Honors English 12

Honors English 12

Mr. Henry

Dante’s Inferno

As part of our study, each of you is responsible for doing some analysis on a particular canto. Your analysis should be thoughtful, carefully composed using integrated quotations from the text (MLA citations included), and posted on our FirstClass Inferno workspace one day before the reading assignment including your canto is due for the rest of the class. Each member of the class should access the workspace and print out a copy of the posted assignment before the class period in which the canto will be discussed (see schedule). Your response which should include an MLA heading can be single spaced to conserve paper. Each section of the assignment will be worth 10 points. Timely posting (by 10 pm on the due date) will be worth 10 points. You will be expected to play an active role in the discussion of the canto you have been assigned. You may certainly use your reflections in this assignment in your discussion. Although two students are assigned for most of the cantos, your work should be entirely original. You may certainly consult web resources, but academic integrity demands that your work reflect your own thought and composition.

As your title, clearly identify the canto with Arabic numerals (ex. Canto 5). This title should also serve as the subject/heading for your FirstClass workspace post.

A. Provide an analysis of some of the imagery used by Dante in the canto. Dante usually provides vivid (sometimes disturbing) descriptions of the state of the sinners in hell. Integrate the text in your analysis to capture Dante’s imagery. It would be good to focus not only on what is described, but how is it described. Watch for Dante’s use of metaphor, simile, and sensory details.

B. Identify and explain the type of sin punished in this level. Provide as much explanation as necessary to help the reader understand the moral ramifications of the sin. Sometimes Dante tells us about particular people/figures from history or mythology that are suffering because of their sin. If this will help us, identify them and help us to understand what events precipitated their placement in hell. In addition, give an explanation of the manner in which the “law of divine retribution” is exercised in the canto. Integrate the text to support your considerations of sin, punishment, and divine justice.

C. Analyze, critique, or recommend any of our web resources in regard to your assigned canto. You might choose to recommend a particularly helpful aspect of one of the web sites in its treatment of your canto. You might also embed an illustration (from the Dore Gallery or another gallery) of a figure or event found in your canto along with a brief explanation for why you found it especially helpful or provocative.

D. Finally respond personally to the text. Again, integrating the text into your response, reflect upon what you have read. Your response can be emotional, academic, even theological. Just be sure that you respond to Dante’s ideas and writing in a way that is both respectful and academically sophisticated.