Reading Dante, Listening to Hozier

Dante’s Inferno, the best self-insert ever written, has been beautifully articulated into song by the modern Irish folklore and pop phenomenon Hozier, who first rose to fame with the release of “Take Me to Church” a decade ago. His newest album, Unreal Unreath, is an ode to Dante’s genius and the latter’s own admiration for his “master” Virgil, the Roman poet who penned the Aeneid. But Hozier is not imposing himself as next to these great poets– he is not the next Dante as Dante was the next Virgil. No– he does not consider himself a poet at all (though he writes divine lyrics, in my opinion). Rather, Hozier is inspired by Dante’s imagining of hell and uses it to tell a story of love, the errors of society, and man’s universal journey “through hell and back.”

Botticelli's illustration of Dante's Inferno.

Unreal Unearth is loosely inspired by the nine circles of hell described in Inferno. Some songs correspond to a circle, while others diverge from that sort of strict interpretation– there being far more than nine songs in the album. Instead, the songs collectively follow a pattern inspired by the epic, weaved together by the themes of Dante’s hell. Moreover, Hozier takes artistic liberty in his rendition of the poem, inserting stories that illuminate the experience of modern love and life which Dante, naturally, did not write about. Hozier has claimed that he made the album to relate the loneliness and spiritual struggle felt during the Covid-19 pandemic to Dante’s story. He takes inspiration from the latter’s immortalized tale and makes it relatable to today’s human experience without it coming off as trite.

Hozier's Unreal Unearth Album Cover

Without further ado, let me guide you through Hozier’s very own odyssey through hell. Don’t fear– there are no man-eating monsters nor blood-soaked demons in this one!

The Dark Wood and Descent

First, we begin in the dark wood, a symbolic place for the lost. At this point, Dante is not yet in hell but will soon discover Virgil, who will lead him to its entrance. The album, accordingly, begins in this same sort of dark and uncertain atmosphere. In the first two songs, “De Selby (Part 1)” and “De Selby (Part 2),” the imagery of darkness and disconnect from divinity is heavily present, as is the action of running away from something. The first part tells of a detachment from the self and a feeling of being lost and isolated. Specifically, it portrays the realization that one has faith in their god. When I hear this song, I think of someone who was once a believer but has fallen from his god’s embrace and feels utterly lost against the darkness and chaos of the world. The speaker has witnessed darkness so deep that he cannot believe that his god could allow it, disavowing their faith and filling its void with other things, presumably sinful ones. Hozier ends the song in Irish, one of his many nods to the language in this album. The second part carries the same tone of the first, but tells a slightly different story: one of running away; which reminds me of Dante’s running from the leopard, lion, and she-wolf who block his path in the first canto. In this song, as in Inferno, the speaker ends up accepting the darkness as there is no other alternative. Then there’s “Through Me (The Flood),” the song which corresponds to the entrance into hell as well as being a reference to the classic mythological tale of the great flood which wiped almost all of humanity for its darkness (think the Epic of Gilgamesh or Noah’s Ark). In this song, the speaker tackles with loss, and the imagery of fire and burning plays an important role as he enters hell. 

Circle 1- Limbo 

The people who never knew God reside in the first circle, Limbo. Unlike those in the later circles, they are not physically tormented, but are rather spiritually lost. They are innocent from sin as there were no Christian sins yet to commit– they are pagans who lived before Christianity began in the world. Even Homer and Ovid, despite their genius and fame, reside in Limbo. Hozier’s song “First Time” describes an experience of hearing one’s lover say one’s name for the first time– how it is both a rebirth and a death. The theme of hearing one’s name for the first time relates to this circle because its inhabitants were never christened and given Christian names, demonstrating their innocent unknowingness of Christianity and the cause of their sad drifting. Moreover, I really liked Hozier’s mention of the River Lethe, a river of forgetfulness in Greek mythology, and how he utilizes it to portray the feeling of bewilderment, the forgetting of one’s own self and past that comes with new love. Further, Hozier’s songs “Wildflower and Barley” and “July” can also be attributed to this first circle as they rely on nature and its elemental beauty, from which pagans derived meaning about their existence.

Circle 2- Lust

In the second circle of hell, those who are whirled into committing acts of lust are thrown around by storms, a symbol for the heedlessness of their passions. Hozier’s take on this circle follows a stricter interpretation of the book than most of his other songs. The name of his song “Francesca” derives its name from one of the characters Dante meets in Inferno– Francesca de Rimmi. She is in the circle of lust for adultery, for cheating on her husband with his brother, Paolo Malatesta, and the two are eternally thrown around by winds as punishment for their lust.

Francesca and Paolo. Painting by Gaetano Previati, 1901.

