The Divine Comedy

Spring 2015

Welcome

In this course, we will read one of the greatest achievements of Western culture, Dante’s Divine Comedy. Divided into three parts — Inferno (Hell), Purgatorio (Purgatory) and Paradiso (Heaven) — the Comedy is a voyage through the Christian afterlife that is universal and metaphorical, but also intensely personal and literal. We will read all of the Comedy, as well as looking at Dante’s world and the Comedy’s influence in the contemporary world. All works are in English, with the original Italian for majors and minors in Italian. Students will complete three writing assignments (one creative, two formal papers, 5-6 pp.)

Hours

T/Th 2:00-3:20

G30 FLB


Grades

Your grade will consist of attendance and participation (25%); and the writing assignments (3 x 25% = 75%). I reserve the right to add pop quizzes at any point if it appears that many students are not doing the reading (in which case, participation is 20%, quizzes are 20% and each writing assignment is 20%).

She lit a burner on the stove

And offered me a pipe

“I thought you’d never say hello,” she said

“You look like the silent type”

Then she opened up a book of poems

And handed it to me

Written by an Italian poet

From the thirteenth century

And every one of them words rang true

And glowed like burnin’ coal

Pourin’ off of every page

Like it was written in my soul

From me to you

Tangled up in blue


"Tangled up in Blue"

—Bob Dylan