Dear All,
I have updated the selection. Please come to class prepared. There will be a reading questionnaire, since not all of you are writing a post about the readings. Many will be answering the questions about your visit to the Met. You will keep those posts password protected, because I don’t want you to be influenced in your answers. As a proof of your visit please keep your sticker. You can also take a selfie with one of the paintings and post it!
https://hubpages.com/literature/Dantes-Inferno-Canto-XXVII
In Canto 27 Dante comes across Guido da Montefeltro in the ninth bolgia where we can find the sowers of discord. After reading this Canto it made me realize just how moral and logical Dante (the poet) is. Dante portrays his high moral regard for God in a very logical and simple way. Although, Dante does not say who he is talking to in this Canto, the reader can conclude that it is Guido da Montefeltro speaking by the confessing of his sins and the attribution of his home to the story. Guido only does this because he is confident that Dante won’t be able to make it out of hell to tell this story. Guido recounts his story about his encounter with the high priest, ” then he said again: let not your heart fear: henceforth i absolve you, if you teach me how to raze Palestrina to the ground. Heaven i can lock and unlock, as you know; for that reason the keys are two which my predecessor did not prize.” Here, Dante exemplifies his standpoint on morality and his usefulness of logic by deliberately putting this passage in Inferno. In the non-contemporary times that Dante lived in–thinking outside of the natural order of things must have been very audacious and uncommon. But, here he takes on an Aristotlian tone by applying Aristotle’s principle of contradiction. One cannot be two things at once. One cannot be saved or absolved from their sins if one does not repent. The high priest tells Guido he can save him, but the only person that can save Guido is God along with Guido’s repentance.
In canto 33, Dante remains in the ninth circle. Here, Dante is talking to more sinners, one of which calls himself Count Ugalino, describes himself being starved while locked in a cage with his four sons. There was nothing but a small window in a tower that he named the Hunger Tower. “A cage in which still others will be locked, had, through its opening, already showed me several moons, when I dreamed that bad dream which rent the curtain of the future for me.” (Dante, 33.25) Are the punishments given for each sinner just? Being left to starve to death and enduring the pain of having to go through it with his children is torture, many of the punishments in hell have been torturous. Dante’s torture is his entire journey through the circles into hell.
It seemed to Dante that Ugalino and his sons were torn by sharp fangs, as Ugalino recounts hi and his sons in the Hunger Tower, his sons asking for bread. This upset Ugalino, and “out of my grief, I bit both my hands; and they, who thought I’d done that out of hunger, immediately rose and told me: ‘Father, it would be far less painful for us if you ate of us; for you clothed us in this sad flesh that is for you to strip off.'”..” And they all ended up dying of hunger. Once Ugalino watched all of his children die, he goes blind. He could not eat, and could not bear to the offer his children gave him to eat them, so he also starved to death.
Dante and Virgil passed through the ninth circle, stepping over sinners submerged in ice except for their heads. They are freezing and Dante describes not being able to feel his face when he says “because of cold, my every sense had left its dwelling in my face, just as a callus has no feeling, nonetheless,” Dante is now questioning what is happening to him when he asks Virgil he responds telling him that he will be where he is supposed to be soon. He will soon know why the wind blasts from above. (Dante, 33.106) The sinners now tell Dante that the last place has been assigned just for him. Dante tries to level with the sinner named Fra Alberigo, who murdered guests with fruit he tended to badly, in order to enter the last layer into hell. Dante is about to enter the very last circle into hell, and he is about to discover what his sin was after all.
Going through my blog posts I started to appreciate some of the changes I’ve made when writing a response to the work of Dante. I see a lot less discussion of the text in my earlier posts than I do in more recent published works, and I think that that’s a real and tangible improvement. I stand by the topics I’ve written about, though I think that as my perception of Dante and his Comedy have been refined and developed, so too have my topics of discussion. I think that I’ve made a lot of progress since my first post, and that I’ve better and more effectively engaged and built-off of the text in my posts.
