David Bruce: Dante's INFERNO: A Discussion Guide (Free PDF)
Introduction to The Divine Comedy
• Who was Dante Alighieri?
Dante, of course, is the author of The Divine Comedy. He was born a Roman Catholic in Florence in 1265 C.E. He died of malaria in Ravenna, Italy, in 1321 (the night of Sept. 13-14). He remains buried in Ravenna, although an empty tomb in Florence is dedicated to him. Dante is known for his ability as a world-class poet, for his interest in politics, and for being exiled from Florence. In a way, he remains exiled from Florence, as his body in not in a tomb in Florence.
• What is The Divine Comedy in essence?
The Divine Comedy tells about Dante’s imaginative journey through the afterlife. Dante finds himself in a dark wood of error, and his guide, Virgil, the author of the Roman epic The Aeneid, takes Dante through the Inferno (Hell), and up the Mountain of Purgatory to the Forest of Eden. There Beatrice, Dante’s beloved who died early in life, takes over as Dante’s guide, and the two ascend the spheres of Paradise, until finally Dante, with the aid of another guide and of the Virgin Mary, is able to see God face to face. These three parts of Dante’s imaginative journey make up the three parts of The Divine Comedy: the Inferno, the Purgatorio, and the Paradiso.
In The Divine Comedy, Dante tells the reader how to achieve Paradise. In addition, the epic is a love story. A woman takes it upon herself to save Dante.
• How long does the journey in The Divine Comedy take?
Considering all the distance that is traveled, it doesn’t take long at all. It begins on the night before Good Friday and ends on Easter Wednesday of the year 1300, when Dante was 35 years old (midway through his three score and ten years). The journey takes roughly five and a half days. The year 1300 is significant other than being the midpoint of Dante’s life. In 1300, spiritual repentance and spiritual renewal were major themes of the Catholic Church’s first Holy Year.
• What is the scope of The Divine Comedy?
Herman Melville, author of Moby Dick, once said that in order to write a mighty book, an author needs to choose a mighty theme. By choosing the afterlife as his theme, Dante chose a mighty theme. He writes about the Inferno and how sins are punished, about Purgatory and how sins are purged, and about Paradise and how good souls are rewarded. In doing this, he writes about many themes that are important to the people of his time and to the people of our time and to people of any time: religion, God, poetry, politics, etc.
• Is The Divine Comedy universal?
“Universal” means applicable to anyone, at any time, and anywhere. Yes, The Divine Comedy is universal. One need not be a Christian to enjoy and learn from The Divine Comedy. All of us sin, and probably most of us regret sinning. Many people can identify with the characters of The Divine Comedy. For example, Francesca da Rimini refuses to take responsibility for her actions, instead casting blame on other people. Many of us have done exactly the same thing.
Reading The Divine Comedy seriously will take some work. Readers will need to know something about Dante’s biography, about the history of his time and previous eras, and about literature. However, The Divine Comedy is relevant to our lives today, and this book and its companion volumes can be your guide to Dante’s Divine Comedy.
• What are some of the really big issues that are of concern to The Divine Comedy?
One big issue is sin. For example, what are the results of sin?
One big issue is spiritual transformation. For example, how can one purge him- or herself of sin?
One big issue is politics. For example, Dante warns the reader about the dangers of extreme factionalism.
One big issue is poetry. How can poetry help us?
Of course, one really big issue is this: How do I enter Paradise?
• This book is your guide to The Divine Comedy. What is the purpose of a guide?
A guide will help you to cover territory safely the first time you go through the territory. However, many guides, including teachers, want to make themselves irrelevant. By reading this book as you read Dante’s Inferno, you will get a good grasp of the material, but I hope that you continue to read The Divine Comedy and the Inferno on your own, making it a part of your life and going beyond what is written here. The Divine Comedy is one of the Great Books of Western Literature — a book that you can reread with interest and profit each year of your life.
• Briefly, what are the major facts of the biography of Dante the Poet?
Dante was born in 1265 in Florence, Italy. He was successful in both poetry and politics. Early, he fell in love with Beatrice, a woman who died young in 1290. Both Dante and Beatrice married other people. About Beatrice Dante wrote a group of poems that he published in a volume (with commentary) titled Vita Nuova (The New Life).
Dante was a member of the political group known as the Guelfs, but when the Guelfs split into rival factions, he became a White Guelf. The White Guelfs opposed the Pope and wanted Florence to be free from papal power, while the Black Guelfs supported the Pope and were willing to do his bidding if he put them in power. Not surprisingly, Pope Boniface VIII supported the Black Guelfs, and he sent troops to Florence who took over the city in November of 1301. We can date Dante’s exile from Florence at this time, but he was officially exiled in January of 1302. Dante never returned to Florence.
While in exile, Dante composed his masterpiece: The Divine Comedy. He died on Ravenna in 1321 at age 56.
By the way, “Guelf” is sometimes spelled “Guelph.” The Italian word can be transliterated into English in these two ways.
• What does the title The Divine Comedy mean?
Dante called his poem the Commedia or Comedy. In the 16th century, the word Divina or Divine was added to the title to show that it was a work rooted in religion.
The Divine Comedy is a “comedy” for two reasons:
1) The Divine Comedy was not written in Latin, but was instead written in the “vulgar” language of Italian. Being written in a “vulgar” language, the vernacular, it is written in a language that was regarded as not suited for tragedy.
2) The epic poem has a happy ending.
• What is the difference between Dante the Pilgrim and Dante the Poet?
Dante the Pilgrim is different from Dante the Poet. Dante the Pilgrim is a character in The Divine Comedy. At the beginning, he is naive and sometimes believes the spin that the sinners in the Inferno put on their own stories. However, Dante the Poet is an older, wiser Dante. Dante the Poet has journeyed throughout the Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise, and he sees through the stories that the sinners tell in the Inferno.
