Canto I of Dante's Inferno serves as the introduction both to the Inferno and to the entire Divine Comedy. We meet Dante as he is lost in a dark wood. He sees a light at the top of a hill and tries to run toward it but he is confronted by three beasts. He runs back down hill, where he meets the Roman poet Virgil, who will be his guide through the underworld.
In Canto I, Dante introduces the narrator of the story. Told in the first person, this is someone who feels lost in the world. He tells us that at some point in his life, he found himself lost in a dark wood, not knowing where to go. This is meant to be a representation of the journey of life, and the moments of difficulty that we all encounter. This impacts the reader's views on the narrator, as well as makes the tale one of moral and existential meaning.