Interestingly, instead of depicting them as suffering against the force of the furious winds that hurl them, Hozier sympathizes with them, emphasizing the strength and assurance in their love that allows them to overcome their torment. In Inferno, Dante also seems to display a forgiveness toward Francesca and Paolo, treating them less harshly than any other sinners. Evidently, Dante ranks the sin of lust low on his scale of the worst sins, demonstrated primarily by their relatively light punishment. I’d personally take a bit of gusty winds over having my liver eternally eaten by vultures– but to each their own! In its own right, “Francesca” is a song about commitment and sacrifice in love; the lovers are steadfast in their resolution to be together despite the torture that they endure for it. I’m reminded of my favorite Hozier song, “Take Me to Church,” which carries a similar message of love despite its danger and the disapproval of society, notably that of the Catholic Church. One of my favorite lines in the entire track is a lyric from this song that goes: “Heaven is not fit to house a love/ Like you and I.” It demonstrates the inflexibility of true love and the refusal to let it go, as well as just being a beautiful lyric that can parallel those in “Take Me to Church.”

Circle 3- Avarice and Gluttony 

In the third circle, Dante meets the gluttonous, the ever-hungry who put their greed above their morals. Unlike in Inferno, there isn’t a clear demarcation between Hozier’s renditions of the third and fourth circles– both explore greed in the same way. Thus, “Eat Your Young” fits into this circle, describing a world in which young people’s lives are sacrificed for capitalistic desires. Apart from the descriptions relating to eating, there is a significant emphasis on the imagery of war, through which Hozier criticizes the bloodshed of the innocent lives that it takes. The lyrics of “Nobody’s Soldier” explore this same perspective of war, asserting that, in our society, one must either be a killer or be killed– “a salesman or a soldier” or “a butcher or a pauper.” Furthermore, in “Eat Your Young,” a more subtle reference to the consequences of capitalistic greed lies in the chorus, where the speaker warns of a coming flood, a representation of climate change and the destruction of Earth: “Pull up the ladder when the flood comes.” Hozier’s lyrics demonstrate how we are prepared to face the implications of our avarice, whether it be the ruination of our planet or the death of our young, but continue acting in greed nevertheless. Moreover, a lot of the lyrics, like those that mention skinning children, remind me of another Irishman, Jonathan Swift’s, essay titled “A Modest Proposal,” in which he mocks the upper class, proposing the eating of children to eradicate poverty and hunger. Like Swift, Hozier satirizes elites who are willing to sacrifice lives for wealth and prosperity, placing them in the third circle of hell. I also really appreciated the music video for this song– it shows the destruction of war on ordinary people and is set up like a puppet show, a metaphor for how we, as a society, watch and accept the effects of our greed without taking action. I think it’s a super cool and well-made music video that adds a lot to the message of the song itself. Lastly, in addition to “Eat Your Young,” one could argue that another and extremely popular song on the album called “Too Sweet” could also fall into this circle as its speaker opposes their lover’s excessiveness, calling them “too sweet,” an Irish slang meaning “too much” (personality-wise).

Circle 4- Greed 

“Damage Gets Done” is a duet between Hozier and Brandie Carlile. It expands on the subject matter of “Eat Your Young” but explores it through a different perspective. A ballad between two lovers, the song discusses themes of youth’s recklessness and the blame for the world’s degradation. Through the song, Hozier argues that the younger generation should not be blamed for the state of the world, but instead faults the corporate greed that began its descent into its present condition. The speakers describe how they are “blamed for a world they had no power in,” alluding to the eras of industrialization and war that came before them and threaten the world that they have inherited, a poignant message for today’s world.  

Circle 5- Wrath and Sullenness  

None of the songs on the album directly address the fifth circle, in which those who lived in anger as well as those who bottled it up in silent rage dwell. Hozier has publicly claimed that the song “Who We Are” represents this circle, which, to me, is a stretch. The only plausible connection that I could make to support this idea is the imagery of knives, sharpness, and cuts that Hozier employs throughout the song which could serve to symbolize the harm that wrath evokes, how our own uncertainty and ire leads us to hurt others. However, to me, the song doesn’t evoke wrath but rather regret for one’s actions. It reminds me of Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” more than anything– specifically, someone regretting that they lived life chasing illusions rather than truth and hurting others in their wake.

Circle 6- Heresy  

The next circle is the one of heresy, losing faith in something one once believed in. Hozier connects this message to the loss of faith that results in the end of a relationship in “All Things End.” He explains how two people may want to stay together indefinitely but, at some point, they may realize that what they saw in the relationship turned out to be temporary or even false. Like in Inferno, the faithlessness signals an end, though perhaps not as brutal as the one Dante imagines for the heretics (forever residing in burning graves).

