English 201 in Italy Text 3: [Official course title: English 280-1] Dante, Inferno, cantos 1-5, 19, World Literature I Dr. Gavin Richardson 33-34.

EDITION: Any. Recommended: Puchner, Martin, et al., eds. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Beginnings to 1650. READING JOURNAL: In a separate document, write 3-5 thoughtful sentences in response to each of these reading journal prompts: QUIZ STUDY SHEET: You will have a 10-question matching quiz based on the information found on the study sheet below.

1. If you’ve read your English 201 texts in order, you should already know Dante’s guide through the Inferno. Who is this man? Why has Dante the author chosen him as his guide? What does he mean to Dante?

2. Throughout the Inferno we witness “symbolic retribution,” the concept that the punishment for various sins somehow relates to the sin itself in Dante’s Inferno. (This concept is also called contrappasso.) How are the lustful lovers punished in the Inferno? How does this punishment somehow fit the sin?

3. In Canto 19, we encounter the circle of the Simonists, named after the Simon mentioned in in Acts 8:9-24. Read this Biblical passage and compare and contrast what the Biblical Simon has in common with the men in this circle.

4. Who are the three persons in Satan’s mouth? Why are they set aside for special punishment?

5. Google the Baptistery of San Giovanni in Florence, which we will visit when we come to Dante’s home city. Find an image of its remarkable mosaic ceiling, which Dante would have known. Some believe that the structure of Dante’s Commedia may derive from the structure of this ceiling. What parallels might you discern between the two?

Dante Pre-reading Study Sheet

Quiz: 10 matching questions over the following info. Pay special attention to terms in boldface

CRITICAL DATES: Dante dies in 1321. He sets the Divine Comedy during Easter Week in the year 1300.

STRUCTURE:

 The Divine Comedy is made up of three books called canticles: the Inferno, the Purgatorio, and the Paradiso. Each canticle is made up of 33 chapters called cantos. (The Inferno actually has 34 cantos, but the first canto is really a general introduction to the entire Divine Comedy.)

 Terza rima: A term for the rhyme scheme of the Divine Comedy; aba/bcb/cdc/ded, etc.

CRITICAL CONCEPTS:

 Dante’s home city is Florence, Italy. He is exiled from this city in 1302 by his political enemies and never returns. The Divine Comedy—a poem about a man wandering from Hell, through Purgatory, and into Paradise—is written completely in exile.

 Two entities battled for control of Italy in Dante’s time: The Holy Roman Empire and The Papacy/Papal States.

 Two political parties dominated the Florence of Dante’s time: Guelphs: Supporters of Florentine independence from the Holy Roman Empire. Ghibellines: Noble families who supported the Holy Roman Empire.

 Dante was a Guelph. His politics figure prominently in the Divine Comedy, and his exile can be discerned in the themes of wandering and searching for a home.

 The Donation of Constantine: A forged document allegedly by the fourth-century Roman Emperor Constantine the Great by which rich possessions were conferred on the Pope (Sylvester I) and the Roman Church. The forgery first appears during the Middle Ages and is used by the papacy to claim temporal (e.g., political, military, and economic) power in Italy, especially against the advances of the Holy Roman Empire.

SELECT EARLY CHARACTERS

 Cangrande della Scala: Powerful Ghibelline from Verona and patron/protector of Dante.

 Beatrice Portinari: A woman Dante meets when he is 9 years old and she is about the same age. She is the idealized love of Dante’s life, though he marries another (Gemma Donati). Beatrice dies at age 25.

 Celestine V: A weak pope who abdicated the papacy to another man. Dante strongly condemned the idea that a pope could, in essence, “retire.”

 Boniface VIII: A strong pope whom Dante felt represented everything that was wrong with the Church. Dante believed that Boniface VIII led the Church into worldly corruption. Boniface and Dante would be political enemies

 Guido de Cavalcanti: A Guelph leader and wealthy banker who was also a devotee of Epicurean philosophy and was said to have been an atheist.

 Cavalcante de Cavalcanti: Son of Guido de Cavalcanti, Guido was a poet and close friend of Dante. Guido may have been an atheist like this father.

 Paolo Malatesta: An Italian nobleman who fell in love with his brother’s wife, Francesca.

 Francesca da Rimini: An Italian noblewoman likely married for political reasons; when she fell in love with her brother-in-law Paolo, her husband killed them both.

 Farinata degli Uberti: A powerful Ghibelline military leader who successfully defeated Guelph forces in Florence. He was reputed not to believe in life after death.

 Fra Alberigo: A friar who had his brother and nephew killed at a banquet he hosted; when he called for figs to be brought, that was the signal for assassins to come in and murder the men.

 Judas: The Apostle who betrayed Christ; one of three betrayers whom Satan grinds in his teeth for all eternity.

 Brutus: A betrayer and assassin of Julius Caesar, also in Satan’s mouth.

 Cassius: Another betrayer of Julius Caesar, also in Satan’s mouth.