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# Andrey Bely’s 1915 poem “Dedication”, which recalls Dante
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/bartolomeo-di-fruozino-illiustratsiia-k-adu-dante/
- Published: 2024-05-29T08:03:24.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T18:36:08.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Art, Books, Observations

Bartolomeo di Fruosino, Illustration to Dante's "Inferno"

There is a poem by Andrei Bely called "Dedication", written in 1915\. And it reminds me of Dante.

I asked you for bread, and was given molten stone,  
And at once, scorched through, my palm smokes foully...  
Now the bonfire has begun to crackle, and the flame dances up to the sky.  
They tell me: "Purple." In it they were clothed upon the pyre.  
The dancing purple clung fast, stripping off both skin and flesh:  
At once the black, grinning mouth split open to the ears.  
Then you cried out: "He laughs, enlightened..."  
And thick-leaved laurel covered the dreadful skull.

*Literal translation*