Comparing my oldest and most recent work you can really start to see a lot of improvements. Not just in analysis, but also in how I engage with the text. I used a lot more quotes than I think was necessary in my first few posts. Not exactly a bad thing, but something I think could have been better considering my current works which rely a lot less on excerpts from the text, and more on an analysis of what Dante’s really saying through the Inferno. While the quotes establish a good dialogue and development of the text as I build up to my arguments, reflecting on them now I think these quotes really result in more of a summation than analysis. My second assignment on Canto 7 really shows this, especially through descriptions like “Just as these souls went against the will of Fortune, a device of God, they now take what they have (their weights) and collide and push against each other, a metaphor for their behavior on Earth.” While I stand by the post itself, which focuses on the degrees of sin and the idea of contrapasso, I think that my work has improved a lot from this base. I think that my analysis is a lot more thorough in recent posts than it was in posts like “Dante’s Vision of Contrapasso in the Punishment of Sin,” which isn’t to say that posts like these are bad, only that I’ve developed beyond them.
I noticed a main focus in my works, or a favorite topic at the very least. My favorite works so far are those which include Dante’s perception of God’s “Divine Plan,” and the construction of the Inferno with the intention of contrapasso. Dante’s exploration of contrapasso in the Inferno is something I find very interesting, as readers can probably tell from the numerous times that I’ve brought it up through my blog posts. My favorite post so far has likely been my analysis of the “Progression of the Recognition of Sin,” a post drawing a line between the sinners in the first couple bolgia and the “anti-inferno” from the first few Cantos of the Inferno. I think that the parallels between sin and punishment as well as the parallels between sinners in the Inferno (as I explore in my post) are fascinating, and it’s ideas like this that I feel really embody my development through these posts. In earlier posts, I think I was really just getting my footing in the Inferno. And now with a better understanding of Dante and the construction of his Inferno, I feel that a lot of my ideas are a lot more free-flowing and interesting, especially now that I’ve really solidified an interest in Dante’s work.
Ultimately I think my posts are improving, but they still need work. I think that my topics are improving in terms of thought, but in terms of writing I think I can still do better. A lot of my main shortcomings are a result of relying on the text a lot more than I should, and while I feel that I’ve definitely progressed a lot from that, I can certainly continue to improve.
After reading my posts i realized that my first couple of posts were solely narrative posts as I failed to fully engage with the text. It was only during the next few that i was starting to engage and analyze the cantos. I noticed that my more successful posts were focused on Virgil as i find him to be a more interesting character than Dante.
Writing is definitely not my strong suit as bits of grammatical errors are sprinkled across my posts. Critical analysis and finding hidden meanings are things that I always struggled with, it never seems to click in my head. With a classical work such as The Divine Comedy it increases the difficulty of analyzing for me as now i must struggle to even grasp the most surface level understanding from the text. One thing that i should really improve upon is adding more text from the cantos into my posts to help support my analysis. There is also the lack of outside sources to draw from like Barolini’s comments or the comments from the book, these are insightful comments that have a much deeper understanding of Dante’s Divine Comedy and can provide me a better understanding of the text so i am able to grasp the topics and themes that Dante explores in his text.
As I revisited my previous posts, I’ve noticed that my analysis requires more content than quality. To my knowledge, I don’t see a real concrete thought process when dealing with these assignments. I deal with this posts without any cognitive process, and if I apply more planning into writing my analysis about these cantos then I can further enlighten myself and the audience. Honestly, on my first post it was difficult for me write about the image to the referred canto. It’s been a long time since I’ve had to write about an artist’s piece, so I don’t know how to go about contemplating on what the piece represents. This is why i tend to stick with just textual analysis. In my opinion, It is easier to come up with a strategy to translate my ideas into writing.
As I continue on this course, I hoped to utilize many literary theories to help me make sense of Dante’s text. Before, at the start of this course I’ve stated about my fascination on the damned in Dante’s Inferno to which drove me to enroll this class. Now I’ve realized that Dante’s Inferno has more to offer than what I initially thought. Some of what Dante’s talks about with the damned sometimes reflects what’s going on in today’s world in terms of corruption and morality themes.
