Inferno Canto 16


VIDEO VERSION

AUDIO VERSION



OVERVIEW

Kathryn Davis is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Dallas. She studies Dante, Jane Austen, and Shakespeare and teaches courses in Literary Traditions and the Medieval period.

Questions for Reflection

  • There is a great deal of discourse in this canto about Florence’s politics and attention to physicality and movement of the pilgrim in relation to the Florentine men. What does the frenzied, even violent movement of this canto tell us about the spiritual condition of Florence?
  • Why might Dante believe that thinking eschatologically about the body is important for thinking well about politics and society in the present?
  • Why would Dante call attention to the artifice of the poem we are reading just before he begins his journey through the circle of Fraud (16.127-130)?
  • What do you think it means for the pilgrim to lure Geryon with the discarded cord from around his waist?

DETAILS

  • Dr. Kathryn Davis
  • University of Dallas
  • Run Time 10:44