Words… Without them what would life be? They can mean so many things when strung together correctly, but can also be just a mindless jumble of nothingness. Children often struggle to overcome the tedious task of spelling: a seemingly meaningless string of letters. Even after this is accomplished, there are still so many different meanings to the words. They can be interpreted in whatever way suits the reader at the time. The word "spirit", for example, according to Webster's dictionary, refers to the inner force of a person believed to give the body life, energy and power (Merriam-Webster). In Dante Alighieri's The Dark Wood of Error, from The Divine Comedy, he uses the word spirit in line 25 to describe a dangerous "obstacle" that no one has ever survived. Spirit is a word that has multiple meanings, which can change the meaning of this part of the poem - lines 22 to 27 - depending on how the reader interprets it. Dante wrote The Divine Comedy in a new language he called “Italian.” ”, which was based on Tuscan dialects, Sicilian and some elements of Latin, as well as various other dialects (Kahn). Spirit is derived from the Italian word "spirito", which ultimately means someone's soul (Collins). One would think that this meaning of the word is the one that Dante intended to use in this poem. He says his “spirit” or “soul” is a fugitive from all he had to endure. He's the first person to survive this kind of grueling lifestyle, but even if he did, he's not necessarily "alive." The “dangerous waters” he encountered could have been difficult times in his life from which he could never fully escape. He will forever be a fugitive to his own soul, to hers... middle of paper ... whoever reads the poem; all have a surface level and deeper meaning that affects the meaning of that part of the poem. Soul, ghost, attitude, each definition changes the way the man in the poem lives the rest of his life (or in one case doesn't live). No one can be sure how the narrator actually ended up being; it’s up to the reader to decide for themselves. Works Cited Alighieri, Dante. “The Divine Comedy, “The Dark Wood of Error”.” nd 23.Collins. Collins English-Italian Dictionary. 2014. April 2014. Harper, Douglas. Online etymolgy dictionary. 2001-2014. 2014. Kahn, Kathy. Poetry Liz Short. March 2014. Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster Dictionary-Mind. 2014. March 2014 .