Dante the Poet is the author of The Divine Comedy, whose major character is Dante the Pilgrim. Dante the Poet has more knowledge and experience than Dante the Pilgrim.
For example, Dante the Poet knows that he has been exiled from Florence because he is in exile when he writes The Divine Comedy. Because the poem is set in 1300, and Dante is not officially exiled until 1302, Dante the Pilgrim does not know at the beginning of the poem that he will be exiled. He will hear the prophecies of his upcoming exile that are made in the Inferno, but he will not fully understand that he will be exiled until his ancestor Cacciaguida clearly tells him that in the Paradise.
Dante the Poet is also more intelligent than Dante the Pilgrim. Dante the Pilgrim will sometimes be taken in by the spin that sinners in the Inferno put on their stories, but Dante the Poet knows that God does not make mistakes. If a sinner is in the Inferno, Dante the Poet knows that the sinner belongs there.
• The Divine Comedy is an allegory. Define “allegory.”
An allegory has a double meaning. It can be understood on a literal level, but also present is a symbolic level. On the literal level, Dante the Pilgrim travels through the Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise. On the symbolic level, a human soul who will be saved faces trials, overcomes them, and achieves Paradise.
Allegories have many symbols.
• What do you need to be in the Afterlife in Dante’s Inferno?
You must meet three criteria:
1) You must be dead.
2) You must be dead in 1300 (with a few exceptions where a soul is in the Inferno while a demon occupies the soul’s body in the living world).
3) You must be an unrepentant sinner. (After all, if you are a dead repentant sinner, you would be found in either Purgatory or Paradise.)
• What does it mean to repent?
To repent your sins means to regret them. Of course, this does not mean regretting being caught for doing them, but regretting the sins themselves.
The sinners Dante will meet in the Inferno are unrepentant sinners. The repentant sinners he will meet in Purgatory treat Dante very much differently from the way the unrepentant sinners he meets in the Inferno treat him.
• What is the geography of Hell? In The Divine Comedy, where is Hell located?
Dante did not think that the world was flat. (Educated people of his time did not think the world was flat.) To get to the Inferno, you go down. The story is that Lucifer rebelled against God, was thrown from Paradise to the Earth, and landed on the point of the earth that is opposite to Jerusalem. His landing made the Southern Hemisphere composed of water as the land rushed under the water to hide from him. In addition, when he fell to the center of the Earth the land he displaced formed the Mountain of Purgatory.
Dante and Virgil will climb down to the center of the Earth, where Lucifer is punished, then they will keep climbing up to the other side of the world, where they will climb Mount Purgatory.
• Explain the three separate kinds of moral failure: incontinence, violence, and fraud.
Incontinence
Incontinence is not being able to control yourself. For example, you may not be able to control your sexual desire (lust) or your desire for food and drink (gluttony).
Violence
Violence can be directed against yourself (suicide), against God (blasphemy), or against other people (physical violence).
Fraud
Fraud involves the willful use of misrepresentation to deprive another person of his or her rights. For example, one can claim to be able to foretell the future and charge people money to tell them their “future.”
Complex fraud is fraud committed against those to whom one has a special obligation of trust. Sinners who commit complex fraud are traitors of various kinds: e.g., traitors to kin/family, traitors to government, traitors to guests, or traitors to God.
Simple fraud is fraud, but it is not committed against those to whom one has a special obligation of trust.
Of course, sin is the opposite of virtue, and we can look at these kinds of sins as being the opposite of kinds of virtues.
Incontinence is the opposite of moderation.
Violence is the opposite of courage.
Fraud is the opposite of wisdom.
Another classical virtue is Justice, and we will see an unjust city in the Inferno.
• What kinds of characters will we see in The Divine Comedy?
We will see both real characters and fictional characters. Mythological creatures will often be the guards in the Inferno.
Some of the characters will be important historically and globally, while others will be important only locally and would in fact be forgotten if they had not been mentioned in the Inferno.
• What do the sinners in the Inferno all have in common? Why can’t we take what the sinners say at face value?
They have in common the fact that they are unrepentant. They do not take responsibility for the sins they have committed. Because of that, they will spin their stories and try to put the blame on someone or something else.
When we read the Inferno, we must be careful to try to see the whole story. The sinners will not tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. (Reading this discussion guide to Dante’s Inferno or the notes in the translation of the Inferno that you are reading can help you to understand when a character is trying to spin you.)
Be aware that many people in the Inferno are going to be able to tell a good story, and you may end up thinking — like Dante the Pilgrim sometimes — that a certain sinner does not belong in Hell. However, Dante the Poet realizes that God doesn’t make mistakes. Anyone who is in Hell deserves to be in Hell. It’s important to closely examine the stories of some persuasive sinners to see what they are leaving out.
• Why do people sin?
Two main reasons, perhaps:
1) A lack of will. Often, we know what we ought to do, but we can’t bring ourselves to do it. (Everyone who needs to lose 10 pounds knows exactly what to do to lose it: Exercise more and eat less. A student who exercises less than needed and eats more than needed without a good reason such as illness is guilty of the sin of gluttony.)
2) An attractive veneer. Sometimes, sinning can appear to be attractive and to be fun, and thus people are tempted to sin. (Staying up late, getting drunk, and partying can be fun, but if these things prevent a student from attending class, that student is guilty of the sin of sloth.)
• Does God make mistakes? Do these sinners belong in the Inferno?
We must be careful when reading the Inferno. Dante the Pilgrim will sympathize with some sinners early in the Inferno, and we may be tempted to do exactly the same thing, but God is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnibenevolent. God does not make mistakes. If a sinner is in the Inferno, the sinner belongs there.
