dante awakens, or comes to himself, midway through life's journey in a dark wood, he sees the mountain top where he knows he wants to be, he tries to approach the mountain top directly and is blocked by encounters with the three beasts. then he meets virgil, and they go through the gate. he embarks on the journey which will show him life in the poetic sense

upon crossing the threshold dante's feet make impressions and sounds where none others do, and those he meets question the veracity of his presence

after passing through the gate, the air dante and virgil encounter is 'senza tempo tinto—tinted without time' : beyond the gate is the world poetically, without the temporal dimension

dante's goal is beatrice, at the top of the hill where the sun shines . but to get there he must go down, through the gate into the pit of hell. contradiction is the central nature of the poetic experience

dante cannot make the journey alone, a spiritual journey. beatrice is dante's object of earthly beauty and virgil is pagan