“Dante’s Prayer” by Loreena McKennitt 

The inspiration behind “Dante’s Prayer”, as implied by its title, came from a legendary piece of Italian literature known as the Divine Comedy. This is a 14^th century, Christian-inspired poem that has lent to so many complex analyses that we dare not venture too deeply into it here. 

But by the looks of things, the reason Loreena’s mind was compelled to harp back to the Divine Comedy in the first place is because at the time she conceptualized this song she was in Siberia.

Siberia is a part of Russia, located near the arctic. It is infamously known for its inhospitable environs. And what it seems happened more specifically, most simply put, is that being up there in the ice somehow made McKennitt equate Siberia with hell. The latter is the concept upon which the Divine Comedy is largely based. Simply put, it is based on the people up there being forced to survive in hellish conditions.

Lyrics of “Dante’s Prayer”

Some lines of the song are indicative of the aforementioned idea, i.e. the singer being in a natural environment that is fearfully wild. But there is also terminology (such as a reference to “the priests of pride”, buried therein) that lets the listener know that there’s more to this song than just visual observations. And in fact said observations are by and large included for symbolic purposes.

With that in mind, as “Dante’s Prayer” progresses it gradually reads more like a friendship song. It reads like one of those pieces where the addressee is depicted as the savior, if you will, of the vocalist and vice versa.

Takeaway

In fact all things considered, such as the fact that there is a Christian element to McKennitt’s musical origins, this song can be interpreted as a spiritual. However, it is one of the more artistic ones, where no direct reference is made to the Bible or what have you. 

Simply put, this addressee the vocalist is singing to, entreating to holistically edify her life, can be deemed as being Jesus or a comparable spiritual figure. In her eyes, she sees this entity as one that has the wherewithal to empower her to overcome the “mortal veil of fear”, “earthly cares” and what have you. 

In some instances, such as the chorus where Loreena is rather telling the addressee to ‘remember her’ in times of doubt and despair, the vocalist is taking on the role of said figure herself.

Dante

So with all of that in mind, we come to the titular “Dante”. “Dante” is a character who in the Divine Comedy ventures through hell. In this song, “Dante” serves as a symbol of a person (whether it be the vocalist or an addressee) going through their own personal hell. 

And there is a very important message that McKennitt is sending to the listeners. She basically seems to be saying that we should remain faithful to a Higher Power, one that actually possesses the ability to free us from all types of depression.

Loreena McKennitt and “Dante’s Prayer”

Loreena is a musician from Canada. However, she specializes in foreign types of music, practically as influenced by Middle Eastern or especially Celtic sounds. FYI, the vocalist traces her ancestry to Ireland and Scotland. And even though McKennitt may not enjoy A list name recognition, she has received some very distinguished honors, including those which are awarded by governments themselves.

This track is from “The Book of Secrets”. This is a studio album Loreena put out on 30 September 1997. The entire project was backed by Warner Bros. as well as McKennitt’s own exclusive label, Quinlan Road. On this same album appears Loreena’s signature song “The Mummers’ Dance”.

“Dante’s Prayer” was not released as a single. 

This track is on record as having been utilized a few times by professional figure skaters.

Who wrote “Dante’s Prayer”?

Loreena wrote and produced “Dante’s Prayer”. As far as its composition goes, the songstress has noted that she conceptualized it while riding Russian’s Trans-Siberian Railway. According to her, she was actually traversing the “wintry Siberia” itself when the writing started.

“The Book of Secrets”

On September 30 of 1997, the album, “The Book of Secrets” was released. Two record labels, namely Quinlan Road and Warner Bros jointly released the album. It is Loreena’s sixth studio album.

“The Book of Secrets” peaked at No. 17 on the Billboard 200 in the US. It reached No. 3 in Canada. In New Zealand, it was also a top-10 album. Here, it actually hit the No. 9 spot.

So far, the album has recorded sales of over 4 million copies. It has gone on to be certified 2x Platinum and 3x Platinum in the US and Canada respectively. It attained Gold status in the following countries:

• France
• Australia
• Spain
• Germany
• Greece
• Argentina