By the way, the difference between Inferno and Inferno is that Inferno is the title of a book and Inferno is the name of a place. (Similarly, Hamlet is the title of a play, and Hamlet is the name of a character in that play.)
Chapter 1: “Canto 1: The Dark Wood of Error”
• What is the time in which Canto 1 is set?
The time is just before Good Friday, 8 April 1300.
• Explain the first 12 lines of the Inferno. What does Dante say in these lines?
We learn these things:
1) Dante the Pilgrim is 35 years old. He is “Midway along the journey of our life” (Musa Inferno 1.1). The Biblical three score and ten years of an average human lifespan is 70 years, so the halfway point is 35 years.
By the way, (Inferno 1.1) means that the line being quoted is line 1 of Canto 1 of the Inferno. I will be using Mark Musa’s translation of the Inferno and John Ciardi’s translation of the Inferno in this book. Remember: If I don’t identify the translator of a passage as John Ciardi, the translator is Mark Musa. The long quotations will mainly be from the translation by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, unless otherwise noted.
2) We learn that Dante the Pilgrim is “in a dark wood” (Musa Inferno 1.2), that he has “wandered off from the straight path” (Musa Inferno 1.3), and that he has strayed from “the path of truth” (Musa Inferno 1.12).
• Write a character analysis of Dante the Pilgrim as he appears at the beginning of the Inferno.
Dante the Pilgrim in Canto 1 of the Inferno is a sinner in trouble. He is disoriented, and he needs help to get himself out of the “dark wood” (Musa Inferno 1.1) of error. Fortunately, he will get the help he needs.
We aren’t told how Dante gets into the dark wood, but many people get there little by little. It isn’t that they commit some great evil, but that one day they wake up and think, How did I get here? Why am I this kind of person? I didn’t mean to be here.
Sex workers sometimes wonder how they ended up in that profession. Probably very few people make being a sex worker their career of choice.
• Dante attempts to climb up the hill to the light, but three beasts keep him from reaching the light. Allegorically, what does this mean?
Dante the Pilgrim wants to get out of the dark wood, of course, and he attempts to climb to the sun. Because The Divine Comedy is an allegory, Dante makes the sun a symbol. Here it can be a symbol of God and of truth and of salvation.
Much critical ink has been used interpreting the symbols of the three beasts: the leopard, the lion, and the wolf. In general, we can say that the three beasts represent sins. They may represent the sins of youth, of middle age, and of old age. On the other hand, they may represent the sins that make up the three major classifications of the Inferno: incontinence, violence, and fraud. Or they can represent lust, pride, and cupidity. What seems certain is that these three animals symbolize sin.
The three animals are taken from Jeremiah 5:6. This is the King James version:
6: Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.
• Dante tries to reach the light by himself, but he fails. He needs a guide. Dante the Pilgrim’s first guide is Virgil. Who is Virgil?
Virgil, of course, is the author of the Aeneid. He is a writing hero for Dante, who praises him highly and says that he learned about poetic style from him:
“Thou art my master, and my author thou,
Thou art alone the one from whom I took
The beautiful style that has done honor to me.”
(Longfellow 1.85-87)
Virgil is also on a mission from God, by way of a mission from Beatrice. Virgil has been sent to guide Dante out of the dark wood and to another guide who can take him further than Virgil can.
Virgil is a symbol of human reason, which is powerful, but which Dante regarded as less powerful than faith. Dante’s next guide, Beatrice, who represents faith, will take Dante further along on his journey than Virgil (human reason) can. Dante is aware that Virgil, as a pagan, does not know God:
And I to him: “Poet, I thee entreat,
By that same God whom thou didst never know,
So that I may escape this woe and worse,”
(Longfellow 1.130-132)
Dante, as you would expect, thinks that it is wonderful that his hero, Virgil, is his guide. Although hesitant out of fear, he eventually agrees to go wherever Virgil will lead him.
• Virgil outlines the three-part journey facing Dante. What are those three parts?
The three parts of the journey are these:
1) The Inferno, where many souls shriek.
2) Purgatory, where souls willingly undergo a purifying fire.
3) Paradise, where the everlastingly blessed dwell.
• Canto 1 actually introduces the entire Divine Comedy.
The Divine Comedy is comprised of 100 cantos or songs. The first canto is an introduction to the entire Divine Comedy, so we may want to say that the Inferno has 33 cantos, as do the Purgatory and the Paradise.
Numbers are important to Dante. We know of course that three is an important number because it is the number of the Trinity: God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. We see the number three throughout The Divine Comedy; for example, Dante writes tercets: stanzas of three lines.
The number ten is another important number. Ten consists of three Trinities plus one Unity. Why does Dante have 100 cantos in his Divine Comedy? The number 100 consists of ten times ten.
Chapter 2: “Canto 2: Dante Hesitates”
• Dante must endure a journey that he likens to a battle. Why does he make that comparison?
Dante writes that “I, one man alone, / was making ready to endure the battle / of the journey, and of the pity it involved” (Musa Inferno 2.3-5).
Of course, the journey through the Inferno is difficult, so it can be likened to a battle. In addition, Dante must be on his guard against pitying the sinners, many of whom will attempt to gain his pity by telling him only part of their stories and leaving out whatever makes the sinner look bad. Dante the Pilgrim is still naïve at this point; he needs to learn that God does not make mistakes and that the sinners in the Inferno deserve their punishment.
• Dante the Poet makes an invocation to the Muses. What is an invocation, and who are the Muses?
The Muses are ancient goddesses of the arts.
In an invocation, a poet asks the Muses for help in singing a song (such as an epic poem). Both Virgil and Homer invoked the Muses in telling their epic poems.
This is how Dante invokes the Muses:
O Muses, O high genius, now assist me!
O memory, that didst write down what I saw,
Here thy nobility shall be manifest!
