UNREAL
UNEARTH

A JOURNEY
THROUGH THE NINE
CIRCLES OF HELL

Andrew John Hozier-Byrne, known as Hozier, is an Irish Musician, singer, and songwriter. His lyricism often draws from religious and literary sources. He began his career as a singer in the choir ensemble Anúna for five years, as well as a soloist during one of their releases. It wasn’t until 2013 when he released “Take Me to Church” that he began to rise into the public’s eye. This work established his exploration of themes of love, religion, and social justice, and he continues to dissect these themes as of today.

Dante Alighieri (c. 1265-1321) was an Italian poet and philosopher best known for his masterpiece, “The Divine Comedy.” He was born in Florence, Italy during a time of political turmoil and social upheaval. Dante received a classical education and became involved in the political life of his city-state. Dante wrote this work that consists of three parts: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. Dante explores themes of sin, redemption, and the human condition while encountering a vast array of historical and mythological figures.

Limbo is the first circle of Hell and serves as the initial destination for souls who are neither saved nor condemned. It is a place of sorrow and longing, but it lacks the intense torments experienced in the subsequent circles of Hell. Limbo is inhabited by the virtuous pagans, including figures from classical antiquity like Aristotle, Plato, and Homer, as well as notable non-Christian individuals who lived virtuous lives but were not baptized.

HOZIER
"FIRST TIME"

This life lived mostly underground unknowing either sight nor sound
Till reaching up for sunlight
Just to be ripped out by the stem
Sensing only now its dying
drying out, then drowning blindly
Blooming forth its every colour
In the moments it has left to share the space with simple living things
Infinitely Suffering, but fighting off like all creation, the absence of itself

DANTE
"CANTO IV"

In truth I found myself upon the brink
of an abyss, the melancholy valley
containing thundering, unending wailings

For these defects, and for no other evil,
we now are lost and punished just with this:
we have no hope and yet we live in longing

LUST

Lust is one of the Seven Deadly Sins and is depicted as one of the sins punished in the second circle of Hell. This circle is reserved for the souls of the damned who indulged excessively in carnal and sexual pleasures during their earthly lives. Within this circle, the souls are eternally tossed about in a violent storm, symbolizing the restless, uncontrolled nature of lust. The punishment reflects the idea that those who gave in to their lustful desires are now condemned to an existence of endless turmoil and unfulfilled desires. Dante, however, approaches the story of Francesca with a surprising angle of empathy.

HOZIER
"I, CARRION"

If the wind turns
If I hit a squall
Allow the ground to find its brutal way to me

HOZIER
"FRANCESCA"

For all that was said–of where we’d end up at the end of it
When the heart would cease–ours never knew peace
What good would it be on the far side of things?
It was too soon when that part of you was ripped away
A grip taking hold like a cancer that grows
Each piece of your body that it takes
Though I know my heart would break
I’d tell them put me back in it–darling I would do it again

DANTE
"CANTO IV"

Love, that can quickly seize the gentle heart,
took hold of him because of the fair body
taken from me–how that was done still wounds me.
Love, that releases no beloved from loving,
took hold of me so strongly through his beauty
that, as you see, it has not left me yet.
Love led the two of us unto one death.

Gluttony is one of the Seven Deadly Sins and is depicted in the third circle of Hell. This circle is reserved for the souls of the damned who overindulged in the pleasures of food and drink during their earthly lives, demonstrating a lack of self-control and an insatiable appetite. The punishment for the gluttonous souls is to lie in a vile, ceaseless rain, mud, and filth, while Cerberus, a monstrous three-headed dog, guards and torments them.

