that the serpent split his train
Divided to a fork, and the pierc'd spirit
Drew close his steps together..."See in text(Canto 25)
This and the following lines describe the transmutation of the two figures: the lizard is slowly becoming a man, and the man slowly changing into a lizard.
"the beautiful lights of heav'n..."See in text(Canto 34)
Dante and Virgil emerge from the underworld through a cave, bidden by the sounds of a stream. They climb forth from the shadowed depths to see the stars shining above them. Each of the three books of the Divine Comedy end on the word stelle, meaning "stars."
