OVERVIEW

William Weaver is an Associate Professor of Literature in the Honors College at Baylor University. His research explores the history of rhetoric, early modern English poetry, and Renaissance humanism.

Questions for Reflection

• Who populates the first circle of hell, Limbo? What kind of existence do they lead? Is there any punishment for them?
• Has anyone ever left Limbo? Does Virgil understand the significance of what he witnessed in Christ’s harrowing of hell?
• Is Dante in moral or spiritual danger in canto 4 as he spends time among the great poets and philosophers of antiquity? If so, how?
• Is Limbo just?