(Longfellow 2.7-9)
• In Canto 2, why does Dante have second thoughts about allowing Virgil to be his guide?
One thing to notice is that Dante has second thoughts here, although eventually, of course, he decides to allow Virgil to be his guide.
We can be sympathetic here. The Inferno is a place where many souls shriek with despair. This is not going to be a pleasant visit to a tourist destination. In fact, at one point later in the Inferno (Canto 11), Dante and Virgil have to rest to allow themselves to become accustomed to the stench that is rising from the lower Circles of the Inferno.
Another thing to notice is that Dante gets help from the outside. God is concerned about Dante, and God allows Virgil and others to guide Dante to salvation.
• Dante the Pilgrim wonders whether his trip to the Inferno will be successful, although both Aeneas and Saint Paul have successfully made trips to the Inferno (Underworld or Hell). Who are Aeneas and Saint Paul, and what were the trips to the Inferno that Dante the Pilgrim is speaking of?
In Canto 2, Dante the Pilgrim mentions a couple of people who have visited the afterlife — people who are (he says) much more worthy than he of the visit.
Aeneas
One is Aeneas, the hero of Virgil’s Aeneid. Virgil, of course, is Dante’s guide throughout the Inferno and most of Purgatory. In Book 6 of the Aeneid, Aeneas visits the underworld in order to learn more about his destiny — his deceased father, Anchises, shows him his future descendants, who are Roman heroes. Virgil is a good guide through the Inferno; after all, he has been there before, imaginatively, while writing his Aeneid.
St. Paul
The other major visitor to the afterlife is Saint Paul, who supposedly visited the realms of the dead, a journey described in a medieval work titled Visio Sancti Pauli (The Vision of Saint Paul).
Other Heroes
Many ancient heroes visited the underworld, as described in Greek and Roman mythology. They include Orpheus, Theseus, Hercules, and Odysseus (whose Roman name is Ulysses). See below (Canto 3).
• Explain who are the three heavenly women who are concerned about Dante.
The three heavenly women are these:
1) Mary, the mother of Christ. People of the Middle Ages regarded Mary as their spiritual mother.
2) Saint Lucia, a 3rd-century martyr. Saint Lucia was the patroness of good eyesight. After Beatrice died, Dante strained his eyes with too much crying (according to his book the Vita Nuova). Lucia was an early Christian who was persecuted for being a Christian. She was tortured, including being blinded, and eventually killed by being stabbed with a dagger. Note: Her name is pronounced with three syllables, with the stress on the second syllable.
3) Beatrice. Dante was in love with Beatrice, although they married other people. She died young, and Dante mourned her greatly.
• Why is Virgil Dante’s guide?
Dante has three heavenly women looking after him. Beatrice came to Virgil in Limbo to ask him to be Dante’s guide. Beatrice has heard about Dante’s troubles from Saint Lucia, who in turn had heard about them from Mary. Virgil is very willing to do Beatrice a favor.
Virgil makes the persuasive point that with three such heavenly women looking after him, Dante should not be afraid to go down into the Inferno. Doing that is a necessary part of his journey.
We can also give a few other reasons why Virgil ought to be Dante’s guide through the Inferno:
• In Book 6 of Virgil’s Aeneid, Aeneas makes a trip to the Underworld. Therefore, Virgil is familiar with the Inferno.
• We will find out in Canto 9 that earlier Virgil journeyed as a soul through the Inferno. The sorceress Erichtho sent him to the bottom of the Inferno to find and bring a soul to her. Once again, Virgil is familiar with the territory.
• In the Middle Ages, Christians believed that Virgil forecast the birth of Christ in his Fourth Eclogue. Historians believe that Virgil was actually writing about the birth of a Roman.
Chapter 3: “Canto 3: The Gate of Hell”
• At the beginning of Canto 3, we enter Hell.
In Canto 3, Dante and Virgil go through the gate that leads into the Inferno.
• Many ancient heroes have visited the Underworld. Name a few, and briefly describe some of their visits to the Underworld.
Theseus was held captive in a chair of forgetfulness in Hades. Hercules rescued him.
Hercules entered the Underworld as part of his labors. He stole Cerberus, the three-headed dog, and took him up into the living world.
Odysseus entered the Underworld to get information about his journey home from Troy from the prophet Tiresias.
Aeneas visited his father in the Underworld in Book 6 of the Aeneid. He was able to see many of his future descendants and many important Romans.
• What is the meaning of the sign over the entrance to Hell, and who created the sign?
The sign over the gate of Hell reads:
“Through me the way into the suffering city,
Through me the way to the eternal pain,
Through me the way that runs among the lost.
Justice urged on my high artificer;
My maker was divine authority,
The highest wisdom, and the primal love.
Before me nothing but eternal things were made,
And I endure eternally.
Abandon every hope, ye who enter here.”
(Longfellow 3.1-9)
God, of course, created the sign. God is known for being omnipotent (the Father), for having the highest wisdom (the Son) and for having primal love (the Holy Spirit). We learn that although the Inferno is a place of eternal damnation, it is also a place of justice. The people who enter the Inferno (with the exception of the still-living Dante and a few other heroes from long ago) are doomed to remain there always. (Other exceptions are the people rescued by Christ during the Harrowing of Hell.) The basic meaning of the sign is that unrepentant sinners will forever be punished.
Of course, the sign contains the most famous line in The Divine Comedy, a line that is often translated in this way: “ABANDON ALL HOPE, ALL YOU WHO ENTER.”
• What is Dante’s reaction to the words on the sign? Is his reaction appropriate?
Dante is understandably afraid to enter the Inferno; however, his reaction to the sign is inappropriate. He says, “these words I see are cruel” (Musa Inferno 3.12).
