  Attempts to construct string derived effective field theory models realizing
large field inflation are plagued by control issues. Targeted at a broader
audience, in this article we review recent progress in isolating the underlying
conceptual reasons for this failure. Special emphasis is given to models of
axion monodromy inflation and their relation to the Swampland Distance
Conjecture. This discriminates effective actions that admit a UV completion,
the landscape, from those that do not, the swampland. Since they are
conceptually very similar, we also comment on implied challenges for axionic
quintessence models.
