Inferno, Canto XV

Ser Brunetto and the Violent Against Nature. Class notes on Canto XV of Dante's Inferno.

By Rick Reed

1. Lines 4-12, Dante presents us with a double epic simile. How are these two similes appropriate? How do they contribute to the experience of this round of Circle 7?
2. What other texts you have read does lines 13-15 evoke in your mind? Remember the specific sin focused on in the desert of Round 3. Read lines 16-21. Again, Dante gives us dual similes. Always keeping in mind that the figures they see are sodomites, what do they evoke in your mind? What do you make of the use of the word family in line 23? (It is an accurate translation of the Italian famiglia in line 23 on the page in Italian.)
3. How does Ser Brunetto capture Dante’s attention? (lines23-24)

Dante recognizes Ser Brunetto Latini (ca. 1220-1294), his old “teacher.” He probably taught Dante by the example of his works rather than in any classroom, but the entire scene is staged as a reunion between teacher and former student.

The two share a number of similarities: both were Guelphs in Florence, both were men of letters, both were involved in politics. In addition, both wrote major works in vernacular Italian. Because, like Dante, he was a notary, Brunetto bears the honorific Ser. In addition, he became a de facto exile when, while he was in France, he learned about the battle of Montaperti and the triumph of the Ghibellines. While there, he wrote his three major works just as Dante wrote the Commedia in exile. Unlike Dante, when his party regained power, Brunetto returned to Florence, dying there in 1294, much honored by his countrymen.

What details do we learn concerning Ser Brunetto in lines 25-27? Take a look at the Italian in lines 28-30. Note the words that rhyme in lines 28 and 30. Do you thinks that rhyme was intentional on Dante’s part?

Read lines 52-54. Note that Dante never reveals Virgil’s name. What do you make of that choice? What does Dante mean by “home” in line 54?

4. Read lines 61-78. What prophecy does Brunetto make concerning Dante’s future?

Read lines 82-87. Compare them to lines 31 and 37. What do both men acknowledge as a metaphor for their relationship? What do you believe Brunetto taught Dante about immortality? Read lines 88-93. What is Dante’s stance on the prophecy of Brunetto? When Dante asks Virgil to asks about the others in his company of sinners, what is Brunetto’s answer?

5. What do you make of the final epic simile in lines 121-124? How does Dante’s contrapasso for this sin explain the nature of the sin?