We know that God is just, and we know that the Inferno is a place of just punishment. However, at this point Dante the Pilgrim does not know that, although Dante the Poet knows that very well. At this time, Dante the Pilgrim is naïve.
For Dante, punishment in Hell is eternal. The sinners we see in the Inferno will never get out of the Inferno, thus the sign above the gate to Hell refers to “ETERNAL GRIEF” (Musa Inferno 3.2).
John Ciardi writes, “The souls of the damned are not permitted to repent, for repentance is a divine grace” (Ciardi, The Divine Comedy, 36).
• The souls punished in the Inferno have “lost the good of intellect” (Musa Inferno 3.18). What does that mean?
According to mythology, human beings have eaten the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and we can tell the difference between good and evil. This is something that animals cannot do. A dog does not feel guilty if it eats the food of another dog. Human beings ought to use their intellect to determine the right thing to do and then to do it. The unrepentant sinners being punished in the Inferno did not use their intellect to do these things.
• Which souls can be found in the Vestibule of Hell? What is a Vestibule, and why is the punishment of the souls found there appropriate?
A Vestibule is a passage between the door and the interior of a building. Even before we reach the first Circle of Hell, we see souls being punished.
The punishments of the Inferno begin even before Hell Proper is reached. Outside Hell Proper are the souls of those who never took a stand in life. While living, they were neither for good nor for evil, and now that they are dead, neither Heaven nor Hell wants them. In life, they did not follow a banner; in death, they follow a banner endlessly, running after it as it travels here and here, never remaining in one place. Similarly, in life, these noncommitted souls never staked out a firm position. In life, these souls never felt deeply, either for good or for evil. Now, these souls do feel deeply, as wasps and hornets bite them. They bleed from the bites, and maggots eat the pus that flows to the ground. This punishment is fitting. What these souls avoided doing in life, they now do in death. In addition, these souls did no lasting good or harm on Earth, and they will be not be remembered on Earth. In the Inferno, Dante mentions none of them by name.
The uncommitted who are punished here include angels who fought neither for God nor for Lucifer when Lucifer rebelled against God.
Sometimes people say that Dante put the morally neutral in the deepest pit of Hell. That is not true. Not even Hell wanted them, so they are not even in a Circle of Hell.
One thing to learn here is that Dante is letting us know that choosing not to make a choice is in itself a choice. These people chose not to choose to be committed to good.
John Ciardi sees the human beings here as Opportunists. They did not act either for good or for evil; they acted only for themselves (Ciardi, The Divine Comedy, 30).
In addition, some commentators believe that these souls are the Slothful. Because the sin of Sloth is purged on the Mountain of Purgatory, the sin of Sloth ought to be punished in (or near) Hell. The Slothful may be punished here in the Vestibule of Hell, or the Slothful may be punished in Circle 5. Many commentators believe that the Sullen are punished in Circle 5, but Mark Musa believes that the sinners punished there are the Slothful. The Angry or Wrathful are also punished in Circle 5, and since Sullenness is a form of bottled-up anger, perhaps the Sullen are punished in Circle 5. Sloth means not loving the right things enough, and the souls in the Vestibule of Hell did not love what is good and right enough to pursue those things, so perhaps these are the Slothful.
Hell does not want these uncommitted souls because “the damned might glory over them” (Musa Inferno 3.42). The verb “to glory” means “to exult.” Apparently, the sinners in Hell would feel superior to the uncommitted. The uncommitted never took a stand, either for good or for evil, but the damned at least took a stand, even though it was for evil.
Who keeps the uncommitted souls out of Hell Proper? Although Hell does not want these uncommitted souls, the proper answer is not Lucifer because we will see that Lucifer has no power in the Inferno. The proper answer is that God keeps these souls out of Hell Proper. After all, we know that God created the Inferno, and therefore God created the Vestibule of the Inferno.
• The banner that the Uncommitted in Hell chase is a symbol. What is a symbol, and what does the banner symbolize?
According to the 6th edition of A Handbook to Literature, by C. Hugh Holman and William Harmon, “A symbol is something that is itself and also stands for something else; as the letters a p p l e form a word that stands for a particular objective reality; or as a flag is a piece of colored cloth that stands for a country. All language is symbolic in this sense, and many of the objects that we use in daily life are also” (466).
The banner symbolizes a cause. The souls in the Vestibule of Hell had no causes that they were passionate about.
• Who of the people in the Vestibule of Hell is “the coward who made the great refusal” (Musa Inferno 3.60). Who is he?
The “coward” (Musa 3.60) is perhaps Pope Celestine V, who was pope for only five months before he renounced the papacy in 1294. John Ciardi points out that this man was manipulated by a priest named Benedetto, who convinced him that any man living in part of the world (as opposed to renouncing the world and living as a monk) would lose his soul. As soon as Pope Celestine V renounced the papacy, Benedetto became Pope Benedict VIII, an enemy to Dante and a worldly man who ends up being punished in Dante’s Inferno. (See Ciardi, The Divine Comedy, 35-36.)
However, Mark Musa makes a good case that the coward is Pontius Pilate, who did not want to condemn Jesus to death, but who allowed Jesus to be executed, blaming the Jews for the execution of Jesus (Musa 95).
• Who would you say belongs in the Vestibule of Hell?
We can say that people who refused to speak out against the evils of racism, sexism, sexual harassment, homophobia, religious persecution, and torture belong there. Those who refused to speak out against the Nazis during the Holocaust belong there. (Of course, if they are in the Vestibule of Hell, they would not have repented.)
• If you want to stay out of the Inferno, what should you do?
If you want to stay out of the Inferno, you need to make a stand for good.
