Rick Reads The Life's Work of an English Teacher

Literature

Dante's Divine Comedy

Canto-by-canto class notes on Dante's Divine Comedy, with charts, timelines, and handouts for study.

Inferno

New to the study? Start here Review of Inferno Watch the slide show →
  1. IThe Dark Wood
  2. IIBeatrice Sends Virgil
  3. IIIThe Gate of Hell and the Neutrals
  4. IVLimbo
  5. VMinos and the Lustful
  6. VICerberus and the Gluttonous
  7. VIIThe Avaricious, the Prodigal, and the Wrathful
  8. VIIIThe Styx and the Walls of Dis
  9. IXThe Gates of Dis
  10. XThe Heretics
  11. XIThe Organization of Hell
  12. XIIThe Minotaur and the Violent Against Neighbors
  13. XIIIThe Wood of the Suicides
  14. XIVCapaneus and the Old Man of Crete
  15. XVSer Brunetto and the Violent Against Nature
  16. XVIThe Violent Against Nature (continued)
  17. XVIIGeryon and the Usurers
  18. XVIIIEighth Circle, Bolgias 1 and 2
  19. XIXEighth Circle, Bolgia 3: Simony
  20. XXEighth Circle, Bolgia 4: Fortune-Telling and Divination
  21. XXIEighth Circle, Bolgia 5: Grafters
  22. XXIIEighth Circle, Bolgia 5: Grafters (continued)
  23. XXIIIEighth Circle, Bolgia 6: Hypocrites
  24. XXIVEighth Circle, Bolgia 7: Thieves
  25. XXVEighth Circle, Bolgia 7: Thieves (continued)
  26. XXVIEighth Circle, Bolgia 8: Evil Counselors
  27. XXVIIEighth Circle, Bolgia 8: Evil Counselors
  28. XXVIIIEighth Circle, Bolgia 9: Sowers of Discord
  29. XXIXEighth Circle, Bolgia 10: Falsifiers
  30. XXXEighth Circle, Bolgia 10: Falsifiers
  31. XXXINinth Circle: The Giants and Rings 1 and 2
  32. XXXIINinth Circle: The Giants and Rings 1 and 2
  33. XXXIIINinth Circle: Rings 2 through 4
  34. XXXIVNinth Circle: Rings 2 through 4

Purgatorio

  1. ICato, Guardian of Purgatory
  2. IICasella and the Angelic Boat
  3. IIIThe Excommunicates
  4. IVThe Negligent
  5. VThose Who Died by Violence
  6. VISordello and Italian Politics
  7. VIISordello and the Preoccupied Kings
  8. VIIINightfall in Ante-Purgatory
  9. IXSt. Peter’s Gate
  10. XThe First Cornice: Carvings of Humility
  11. XIThe First Cornice: The Proud
  12. XIIThe First Cornice: Carvings of the Proud
  13. XIIIThe Second Cornice: The Envious
  14. XIV
  15. XV
  16. XVI
  17. XVII
  18. XVIII
  19. XIX
  20. XX
  21. XXI
  22. XXII
  23. XXIII
  24. XXIV
  25. XXV
  26. XXVI
  27. XXVII
  28. XXVIII
  29. XXIX
  30. XXX
  31. XXXI
  32. XXXII
  33. XXXIII

Paradiso

Class notes for the Paradiso are not posted yet.

  1. I
  2. II
  3. III
  4. IV
  5. V
  6. VI
  7. VII
  8. VIII
  9. IX
  10. X
  11. XI
  12. XII
  13. XIII
  14. XIV
  15. XV
  16. XVI
  17. XVII
  18. XVIII
  19. XIX
  20. XX
  21. XXI
  22. XXII
  23. XXIII
  24. XXIV
  25. XXV
  26. XXVI
  27. XXVII
  28. XXVIII
  29. XXIX
  30. XXX
  31. XXXI
  32. XXXII
  33. XXXIII

Extra resources

Batter my heart, three-person’d God

Rick Reed introduces John Donne’s Holy Sonnet XIV beside Purgatorio, with the text of the poem.
Poetry John Donne British literature Religion Dante Purgatorio

Correspondence of the Planets to the Liberal Arts

A chart of the seven heavens and the liberal art that Dante pairs with each in the Convivio.
Dante Purgatorio Liberal arts Reference chart

Dante's Political Timeline

A timeline of Dante's ties to the Ghibellines, White Guelphs, and Black Guelphs from his birth to his death in exile.
Dante Florence Medieval history Timeline

Denizens of the Valley of the Princes

The rulers in the flowering valley of Purgatorio VII, with their lines, textual cues, and Dante's judgment of each.
Dante Purgatorio Medieval history Reference chart

Epic Conventions

The characteristics and conventions of the traditional epic, all of which appear in the Divine Comedy.
Dante Epic poetry Literary terms

Guelphs and Ghibellines

A chart of the beliefs, agendas, and key dates of the Ghibellines, White Guelphs, and Black Guelphs.
Dante Florence Medieval history Reference chart

Introduction to Dante

Notes on Anthony Esolen's introduction to the Inferno: the tripartite soul, love, and the structure of the poem.
Dante Divine Comedy Lecture notes

Introduction to Dante Handout

A student handout on the ideas behind the Inferno: the tripartite soul, love, and the order of Hell.
Dante Divine Comedy Handout

Symbolism of the Guardians of Inferno

A review chart of the guardians of Inferno and what each one stands for.
Dante Inferno Symbolism Reference chart

The Classical and Medieval Virtues

A chart of the intellectual, moral, and theological virtues, with their sources in Aristotle, Cicero, and Aquinas.
Dante Virtues Philosophy Reference chart

The Evolution of Dante's Political Philosophy

How Dante's political loyalties shifted across his life, and where those shifts show up in the Inferno.
Dante Florence Medieval history Inferno

The Four Types of Falsification

The Roman legal source of Dante's four kinds of falsifiers in Inferno 29 and 30.
Dante Inferno Roman law

The Giants of Inferno 31

The giants who guard the Ninth Circle: where Dante names them, what they add to the canto, and his classical and biblical sources.
Dante Inferno Mythology Reference chart

The Names of the Malebranche

The demons of Inferno 21 and 22: their Italian names, where the names come from, and how three translators render them.
Dante Inferno Translation Reference chart

The Services of the Hours

The eight canonical hours of prayer, from Matins to Compline, with the Scripture tied to each.
Dante Purgatorio Liturgy Reference chart

The Three Faces of Satan

Readings of the red, yellowish-white, and black faces of Lucifer in Inferno 34.
Dante Inferno Symbolism Reference chart