A brown quill lies across a torn handwritten paper scrap beside a dark ink spiral on warm cream ground.

Original artwork, not a still

The Divine Comedy

Dante Alighieri

But here I can’t be still; and by the lines of this my Comedy, reader, I swear- and may my verse find favor for long years.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

Dante can't stay silent here, so he swears by the lines of his own Comedy. He calls on the poem itself as his witness. Then he hopes his verse will find favor for many years.

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