HOZIER
"EAT YOUR YOUNG"

I won’t lie, if there’s something to be gained
There’s money to be made–Whatever’s still to come
Get some–Pull up the ladder when the flood comes
Throw enough rope until the legs have swung
Seven new ways that you can eat your young
Come and get some–skinning the children for a war drum
Putting food on the table selling bombs and guns
It’s quicker and easier to eat your young

DANTE
"CANTO VI"

Just as a dog that barks with greedy hunger
will then fall quiet when he gnaws his food,
intent and straining hard to cram it in,
so were the filthy faces of the demon
Cerberus transformed–after he’d stunned
the spirits so, they wished that they were deaf.

GREED

HOZIER
"DAMAGE GETS DONE"

I don’t know how the feeling ended
But I know being reckless and young
Is not how the damage gets done
One time we would want for nothing (One time we had it all, love)
We knew what our love was worth (When we had nothing)
Now we’re always missing something
I miss when we did not need much

DANTE
"CANTO VII"

“All of these, to left and right
were so squint-eyed of mind in the first life–
no spending that they did was done with measure

Ill giving and ill keeping have robbed both
of the fair world and set them to this fracas–
what that is like, my words need to embellish.

WRATH

Wrath, or anger, is one of the Seven Deadly Sins and is depicted in the fifth circle of Hell. This circle is reserved for the souls of the damned who allowed their anger and wrath to consume them during their earthly lives. The punishment for the wrathful is to be submerged in the noxious waters of the River Styx, constantly battling and tearing at one another. The violent and turbulent nature of this punishment symbolizes the chaotic and destructive consequences of unchecked anger. Dante's portrayal of the wrathful serves as a stark reminder of the corrosive nature of uncontrolled rage and the eternal torment it brings, emphasizing the importance of temperance and forgiveness in one's earthly life to avoid such a fate in the afterlife.

HOZIER
"WHO WE ARE"

What I had left here, I just held it tight
So someone with your eyes
Might come in time
To hold me like water
Or, Christ, hold me like a knife
We’re born at night–so much of our lives
Is just carving through the dark to get so far
And the hardest part is who we are
It’s who we are

DANTE
"CANTO VII-VII"

In the third circle I arrived, the place
Hateful accursed, there where hate is bound;
And heavy, cold, unweary, and unspent,
Its alphabet, in utterance, so glows.
Were not my hands as tied, I fain would speak.
We came within a forest; nor the trees
Were by their kind; but of another plant
A forest, like the dismal wood, there stood,
Ne'er seen before, of such unbarren kind."

Heresy is depicted as one of the sins punished in the sixth circle of Hell. This circle is reserved for the souls of the damned who held beliefs or advocated doctrines contrary to the teachings of the Christian Church. The punishment for heretics is to be enclosed in burning tombs, symbolizing their spiritual separation and torment for rejecting orthodox Christian beliefs. The vivid and intense imagery of these fiery tombs serves as a representation of the incompatibility of heretical beliefs with the divine truth as perceived by Dante.

HOZIER
"ALL THINGS END"

A tow-tonne weight around my chest feels like
It just dropped a twenty-story height
If there was anyone to ever get through this life
With their heart still intact, they didn’t do it right

I have never known a silence like the one fallen here
Never watched my future darken in a single tear

DANTE
"CANTO X-XI"

This sound had burst so unexpectedly
out of one sepulcher that, trembling, I
then drew a little closer to my guide (...)
My eyes already were intent on his;
and up he rose–his forehead and his chest–
as if he had tremendous scorn for Hell.

HOZIER
"SON OF NYX"

VIOLENCE

Violence is a division in the seventh circle of Hell, punishing various forms of violence. Divided into three rings, it torments those who were violent towards others, themselves, and against God, nature, or art. The punishments include immersion in boiling blood and fire for murderers and robbers, transformation into thorny trees for suicides, and enduring a rain of fire for those who were violent against God's creation. This circle represents the consequences of different violent acts and their respective punishments within Dante's vivid portrayal of the afterlife.

