There is such a feared meeting in both Dante and Conrad. In PURGATORIO xxx, Dante at last meets Beatrice. It is a fearful meeting for him, since it faces him with a divine beauty which reminds him of all his sins and failings. The which he has to cross to meet her, flows in "everlasting shadow" (PURGATORIO xxviii, 31-33).
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River Lethe
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Southam, 104.
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Compare this with Marlow's meeting with Kurtz's fiancee referenced in the next line of the poem.