Violence to others turned on thyself

This takes place in Canto XII after viewing Alexander, Dionysius, and before they see the centaur more. This is in the seventh circle of Hell…

We continued down the path of despair,
Viewing images of people scorned
And by their own humanly actions destroyed.
The first that we passed was a woman[1],
A little past the mid point of her life.
She lay on a sheet of brimstone for all eyes,
Crying tears of acid and words of venom.
Vultures[2] swooped above her waiting for their
Stomachs to empty again before striking
Down upon her with fierce beaks tearing up her
Insides and out in a bloody mess of
Intestines, organs, bones, stomach, and fecal.
The ravaging beasts ate the body whole
All the while the woman continued to cry,
Her tears of acid burning her face down
To the skull and her eyes bubbled as they
melted away the words of venom burned Her
tongue away. A sizzling sound came from the
Whole head and the screams of pain echoed through
The halls of this seventh circle of hell.
The birds flew away and the woman lay
Almost dead, praying for death to finally
Take her. The bodily parts and fluids
That lay around her began to dry up
And evaporate. Her wounds healed and she
Could again see the birds flying above her
Waiting for their stomachs to empty so
They could dine again on the feast of her.

Virgil grabbed onto my arm and dragged me
Away from the horrible scene that had
Transpired before my very eyes.
We followed down the path and came upon
Another tortured soul. The man[3] was hung from
Fish hooks attached to string that was pulled tight.
The fish hooks were hooked into his body
By his skin in multiple locations.
There were six hooks in each of the man’s ears
Five on the shoulders and ten going down
Each arm. Fifty hooks protruded from the mans
Chest and a number from his back. Five from
His genitals and twenty running down
each leg. The man cried in agony and
Begged for help. I looked at his eyes and saw
That they had been gouged out. I looked up and saw
Crows[4] flying above, with what appeared to
Be an eye hanging from their beaks. The hooks
Appeared to be pulling the mans skin from
His body as well as tearing the skin apart.
He continued to scream for help from anyone.
‘What was his crime’ I asked my leader.
‘His anger caused harm and violence among
Those who loved him the most. His pride pushed them
Away to the point of him being all alone.
Now, in his time of need, there is no one
To help him, yet he continuously
Calls for it. That is his punishment.’
Finally, his skin tears completely apart
And he is free of his prison. He falls to
The floor and screams in pain and in joy.
He stands and begins to run towards me and
My leader, his muscle body pulsating
His legs tightening and loosening as he
Ran. His face shot out blood as he cried in
Pain and joy. He was finally freed by
Himself. Hooks and strings shot out of his muscles
And hung him again. He began to cry.
‘His soul is eternally damned’ Virgil told
me ‘He has no memory, only pain
And hope. The pain of his life and his torture
And the hope that there might be an end to
This endless torture. His body will
Regenerate once it is completely
Destroyed and this process will begin again.
His eyes will continue to get gouged out’
I looked and saw the sockets continuously
Bleeding on the face that was bleeding with
Every scream ‘His skin will continue
To be torn apart’ I looked at the muscle
covered body, little flecks of skin remained.
‘His genitals will always be torn from
His body’ I looked at the place where they once
Were and the memory of watching them
get torn flashed back into my mind. They were
torn first, before the rest of the skin, blood
Shooting out afterwards. There was a split
Second where the man’s scream was for the manhood
He had just lost. ‘His muscles will continue
To be torn from the skeleton and his
Bones will be crushed, yet he will be conscious
For all of it and be reborn again
to live it forever.’ Virgil grabbed my
Arm to drag me away, yet I could not
Look away, I felt as though I met this man
Before in a prior life, yet did not know
Who he was.
“A little farther on the Centaur stopped above
a crowd who appeared…” (Sinclair ed. Pg. 161)[5]

My Question deals with the fact that Dante condemned so many people to hell. Popes excluded, I wondered why he condemned the Poets to hell.
An answer to this (Looking at Socrates) was that A. They weren’t Christain. B. There were controversy involved with their life/death.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socrates#The_Socratic_problem
[1] This woman shall be known as Lori of Minesapolis. She has been condemned to hell for violence that she committed against friend and family and the pride that she holds to admit that she was wrong or let things go. In the end, her violence was more far reaching than those who she looked to hurt.
[2] Yes, I did steal this from mythology.
[3] This man is condemned to hell for being to prideful to ask for help when he needed it the most, forgetting about the fruit of his loins and the loves of his life.
[4] I inserted crows only because I’m a huge fan of the movie/graphic novel by the same name. The mythology of both is really interesting to me. In it, it is said that a crow carries ones soul from our world to the next, so having the crows being part of the eternal torture seems ironic in a sense that the soul is damned to hell and so is its soul carrier. And thus, the soul carrier is pretty pissed off.
[5] I know this isn’t as visceral as the others I’ve seen, but to me hell is constant torture with no hope of getting out of it, but having the hope that there is a hope. A depressing situation. There is pain involved, but a constant pain that can never be forgotten. These were just two ideas that I had some others consisted of a body being pushed down constantly on a endless bed of nails, never to die but to always feel the pain. Another had to do with getting thrown into a vat of highly concentrated salt water after having layers of skin had been removed. Yet another had a person whose body was filled with bugs eating them from the inside out. My favorite that I did not get to use was based off of a Poe short story called the “Pit and the Pendulum”. My version would have someone completely paralyzed: couldn’t move, scream, or see. The pendulum would always be cutting a little away from the persons throat but that person could do nothing about it.