Circle 7- Violence 

In the seventh circle, Hozier focuses on its outermost ring, which specifically represents violence against one’s neighbor, with his song “Butchered Tongue.” The song conveys a powerful message against the forceful erasure of cultures, particularly language. Hozier laments the distinguished relevance of the Irish language in Ireland, noting that it is only really present in daily life on street signs. It reminds me of Brian Feil’s play “Translations,” which deals with the imposition of the English language on Irish life and the consequent loss of the importance of the Irish language, notably through the alteration of street signs. Furthermore, Hozier portrays the loss of Irish quite violently, again tying back to the theme of the circle. He paints a haunting image of a butchered tongue still singing despite being cut off, which also serves to describe the resistance of the repressed language. Curiously, “Butchered Tongue” is the only song on the album that doesn’t deal with love for a person, but rather an entire culture.

Circle 8- Fraud 

Hozier takes inspiration from the eighth circle for his song “Anything But,” a deceptively sweet love song. Behind every seemingly saccharine lyric lies a contradiction. Some ironic lyrics include “Look, I wanna be loud, so loud, I’m talking seismic/ I wanna be as soft as a single stone in a rainstick” and “I’d cause a drought/ If I was a riptide, I wouldn’t take you out.” The speaker’s inconsistent claims portray the words of an unreliable person who attempts to charm his lover, concealing his true intentions under grandiose declarations. This song reminds me of an older Hozier song, “Talk,” from his Wasteland, Baby! album as it also plays around with the notion of deception in a relationship by veiling its speaker’s bad intentions in pretty metaphors. Honestly, I think “Talk” would have been better than “Anything But” in this album because it achieves the same goal with better lyrics and music– I adore its first line “I’d be the voice that urged Orpheus/ When her body was found.” Without digressing any further, I’ll say that Hozier’s take on this eighth circle was creatively done, and I appreciate its imagery.

  Circle 9- Betrayal

In the final circle, Hozier explores betrayal, specifically that of a romantic relationship, in “Unknown/ Nth.” This is one of my personal favorites on the album because its tone is so different from the other songs– it's sad yet sweet, bitter yet reconciling. Its speaker grapples with the betrayal of a romantic partner, with the loneliness and unknown of their absence but also with his own perplexing reaction. He carries both resentment and longing for his unfaithful partner, which I think is such an accurate representation of betrayal– one is neither just disdainful nor forgiving, but rather experiences a range of emotions when faced with disloyalty. Moreover, the song is leaden with imagery of a journey, reminiscent of the classic hero’s journey in ancient mythology and symbolizing the lengths one would take for their lover despite their treachery. Further, my favorite line is a nod to a character described in this circle named Ugolino della Gherardesca who eternally eats at the skull of his betrayer while trapped under ice.

Inferno, Canto 32: Ugolino Gnaws Upon the Head of Archbishop Ruggieri, Illustration from The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, 1885

Hozier writes, “You called me "angel" for the first time, my heart leapt from me/ You smile now, I can see its pieces still stuck in your teeth.” I love this line because it, again, shows the dichotomy between the unyielding love and resentment present in this song. Its imagery of the heart that was given to the lover being stuck in their teeth is eerie and heartbreaking– a perfect representation of a lover’s betrayal.

Ascent 

  At last! We’ve finally made it out of hell! Do you hear it playing? It’s Hozier’s “First Light” welcoming us back to the world of the living. This song represents a new start, leaving the past behind and marveling at the beauty of our briefly beautiful time on earth, the taking none of it for granted. It’s a triumphant song that reminds me of waking up to a new day, a new perspective. Additionally, it sings of gospel music, a genre which Hozier has incorporated in many other songs and that is especially pertinent to Dante’s own message of faith. “New Light” definitely succeeds in capturing Dante’s mood upon his ascent from hell in the last canto of Inferno and is a uplighting conclusion to the treacherous journey that this album follows.

Dante and Virgil Leaving Hell (Inferno XXXIV), from Dante's Divina Commedia, Urbino and Ferrara (1477-1478)

As a fan of both Dante and Hozier, I am stunned by the masterful execution of this album. I continue picking up on references every time that I listen to one of its songs, even if it’s for the one hundredth, two hundredth, or three hundredth time. It’s refreshing to see a modern artist and pop icon referencing immortal texts in his work without it being superficial. Hozier shows a deep understanding of Inferno as well as unbridled creativity in his adaptation, and, for this, I hold a deep admiration for him as an artist. He manages to bring Dante’s epic to the newest generation, serving as their guide to Dante’s writing, just as Virgil lead Dante through the depths of hell.

Cover- Illustration from Dante's Inferno and Hozier's alternate album cover for Unreal Unearth