When one embarks on a hermeneutical journey of a great text, especially to that of the Divine Comedy, one is bound to confront the puzzlement of interpreting and analyzing the text. Certainly, one must read, and one must also write, in order to make an attempt to understand the text. For the comedy, it is a literary work of pedagogy that presents a well-rounded, cohesive, sets of classical ideas derived from liberal education that ranges from philosophy, mythology, theology, painting, politics, religion, and poetry. If we are only to read the text in our inner voice or out loud to our self, we are treating the text as a form of dogmatic study. I certainly do find the beauty and the challenge of coming to class to explicate my analysis on a particular theme or idea in the cantos. And indeed, whatever one is spewing out onto the open classroom initiates the reciprocation of interpretation, like when different perspectives of textual analysis are being cross-examined. In the open classroom, new ideas are being born, and instructors and students are all contributing their method of how certain implicit elements come into play and building upon each other’s ideas with their proposed textual evidence and explanation.
Lest we forget that the Divine Comedy should be approached in a holistic manner, by this mean, there is equal merit in analyzing each facet of the liberal education. For example, my treatment of the text tends to gravitate to philosophy and mythology. For once, I was fascinated by the iconography of ascension and the cosmos and its underlying philosophical connection to stoicism. And also, I was eager to find if there is any highlighting connection between the theory of social contract put forth by Thomas Hobbes and why Florence was a discordant city-state at that time. These ideas and other similar ones were composed in a collective class journal that every student can read and comment. For one to derive pleasure in one’s writing, is one just to write for the sake of one. However, we must pretend to acknowledge that our instructor and students are an ignorant layman who has never read the text, and whatever experimental interpretation we have must be subjected to the sterilization of lucidity. It is foolish to start to analyze about metamorphosis in depth when the writer hasn’t even begun to give a proper introduction to the term. I must be frank that I’ve committed such mistake of assuming that the audience knows what I am explicating about.
Since this is an open collective class journal, we certainly do want to be considerate by communicating in a way that is effective and contributing. Although we are not writing an academic paper on this forum, we should treat our written delivery of it as such. If we are explicating our interpretation in the class, it is more acceptable to make a mistake on the fallibility and the delivery of the explication. But if are writing about it on the collective class journal, there is less room for errors, and there is no excuse as to the poor development of one’s idea. Therefore, our instructor points out our mistakes sharply before the students notice it. I reckon that some students express a slight annoyance because the comments that the instructor gave might be too much criticism on their grammar or idea development. But I do want to emphasize one point, which is to find the true lesson of what the text means to you in whatever way, regardless of caring too much about performing poorly on the class journal. One should interpret the comedy by, drawing out on any implicit element that might sound outrageous or out of touch. And that we should risk being wrong, rather than not making any thoughtful interpretation at all. As long as there is an innate attraction for that interpretation, finding evidence of it to support the claim will be a job that certainly requires the pleasure of mental stimulation.
When reflecting on my first post on Canto III and the posts that follow after, I cannot find any specific trend in my posts. I do not seem to fall into a niche when posting about a selective reading, rather I first tend to say what particularly interests me and why; often making a contemporary analysis in relation to our current social atmosphere. I also never reread my writing before submitting which makes my arguments unclear. Furthermore, progressing throughout the cantos and our course discussions allowed for me to take on different perspectives on how to read the poetry. I realized that language in poetry is very important and often, when read carefully, provides deeper meaning in relation to the material. In the more recent readings I’ve begun to analyze why Dante (the writer) chooses to construct the inferno the way that he does. I do not believe that anything read thus far has been a gimmick. Then, I noticed that Dante often ironically assigns crime to punishment effectively. This means that each punishment alone may be enough to allow the reader to guess the crime that entails it.
Furthermore, I need to interact with the characters on a deeper level and understand their respective stories. Once I can understand cantos in their entirety, I will be able to reflect better with the story and be more insightful.
In blog post one, it was solely a narration of what happened in the first canto. By post 6, I focused much more on a theme in the canto. However, this could still use more work. I tend to only uses a few lines from the canto to illustrate what I am arguing, which is not enough. Additionally, I do not draw enough from other resources available. Having other sources would be a good way of reinforcing my points. I should also look into arguing against what other people have written, if I do not agree with them.
