Teacher Training - THE DIVINE COMEDY - For Classical Teachers - Memoria Press

Teacher Training
                     For Classical Teachers

S AV I N G W E S T E R N C I V I L I Z AT I O N O N E S T U D E N T AT A T I M E

                THE DIVINE COMEDY

Dante’s Divine Comedy

Instructor: Mr. Kyle Janke                              Email: kjanke@thelatinschool.org

Course Overview:

        This course will take students through a close analysis of the beauty and significance of
Dante’s epic poem, The Divine Comedy. Lessons will highlight Dante’s use of physical reality to
reveal spiritual truths, which is the primary function of allegory. This focus will allow students
to relate Dante’s epic to the rest of the Western literary tradition. Furthermore, students will find
a full expression of orthodox Christianity in Dante’s text.

Texts:

         First Trimester:         Inferno – Dante Alighieri

         Second Trimester:        Purgatorio – Dante Alighieri

         Third Trimester:         Paradiso – Dante Alighieri

Assessments:

   -     Reading assignments for this course are short, and therefore should be done diligently
         and carefully. We will cover 3-4 cantos every week.
   -     Students will be instructed on specific methods of notation, to be done while completing
         assigned reading. A review of these notes will make up the notes portion of the grade.
   -     A brief (and timed) open-note quiz will be given every other week over class discussion.
         Students will be required to take careful notes in class. (One memorization quiz will also
         be given over the structure of Dante’s Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise respectively.)
   -     A test over the course material will be given midway and at the end of each trimester.
   -     Students will write three symbol analysis papers (1 pg) in the first and second trimester
         and a final paper (10 pgs) in the third.
   -     One graded recitation (20 lines) will be memorized and given each trimester.
   -     (One notebook grade will be allotted as class participation. Points may be taken during
         class at the teacher’s discretion.)

Grading:

         Tests:                                 40 %
         Quizzes:                               20 %
         Papers (Recitation):                   20 %
         Notes (Participation):                 20 %

         HLS Upper School Grading Scale: A 100-91, B 90-82, C 81-76, D 75-70, F

Paper Expectations

    Symbol Analysis Expectations

    Prompt:         Why did Dante include this symbol in the Inferno, Purgatorio, or Paradiso?

    Instructions:   Choose one prominent symbol from a canto we have read in class.
                    Write two large paragraphs analyzing and explaining that symbol:

    What is there? → Paragraph 1: Describe and explain the context in which the symbol appears
    Why is it there? → Paragraph 2: Extrapolate the meaning of the symbol and answer the prompt

    Notes:          Each paragraph should have a clear and complete topic sentence.
                    There should be a smooth transition from Paragraph 1 to Paragraph 2.
                    The paper should be double spaced and in proper MLA format.
                    There should be no typos at all.

    Grading Criteria:      Topic sentences:       10
                           Transition:            10
                           Content:               10
                                                  _______

                                                  30 pts

    ______________________________________________________________________________

    Final Paper Expectations

    Prompt:         Analyze a prominent theme featured throughout Dante’s Divine Comedy.
                          How does Dante develop this theme?
                          What meaning does this theme convey?

    Options:        Pilgrimage; Sea travel; Sight; Reflection; Classical/Christian; Physical/Spiritual
                    (Or another theme you might discover)

    Grading Criteria:      Content:               40 pts
                           Thesis:                25 pts
                           Structure:             25 pts
                           Gram./Spel./Punc.:     10 pts
                                                  _______

                                                  100 pts

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Sample Symbol Analysis

(Strunk & White, Elements of Style, II: Rule 9 – “Make the paragraph the unit of composition.”)

       Lines 22-27 of Canto One liken Dante to an exhausted swimmer. The simile captures

the terror one feels lying on the shore, gazing at the deep, having narrowly escaped its terrible

power. Dante connects the Wood of Error, where he begins, to this overwhelming ocean. In it,

Dante has become lost and exhausted to the point of death. The allegory, of course, finds its

source in Scripture: “The wages of sin is death,” and Dante has barely retained his life. He has

awakened in middle age spent, alone, and far from home, a swimmer unable to master the sea of

sin.

       This quality of Dante’s character calls into question his status as an epic hero. One

might compare Dante to another heroic ocean-swimmer: Homer’s Odysseus. Compared to

Odysseus, Dante appears weak and insignificant. If he is a swimmer, he must be thrown in

contest with the waves, as was Odysseus. Where Odysseus, by his strength and wit, will

eventually succeed, Dante has already lost. He wins no fame. In this way, Dante begins his epic

voyage in direct opposition to Odysseus’ beginning. One is nameless, the other great. Does

meekness sink beneath the waves while fame bears up like a ship? This does not seem consistent

with Christian teaching. So the reader must watch to see how Dante’s seafaring differs from that

of Odysseus, in order to discover the Divine Comedy’s particular interpretation of an epic hero.

Sample Thesis Statement:

      Dante likens his epic hero to a defeated swimmer in order to contrast the Christian
meekness with pagan brawn, revealing the certainty of a Christian’s hope in heaven and the
comparative desperation of the Homeric hero.

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