For your next post, please consider commenting on one single aspect/image/idea found in cantos 14-17. You have some freedom about the organization of this post, but I suggest reading Barolini’s commentary to these cantos (in the Digital Dante website) and the notes in your book before writing your post. Barolini discusses Dante’s condemnation of homosexuality. We all disagree with that condemnation today and we all fight for LGBT rights, but Dante is a man of his time and even progressive, if we consider that lust and sodomy are desexualized in Inferno (as Barolini suggests).

Writing tips:

Try to focus on quality rather than quantity. Consider spending a little time reread your post pretending you are somebody else. Would another person understand your main point? Do you refer to the text to prove your point? Are your references accompanied by canto and line number, in case another person needs to find the passage?  It is a  good idea to ask a friend to read your post.

Separate your post into paragraph or write one coherent paragraph. Remember that one paragraph can explore one idea. Is there a sentence that can summarize your point in a specific paragraph? There should be one. The other sentences work as support or contrast to that main idea (or topic sentence, if you want).

Sentence structure: Are your sentences short enough and clear enough? Are you avoiding ambiguous pronouns? Have you used one million words to describe one simple action? Try to cut “unnecessary words” and see if your post reads better. Read it aloud if necessary.

Reread your post once again only looking at the spelling of your words. Did you mispell “Vingil,” “Alogherio,” etc.? Did you capitalize proper names? Did you close your parentheses? Did you use quotation marks? Are you using punctuation?

Lastly, use the category “Post 4” even if it’s not the forth post that you write.

Thank you for reading this. I look forward to reading your posts.

Stefania