Some of my blog post examine the same ideas as other students, however they usually take a different view on the topics.
Blog post 1 and 5, I used art in my analysis, both from the Yates Thompson 36 Manuscript. I enjoyed doing these two posts the most, as I feel comparing and contrasting how I image the scenes, and how artists have seen them, very interesting. The artworks from this manuscript in particular, I think are very good to examine as they show a progression, from left to right, they illustrate most of the scene.
There is a pattern in most of my posts. I start my stating my argument, then going to further depth about what this argument is, using a few quotes from the canto, analyzing these quotes, then a very brief summary. At first I thought the topics I address have all been very different, but looking back I notice I usually write of how Dante views certain sinners and their actions. I write whether he shows the sinners pity or distain, whether he writes of their punishment as fair or unjust.
I feel I could improve my posts if I just spent more time developing them, through reading other sources, other students’ posts etc, rather than only using the cantos and myself as the only source.
Reflecting on the previous posts I’ve written, I’ve noticed several patterns. One pattern, for example, is a thematic recurrence. I often discuss or reference Dante’s reactions to the souls and the events that take place in Hell or the situations and exchanges he engages in with the souls even when the main focus of the post does not center around this topic. In the post, Farinata’s Attitude in Hell, in which the attitude of a soul who is still preoccupied with the notion of social status is discussed, I noted, “Despite his circumstances, throughout the entire canto, Farinata’s demeanor is calm and collected unlike Dante’s past encounters in which the souls are either sorrowful and pitiful or attempt to put Dante’s life in peril.” Here, it is evident that while the subject of this sentence focuses on Farinata’s bearing, it is used as a comparison to the meetings that Dante has with the other souls. Another example of referencing Dante’s sentiments while the post focuses on another topic is in the previous post entitled “Evil Tail’s Clever Deceit”. In this post, the focus is on the scene where Virgil boldly deals with a group of devils who ultimately end up deceiving him. The clever manner in which they trick Virgil is then connected to the effects it has on Dante. Considering that Dante depends solely on Virgil as his guide, it is understandable that I included this connection in order to make my point. As an example, I notice that, “Although Dante has faith in Virgil’s intelligence and ability to deal with the creatures of Hell, he does not wish to forget this moment for the sake of eluding danger which Virgil fails to do so in canto 21.” Noticably, here, I am taking into consideration Dante’s belief that Virgil is capable of effectively dealing with Hell’s demons while ending the sentence with a change in focus. The change refers back to the central topic of the post which is Virgil’s failure to keep Dante safe in canto 21.
Furthermore, there is another thematic element that is discussed more than once: the constant evolution of Dante’s reactions to the souls. This is clearly illustrated in reflecting on the second post, “Filippo Argenti: The Daring Soul” and the fifth post, “Dante v.s. Pope Nicholas III”. Both posts mention the change in Dante’s response to the discussions he has with the souls. The Filippo Argenti post states, “In past Cantos, Dante would show pity towards souls who would share their stories with him…Here, Dante convey disgust and alarm at Argenti’s daring behavior…” Meanwhile, in the fifth post, I note, “Dante’s reproach is ultimately harsh, blunt and straightforward…In past cantos, the majority of his reactions consist of sorrowful pity or fear.” Evidently, according to these posts, I find it quite interesting that Dante sympathizes strongly with the souls to the point that he even faints. However, in both posts I note this reaction in comparison to the new emotions that he portrays such as disgust or reproach. I believe I focus on this theme consistently because it is important to keep track of the emotional roller coaster that Dante is on. Without following the evolution of Dante’s sentiments as he progresses into the deeper and darker pits of Hell, it would be difficult to understand why he narrates the poem in a certain manner with different linguistic techniques or the different aspects of his relationship with Virgil. Both of these things connect to Dante’s emotions because they are codependent and are crucial to Dante’s physical and mental journey.
I also notice that I have used images in every post excluding the previous one. However, for the most part, I do not discuss the analysis of the text in connection to how the scenes are reflected in those images. I believe, going forward, this would be a useful technique to add to the upcoming posts because it allows for an analysis of how the vivid text is brought to life in a manner that allows me to visualize the harrowing events in Hell.