Sometimes men make a stand for good. This anecdote appears in my book The Kindest People Who Do Good Deeds, Volume 4:
When Ohio University student Haley Butler visited London, she saw and enjoyed the musical Wicked, although she attended the musical alone despite having promised her parents that she would not go out alone at night. On her way back to her hotel, she noticed that a strange man was following her. She tried to get away from him, but he kept on following her. In the subway, she needed to take an elevator to get to ground level, but she thought, “There is no way in hell I’m getting in the elevator with that man. He’s going to rape me. He’s going to rape me, and then kill me.” She was making a major effort not to cry when the elevator door opened, and a man in the elevator looked at her, saw how frightened she was, and even though he had never seen her before, said, “Oh my gosh! How are you? I can’t believe I ran into you!” Haley knew that she had never seen this new man before, but she replied, “I’m great! It’s so good to see you.” The strange man who had been following Haley left, and Haley said, “You saved me. That guy was following me, and I didn’t know what to do!” The new man responded, “I know. I could tell by the look on your face! You seemed so frightened.” The new man even walked her to her hotel just to ensure that she would be safe. (Some men can be very helpful in situations like this. Comedian Jay Leno once noticed a woman being harassed by a man, so he went over and pretended to be the woman’s boyfriend and chased the harasser away.) (Source: Haley Butler, “Wicked,” pp. 20-25. Also: Bill Adler and Bruce Cassiday, The World of Jay Leno: His Humor and His Life, p. 59.)
• Explain what contrapasso means. Note: Italicize foreign words such as the Italian word contrapasso.
Contrapasso is divine punishment or divine retribution. It is a punishment that is appropriate for the sin. (Note the word “sin” here instead of “crime.” Not all sins are crimes. It is not against the law to be a Glutton.)
We will see contrapasso over and over in the Inferno.
One main point to learn in the Inferno is that these sinners abandoned God, and therefore God has abandoned them. We can, in fact, say that these sinners chose to reside in the Inferno in their afterlife.
• Describe the second crowd of souls, who are freshly deceased.
This crowd of souls is waiting to be ferried across the river by the mythological figure Charon, who in Greek mythology ferried the souls of the dead across the River Acheron.
As you would expect, these souls are those of unrepentant sinners.
• What words does Charon tell the recently deceased? How do they react?
Charon lets the recently deceased know that they are doomed eternally:
[…] “Woe unto you, ye souls depraved!
Hope nevermore to look upon the heavens;
I come to lead you to the other shore,
To the eternal shades in heat and frost.”
(Longfellow 3.84-87)
The recently deceased grow silent, despair, and change color, and their teeth chatter in fear. By the way, we learn that these souls are naked:
But all those souls who weary were and naked
(Longfellow 3.100)
We will find out later that the Hypocrites are clothed; apparently, all the other souls are naked.
Although these souls are going across into Hell Proper to be judged and then punished, they are eager for that to happen, as we learn from what Virgil tells Dante:
“And ready are they to pass o’er the river,
Because celestial Justice spurs them on,
So that their fear is turned into desire.”
(Longfellow 3.124-126)
• How does Charon react when he notices that Dante is still living?
Charon notices that Dante is living and orders him away. (Living visitors to the Underworld, such as Hercules, have caused problems such as stealing Cerberus.) Virgil lets Charon know that Dante’s presence in the Underworld has the approval of God, and Charon ferries Dante and Virgil across the river.
• One point to notice as we begin the journey through the Inferno is that the Circles of Hell get smaller the further down we go.
We will be hearing about the sizes of some Circles as we begin the journey through the Inferno. The Circles will grow smaller the further down we go. Apparently, more sinners are punished in the bigger Circles than are punished in the smaller Circles. So more people are punished for the sin of lust than are punished for the sin of complex fraud (fraud committed against those with whom the sinner ought to have a special tie of trust).
• Another point to notice is that the name “Jesus Christ” is never uttered in the Inferno.
To mention the name “Jesus Christ” in the Inferno would be inappropriate; however, the sinners do blaspheme against God. Jesus is referred to only elliptically. However, Virgil does mention the word “Christ” in Inferno 4.37 (Musa’s translation), which is set in Limbo, not in Hell Proper.
Chapter 4: “Canto 4: Limbo”
• Dante the Pilgrim wakes up in Limbo. How does Dante the Poet depict Limbo?
Dante falls asleep, and then he wakes up in Limbo. Limbo is the first Circle of Hell. It is not a place of shrieks; rather, it is a place of sighs. The souls here are separated from God, but they are not being tortured. However, many of the souls here are great thinkers, and part of their punishment for not worshipping God correctly is to be denied knowledge: knowledge of God.
Limbo is where Virgil resides in the afterlife. This is where Beatrice came to ask him to be Dante’s guide. Other virtuous pagans live here, too.
Limbo is interesting because some people who used to be here are here no longer. During the Harrowing of Hell, Jesus released these people and took them to Paradise.
• Which three classes of people are (or were) in Limbo?
These are the three classes of people who are (or were) in Limbo:
1) The virtuous pagans. These pagans were good morally, but they were not Christian (or Jewish in the days before Christ). They did not believe in the one true God. Virgil says that “they did not worship God the way one should” (Musa Inferno 4.38). Later, we will see that some pagans are in Paradise.
2) The unbaptized, including infants. Because they are unbaptized, they are here. These are not morally bad people. Later, we will see that some unbaptized children are in Paradise.
3) The people who used to be here, including the Jewish patriarchs. Jesus released these people from Limbo during the Harrowing of Hell.
Apparently, the souls who are still here will be here “forever” (Musa Inferno 4.45), according to Dante the Pilgrim, but perhaps we should remember that Dante the Pilgrim is naive and does not know the full story. In any case, it is God’s decision whether these souls stay here forever. God’s mercy may be greater than Dante the Pilgrim thinks. However, salvation is a mystery, and we humans are not fully capable of understanding the will of God.
