In March 2018 Reddit user The2500 posted the following Writing Prompt: “Dante’s Inferno as written by Dr. Seuss.” Here is a selection from the first entry:
And gave poor Dante a very big fright
And scared, Dante was, in the woods called sin
Fret not, Virgil said, and gave him his hand.
‘For together we must travel throughout the land!
Through Hell and Eden, Purgatory and all!’
Dante gasped, ‘But why upon me must this fate befall?
Oh me, oh my, I think I might cry!’
Virgil smiled and shook his head.
‘O ’tis Beatrice’s call,’ he plainly said.
‘Beatrice?’
‘Oh yes! She wishes your spirit to be put to the test.’
Dante jumped, he leaped, he punched the sky.
‘Joy upon joys! I’ve been graced. I’m so happy, I think I might die!’
Virgil grabbed him, ‘Then let us make haste, this duo of you and I.’
And so they walked, en route to limbo.
They braced and prepared to go low. Low upon lows, through Hell and their foes.”
— “Dante’s Inferno As Written By Dr. Seuss” on Reddit.com
Contributed by Jessica Beasley (Florida State University ’18)
