The Inferno: The Introduction

Dante and Virgil in Hell, Adolphe Bougereau

Today's Agenda:

• Begin to engage with some of the longitudinal thematic concerns of Dante's Inferno.
• Introduce the rhyming verse stanza form Terza Rima.

Brain Drop:

(7 Minutes)
In Dante's The Inferno, nine circles of hell are detailed. Imagine you are designing a hell of your own. For this writing exercise, please compartmentalize all human evils into nine "circles," ranking them numerically. For our purposes, nine will be the "most evil," and one will be the "least evil." Please give one piece of evidence in the form of a "real world" example for each evil you choose.

Group Work:

As a group, compare and discuss your brain drops. Elect one group scribe to write down the answer to these questions:

1) Where did the group agree? Are there any "evils" that emerge in everyone's nine circles?
2) Where did the group disagree?
3) Repeat the brain drop activity as a group. Create nine circles of hell that the entire group agrees with. You will be asked to share your ideas with the class.

Exit Slip:

(Final 10 Minutes of Class)
Dante is credited with inventing Terza Rima, a form of three-line rhyming poetry. In Terza Rima, the middle line of the first stanza rhymes with the first and third line of the second stanza.

Here is the pattern:

ABA, BCB, CDC, DED...etc. There is no limit to the number of lines.

Here is an example of Terza Rima in Percy Bysshe Shelley's Ode to the West Wind:

O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being, (a)

Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead (b)

Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing, (a)

Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red, (b)

Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O thou, (c)

Who chariotest to their dark wintery bed (b)

The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low, (c)

Each like a corpse within its grave, until (d)

Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow (c)

Her clarion o'er the dreaming earth, and fill (d)

(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air) (e)

With living hues and odours plain and hill: (d)

 
 Write a poem in the Terza Rima form that details the nine circles of hell from your brain drop OR your group work. See how many lines you can produce before the period ends.

Percy Bysshe Shelley: My Favorite Romantic