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"There is no greater sorrow than to recall our times of joy in wretchedness."
Dante / Neruda 1 - The Dark Wood - Inferno Excerpt Discussion or Group Work : For the longest time - the majority of my teaching career, I had done this lesson - after the students read the excerpt from Dante's "Inferno" as a Group Work. I believe the biggest reason for that was just that I felt overwhelmed by the enormity of Dante's writing. There is SO much there - I felt the only way that I could "tame" it was to compose a Group Work that touch on the many ideas and words that are in the students excerpt. Then, I discovered Vertexts - the use of projected quotes that I culled from the reading, that are then presented to the students - and they can make the critical thinking connections without my very pointed questions - but instead, the questions that they have in their own heads - and the answers that come from their classmates. In any case, I have both the Group Work and the Vertext below - and I believe both are worthwhile (but it wouldn't make sense to do both). The very first slide of the Vertext references - through Dante's journey - so many of the other journeys we've seen in this class - it is the perfect review for how far we have come.
Lesson Overview
Lesson Overview
Two Methods
Two Methods
Please see my page on Class Discussion Methods for more about both Group Work and Vertexts. These two possible choices for the lesson cover the same ground - so it wouldn't make sense to do both.
The Vertext (some highlights)
The Vertext (some highlights)
The very first slide is a reference to our first (novel-wise) author, Nicole Krauss, who took the title of her most recent (at the time I was teaching) novel, Forest Dark.
Next - I bring in the many works we've read, in relation to that famous first line about Dante being midway in his life's journey - and being faced with a choice: Plato's Cave, Young Goodman Brown, Martin Guerre, Leo & Alma, Alex's Grandfather, Candide, the old man in "War", The Jewish Giant, Paul Baumer, Norman Bowker, Ben Braddock, Harold Krebbs, Jimmy Mueller, the injured man in The Knight Face Up, the Wayfarer.
We then start getting into quotes from Canto I - again, see my page on Vertexts. You should start at one end of the room and have a student read aloud the quote - the line # is also given so that students can easily find it in their own handouts of the text (see below) and take notes (and/or look at the notes that they took when they were doing their reading.
When we get to the 9th slide - I show them Virgil's words to Dante, "I think it well you follow me" and some lines from Pablo Neruda: "And it was at that age...Poetry arrived in search of me..." I want to start creating that connection between Dante and Neruda now - and later that connection is further cemented by the film "Il Postino".
In Slide 12 - II bring up their visit to plane of hell where those who did nothing in the face of evil are placed, along with Einstein's words: "The World will not be destryed by those who do evil, but by those who watch and do nothing." In the next slide - more of Dante's text on this plane of hell followed by Martin Luther King's quote about the importance of taking a position.
And then Beatrice - the students have a handout on Beatrice and during Slide 14 we read it quickly. Again, this plays a part in both the Neruda lesson but even more importantly the "Il Postino" lesson.
We then read and discuss some quotes from Cantos IV and V - and finally we get to the story of Paollo and Francesca. After the appropriate lines - I show the students over 40 drawings, paintings, sculptures of these doomed lovers - and we discuss why the story of these two has had such an effect on artists throughout the ages.
We end with Dante's swoon (Slide 53)
The Group Work
The Group Work
Please see my page on Group Works as well as earlier examples that can be found throughout this website. Students who did the reading (you'll need to quickly grade the quizzes but students should know by this time of year not to get into a group if they didn't do the reading).
Some points covered by the Group Work
Some points covered by the Group Work
Please see the actual Group Work (below) for much more - but here are some of the points that are covered in this Group Work.
Why is the prose so dramatic? And why a "maze" to begin with?
Jumping right into Date's attitude about Paolo and Francesca?
There are enclosed pictures (that the students returned when they were done) of the many depictions of Paolo & Francesca) and also a reference to Sylvia Plath's poem that the students have on their bookmarks.
The students were given a sheet on Dante & Beatrice and their love for each other. How does this fit in iwth Paolo & Francesca as well as everything else (and of course this prepares the students for "Il Postino")
The students are asked to make connection between the Dante excerpt and many of the works and characters that we have read up to this point.
The Reading
The Reading
This is the excerpt that the students read for most of the years that I taught Dante and The Divine Comedy.
The Vertext
The Vertext
See above in the Lesson Overview for a complete explanation of the Vertext and my page on Class Discussion Methods (including Vertexts). Of course the absolute best way to see what's on here - is to look at the Vertext itself. In addition to the usual Power Point, I've also included a PDF of the slide show as well. At the end of the presentation are 40 artistic renderings of Paolo & Francesca.
Most Recent Quiz
Most Recent Quiz
Because the reading was much longer than usual - and because so much of what we do from this day on requires the knowledge of what was in that excerpt - this quiz counts for 200 points (or 150). As always, I believe that without a quiz confirming the students did the reading - the rest is meaningless. Please see my page on quizzes. Also, remember if you opt to do the Group Work - students that did not do the reading should NOT be allowed to get into a group, but should read during the period and do the Group Work on their own.
The Group Work & Paolo Francesca artwork
The Group Work & Paolo Francesca artwork
See above in the Lesson Overview for a complete explanation of the Group Work, including some highlights of what the questions are about. Also see my page on Group Works for more on the how and the why of using this type of lesson.
Though the Group Work says this is on the back of that handout - it's actually a separate document - and here it is.
I would make color copies of these and collect them from the students at the end of the period so they could be used again - over & over.
Remote Enhancements
Remote Enhancements
I did do this remotely (the Vertext) and it worked very well indeed.
DanteBasementandVertext20170125.m4aA Class Recording
A Class Recording
This recording is of the vertext and our trip downstairs. We take a trip down to the basement of our school - thinking about good and bad things in our life - and who we would have guide us through them. Then we come back in the class and discuss The Inferno using a Vertext (make sure you download and follow along if you are listening). We put quotes up, students comment on them and we end by looking at many images of the reading's very crucial Paolo and Francesca.
A Spark & a Flame - A Performance Creative Response to The Inferno: The assignment is two-fold - for the first part the students act out the scene from the Canto(s) that they have chosen. They act it out as it appears in the text, in the most creative way they can, to show the rest of - literally what takes place in that scene. The student who plays Virgil wears a white cape and hood; the student who plays Dante wears a black version of that same costume. After they are done acting that out - Part 2 of the project takes place: They need to show us what that scene (those lines from "The Inferno") that they just acted out - mean to them - mean to us in our modern world.
OR
Found in Translation - Translating the Inferno Project: This was the original project that students did for Dante's Inferno - before they started doing their Creative Performance Projects. While I really like that latter project better - I know that something was lost when we stopped doing this. This project gave the students the original Italian for what we had read - and asked them to first transliterate (a word-for-word reckoning) the passage they were responsible for and then to turn that nonsensical collection of words into something resembling poetry.
Thoughts on the Lesson
Thoughts on the Lesson
I really do believe the Vertext is the way to go here - rather than the Group Work. There is something about do this together as a class - in a way, though only January - the end of the year is starting to come into view and as a matter of fact - this unit has the last individual long term project.
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