• What is the Harrowing of Hell?
According to mythology, after Jesus died and before He was resurrected, He entered Hell to save the souls of great religious figures such as King David and Adam and Eve. He took them out of Limbo and put them in Paradise. Jesus saved the souls of the faithful Jews.
By the way, Virgil died in 19 B.C.E., so he was present at the Harrowing of Hell. Virgil says that he was “a novice in this place” (Musa Inferno 4.52) when “a mighty lord” (Musa Inferno 4.53) came and rescued Adam, Abel, Noah, Moses, Abraham, King David, Israel, Rachel, “and many more” (Musa Inferno 4.61).
We may think of Dante as using his Divine Comedy to do some of what Jesus did. Dante lets us know what we need to avoid doing and what we need to do to avoid going to Hell.
• If you have read Plato’s Apology, explain how Socrates envisioned the afterlife in this work of literature.
Socrates said after being condemned to death that death must be one of two things: 1) a sleep that goes on forever, or 2) a place where he can talk with the other deceased souls. Limbo sounds very much like this second alternative. By the way, Limbo apparently has a library, as Virgil shows later that he is familiar with the work of poets who followed him.
• Why are the virtuous souls in Limbo not found in Heaven?
They did not worship God correctly. Of course, the righteous Jews showed that it was possible to worship God correctly even before the coming of Jesus. (Also, they expected the Messiah to appear.)
By the way, later in Paradise we will read of two pagans who are in fact in Paradise. There we see that salvation is a mystery and we humans are not fully capable of understanding the will of God.
• How do the renowned ancient poets in Limbo treat Dante?
They treat him as an equal. He is one of the great poets. This is remarkable, on Dante’s part. He is comparing himself to ancient poets such as Homer and saying that he is in their league. Few if any modern poets would do that today — I hope.
Dante writes:
When they together had discoursed somewhat,
They turned to me with signs of salutation,
And on beholding this, my Master smiled;
And more of honour still, much more, they did me,
In that they made me one of their own band;
So that the sixth was I, ’mid so much wit.
(Longfellow 4.97-102)
Four great pagan poets — Homer, Horace, Ovid, and Lucan — talk with Virgil and Dante.
Virgil, of course, wrote the Aeneid, which tells the story of the fall of Troy and recounts the adventures of Aeneas after the fall of Troy and his successful attempt to become an important ancestor of the Romans.
Homer is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey. The Iliad tells the story of the argument between Agamemnon and Achilles in the final year of the Trojan War, and the Odyssey recounts the adventures of Odysseus after the Trojan War.
Horace is the author of the collection of poems known as the Epistles.
Ovid is the author of the Metamorphoses, a collection of myths involving metamorphoses or transformations.
Lucan is the author of the Pharsalia, an epic poem about the civil war between Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great.
One interesting point to note is that both Dante and Virgil walk on water here, as presumably the souls of all the virtuous pagans can do: “we walked right over it as on hard ground” (Musa Inferno 4.109). The “it” refers to “a sweetly flowing stream” (Musa Inferno 4.108). The Inferno is an allegory, and the stream is a symbol of something, although what that something is, is open to interpretation. Mark Musa believes that one possible interpretation is that the stream symbolizes eloquence, something that Dante and Virgil and the other ancient poets most definitely have (Musa Inferno, 104).
• Identify some of the people who are found in Limbo.
Some other people found in Limbo are fictional/mythological:
Aeneas
Aeneas, of course, is the hero of Virgil’s Aeneid. In the Aeneid, Aeneas survives the fall of Troy, takes his father and son out of the city (but his wife perishes in the chaos), and leads the Trojan survivors to Carthage and then to Italy, where he becomes the founder of the Roman people.
Lavinia
Lavinia is the Italian princess whom Aeneas marries in Italy. She and Aeneas become important ancestors of the Romans.
Hector
Hector is the great leader of the Trojans during the Trojan War. His death at the hands of the great Greek warrior Achilles means that Troy will fall.
Electra
Electra is the daughter of Atlas, the god who holds up the sky, and the ancestor of all the Trojans, including Aeneas and Hector.
Camilla
Camilla fights for the Italians against Aeneas in Italy. The Aeneid tells of her death.
Penthesilea
Penthesilea is an Amazonian queen. She fought for Troy against the Greeks during the Trojan War.
Others are real:
Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar became the ruler of Rome and the Roman Empire as the Roman Republic ended.
Democritus
This Greek philosopher believed in the theory of atoms: the idea that matter is composed of imperishable and indivisible units.
Diogenes
Diogenes of Sinope, aka “the Cynic,” was a Greek philosopher who advocated self-control and abstinence.
Zeno
Zeno may be Zeno of Citium, the founder of the Stoic School of Philosophy, or Zenoi of Eleo, a disciple of Parmenides. Both Zenos were ancient Greek philosophers.
Euclid
Euclid is famous for his writing about geometry.
Ptolemy
Ptolemy gave his name to a system of astronomy that placed the Earth at the center of the universe.
John Ciardi divides the people found in the Citadel into three groups: 1) The Heroes and Heroines, 2) The Philosophers, and 3) The Naturalists (Ciardi, The Divine Comedy, 44-45).
• Which three Muslims are placed in Limbo — something that should be regarded as a mark of honor?
A major point to notice is that three Muslims are found in Limbo. Many Christians in the Middle Ages were hostile to Islam, but Dante does put three eminent Muslims in a place of honor:
1) the philosopher Avicenna (980-1037). He was a Persian physician, philosopher, and scientist. He memorized the Koran.
2) the philosopher Averroës (1126-98). He was an Arab who wanted to reconcile Aristotelianism with Islam.
3) the sultan Saladin (1138-93), who captured Jerusalem from the Crusaders. He was a great Muslim general and leader.