RING ONE:

AGAINST NEIGHBORS

HOZIER
"UISCEFHUARAITHE"

And I wish I could say
That the river of my arms have found the ocean
I wish I could say the cold lake of water of my heart
Christ, it’s boiling over
But it happened easy, darling

DANTE
"CANTO X-XI"

When we had gone, as far as where at last
My Leader said that now it was the time
To turn again, and we should face the cliff
I was so tired I had no wish to rest.
And now, behold, and look at what of them
Shall there be found, who will not save themselves
From going further down upon this road."

HOZIER
“BUTCHERED TONGUE”

A butchered tongue still singing here above the ground
The ears were chopped from young men
If the pitch-cap didn’t kill them
They are buried without scalp
You may never know your fortune
Until the distance has been shown between what is lost and forever

FRAUD

Fraud is one of the most pervasive and insidious sins, and it is punished in the eighth circle of Hell. This circle is further divided into ten bolge or ditches, each dedicated to a specific form of fraud, including seduction, flattery, simony, political corruption, and more. Fraud, in Dante's vision, represents a deliberate deception or betrayal of trust, whether it be against individuals, institutions, or God. The punishments in the eighth circle are particularly gruesome, with the souls suffering various tortures according to the nature of their fraudulent acts. This intricate portrayal of fraud serves to underline the grave moral consequences of deceit and manipulation, highlighting the profound and multifaceted nature of human treachery and the severity of its punishments in the afterlife, as perceived by Dante.

HOZIER
"ANYTHING BUT"

I wanna be the shadow when my bright future’s behind me
I wanna be the last thing anybody ever sees
I hear he touches your hand, and then you fly away together
If I had his job, you would live forever

HOZIER
“ABSTRACT PSYCHOPOMP”

Sometimes it returns like rain that you slept through
That washed off the world, the streets looking brand new
I will not be great, but i’m grateful to get through
The feeling came late, I’m still glad I met you

The memory hurts, but does me no harm

DANTE
“CANTO XVIII”

He made a landfall on the isle of Lemnos
after its women, bold and pitiless,
had given all their island males to death.
With polished words and love signs he took in
Hypsipyle, the girl whose own deception
had earlier deceived the other women.
And he abandoned her, alone and pregnant;
such guilt condemns him to such punishment;
and for Medea, too, revenge is taken.

TREACHERY

Treachery is the most heinous of sins in Dante's "Inferno" and is reserved for the ninth and final circle of Hell. This circle is a vast, frozen lake named Cocytus, which is divided into four concentric rings, each designated for a particular form of treachery. These forms include betrayal of family, political betrayal, betrayal of guests, and betrayal of benefactors. The treacherous souls within this frozen abyss are completely encased in the ice, unable to move, and they suffer in the most extreme, unforgiving conditions. Dante's depiction of treachery in the lowest circle underscores the ultimate betrayal of trust, reflecting the profound moral gravity and the depths of human perfidy. The frozen and desolate landscape of Cocytus is a chilling representation of the eternal suffering that awaits those who engage in the most malicious forms of treachery, according to Dante's moralistic vision of the afterlife.

HOZIER
"UNKNOWN/ NTH"

I swam a lake of fire, I’d have walked across the floor of any sea
Ignored the vastness between all that can be seen
And all that we believe–So I thought you were like an angel to me
Funny how true colors shine in darkness and in secrecy
If there were scarlet flags, they washed out in the mind of me
Where a blinding light shone on you every night
And either side of my sleep
Where you were held frozen like an angel to me

DANTE
"CANTO XXXIV"

The lowest region, vast, of all the world,
Down to its center, pierced with ragged caves;
And I beheld a place where every woe
Collects and is contained. And there the eyes,
Not merely of a mead of frozen tears,
Shall weep, or on this side and on that.
But all the time, here, shall my countenance
Draw up its tears through this eternal ice

ASCENT

HOZIER
“FIRST LIGHT”

DANTE
“CANTO XVIII”

UNREAL UNEARTH

UNREAL
UNEARTH