All 15 Uses of
abyss
in
Dante's Inferno
- — The cord thrown into the abyss.†
Canto T.O. *
- True it is, that I found myself on the verge of the valley of the woeful abyss that gathers in thunder of infinite wailings.†
Canto 4-6
- So he set forth, and so he made me enter within the first circle that girds the abyss.†
Canto 4-6
- Then he turned to that swollen lip and said, "Be silent, accursed wolf! inwardly consume thyself with thine own rage: not without cause is this going to the abyss; it is willed on high, there where Michael did vengeance on the proud adultery.†
Canto 7-9
- And here, because of the horrible excess of the stench that the deep abyss throws out, we drew aside behind the lid of a great tomb, whereon I saw an inscription which said, "Pope Anastasius I hold, he whom Photinus drew from the right way."†
Canto 10-12
- — The cord thrown into the abyss.†
Canto 16-18
- Whereon he turned toward the right, and somewhat far from the edge threw it down into that deep abyss.†
Canto 16-18
- Right in the middle of this field malign yawns an abyss exceeding wide and deep, the structure of which I will tell of in its place.†
Canto 16-18
- That belt, therefore, which remains between the abyss and the foot of the high bank is circular, and it has its ground divided into ten valleys.†
Canto 16-18
- And as in such strongholds from their thresholds to the outer bank are little bridges, so from the base of the precipitous wall started crags which traversed the dykes and the moats far as the abyss that collects and cuts them off.†
Canto 16-18
- But because all Malebolge slopes toward the opening of the lowest abyss, the site of each valley is such that one side rises and the other sinks.†
Canto 22-24
- Thou shalt see well, if thou arrivest there, how much the sense at distance is deceived; therefore somewhat more spur thyself on;" Then tenderly he took me by the hand, and said, "Before we go further forward, in order that the fact may seem less strange to thee, know that they are not towers, but giants, and they are in the abyss[2] round about the bank, from the navel downward, one and all of them."†
Canto 31-34
- For as above its circular enclosure Montereggione [1] crowns itself with towers, so with half their body the horrible giants, whom Jove still threatens from heaven when he thunders, betowered the bank that surrounds the abyss.†
Canto 31-34
- When we were down in the dark abyss beneath the feet of the giant, but far lower, and I was gazing still at the high wall, I heard say to me, "Beware how thou steppest; take heed thou trample not with thy soles the heads of the wretched weary brethren."†
Canto 31-34
- "Before I tear me from the abyss," said I when I had risen up, "my Master, speak a little to me to draw me out of error.†
Canto 31-34
Definition:
-
(abyss) a hole or dropoff so deep the bottom cannot be seen -- often used figuratively to imply a frightening bottomless pit