Be sure to integrate research from a minimum of two secondary sources, one of which must be a scholarly work published since 2000. To do this, you will need to access the library’s databases (such as Project Muse and JSTOR) as well as the resources housed in the Sojourner Truth Library’s physical stacks. Each volume of the Hollander translation has a copious bibliography you may wish to consult to augment your searches.
The essay should be 6-8 double-spaced pages in a twelve-point font), not counting the list of Works Cited, and in MLA format. A successful essay will engage in close readings of the translated text, using specific evidence in clearly explained context to support its claims.
- Write an essay on the theme of guidance in the Commedia. You may construe this topic any way you choose, though you should consider characters in the poem (Virgil, Statius, Beatrice, Bernard, God, the Malebranche, the various Angels, etc.) as well as the Poet’s guidance of his readers. What type of guidance is on offer? Does it work? Make sure you give full and equal consideration to all three canticles in formulating your argument: how does guidance differ in Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, and in what ways and for what reasons does it remain unchanged in all three realms?
- Demonstrate mastery of all three canticles
- Demonstrate mastery of all three canticles
- Use precise, well-integrated quotations
- Incorporate relevant and recent scholarship
- Show original analysis—don’t just summarize the plot
- Use a clear, logical structure
- Proofread carefully for grammar and flow
- Engage deeply with the ethical and theological dimensions of guidance
Texts assignment is based on: Dante Alighieri’s La Vita Nuova, Paradiso, Purgatory, and Inferno