Chapter 5: “Canto 5: The Lustful”
• Who is Minos in mythology, and what role does he play in the Inferno?
We may want to say that Hell Proper begins with Minos and the second Circle. Previously, we saw the Vestibule of Hell, where souls desired by neither Heaven nor Hell were punished. We also saw the first Circle of Hell — Limbo — where there is no torture. Limbo in some ways seems like a pleasant place.
Minos is the first judge we see in the Inferno. In mythology, there was a King Minos of Crete and a bad King Minos of Crete. (Some authorizes say that there was only one King Minos of Crete, and he had both good and bad qualities.) Supposedly, the good King Minos of Crete became a judge in the Underworld.
In the Inferno, Minos is the judge of the dead souls, but he is a monster with a long tail. When a sinner is before him, Minos wraps his tail around his body. The number of times the tail is wrapped around his body shows to which Circle the sinner will be sent. If the tail is wrapped three times around his body, then the sinner will be punished in the third Circle of Hell. Sometimes, Minos uses his tail to fling the sinner to that Circle.
Dante makes Minos, who was a human being in life, a monster in the Inferno. Sin is bestial and monstrous, and so the guards and judges in the Inferno are also bestial and monstrous.
• How good of a guide is Virgil here?
Virgil is a very good guide for Dante here, as he will be throughout the Inferno and while climbing the Mountain of Purgatory. Occasionally, Virgil will need divine help, but almost always he is able to be an excellent guide for Dante.
Virgil is always on the lookout for Dante. Minos speaks to Dante:
“O thou, that to this dolorous hostelry
Comest,” said Minos to me, when he saw me,
Leaving the practice of so great an office,
“Look how thou enterest, and in whom thou trustest;
Let not the portal’s amplitude deceive thee.”
(Longfellow 5.16-20)
Dante does need to be careful about whom he trusts. He also needs to take care not to be fooled. After all, we will see sinners such as Francesca da Rimini who will try to scam him into pitying her. Indeed, Francesca succeeds in doing this.
However, Virgil apparently thinks that Minos is telling Dante not to trust him. Of course, Virgil is trustworthy. In addition, Virgil’s job is to take Dante into the Inferno — and out again. Virgil will succeed in doing that. After all, he is on a mission from God, and God will help him.
Earlier, Virgil spoke to Charon and made him ferry Dante, a living man, across the Acheron. Here, Virgil may be worried that Minos will keep Dante from entering the Inferno because of his warnings, which are just. Virgil tells Minos:
“Do not impede his journey fate-ordained;
It is so willed there where is power to do
That which is willed; and ask no further question.”
(Longfellow 5.22-24)
• Which souls are in the second Circle of Hell?
Four Circles will be used to punish the incontinent.
In the second Circle, the lustful are punished. These are people who were incontinent with sexual desire. They could not control their lust.
• How are the lustful being punished in the second Circle of Hell? Why is that punishment appropriate for this sin?
The second Circle of Hell is the first of the four Circles that are dedicated to punishing the incontinent — those who were unable to control themselves. In this second Circle are punished those who are guilty of the sin of lust. These sinners could not control their lustful desires, which drove them to do things they should not have done, and in the second Circle they are unable to control themselves, for a storm blows them here and there, but always around in a circle. In this Circle we find Francesca and Paolo, who wanted to be together — adulterously — in life. Now they will be together — eternally — in death.
This is a good example of contrapasso. These sinners get what they wanted, but they turn out not to want it.
• Which technique does Dante use in describing the Circle of Hell that appears in Canto 5 — a technique that he will use elsewhere?
Dante gives us the big picture first, then he focuses on a group picture, and then he focuses on one or two people.
First we see all the sinners in a group being blown around by the storm, then Dante mentions a few sinners by name, then he talks to Francesca, who is punished together with her illicit lover, Paulo.
• Identify some of the souls — including Dido — who are in the second Circle of Hell.
Semiramis
Semiramis married her own son. She was an Assyrian queen of Babylon, and she was known for her lechery.
Dido
Dido, of course, commits suicide in Book 4 of the Aeneid, when Aeneid breaks off their love affair and leaves Carthage to go to Italy and become an important ancestor of the Roman people. Dido could have appeared in a lower Circle devoted to punishing the sin of suicide, but Minos the judge felt that it was more important for her to be punished here.
Helen of Troy and Paris
These are a good pair to put here. Paris ran off with Helen, the wife of Menelaus. Menelaus, his brother (Agamemnon), and a Greek army followed the pair to Troy, where the Trojan War was fought to get Helen back for Menelaus. Much of the story of Helen of Troy, Paris, Menelaus, and the Trojan War is told in Homer’s Iliad. The Fall of Troy is recounted in Book 2 of Virgil’s Aeneid.
Achilles
Achilles, the Greek hero of the Trojan War, is also punished here. According to mythology, he fell in love with Polyxena, a daughter of the Trojan King and Queen, Priam and Hecuba, and he agreed to switch sides from the Greeks to the Trojans in order to marry her. However, at the wedding Paris treacherously killed him.
Cleopatra
Queen of Egypt, Cleopatra had love affairs with both Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. Like Dido, she committed suicide — she allowed a poisonous snake to bite her — and so Minos could have sentenced her to a lower Circle in Hell, but apparently lust was the greatest of her sins, so she is sentenced to eternal punishment in Circle 2.
Tristan
A Knight of King Arthur’s Round Table, he fell in love with Isolt. They had an adulterous love affair. Isolt was married to someone else.
• A key to understanding the Inferno is that many of the guilty souls found there avoid taking responsibility for the actions. We will examine how Francesca avoids taking responsibility for her actions. (Spin is nothing new. Francesca is excellent at spinning her story to make herself appear in a good light.)
Here, we have a long encounter between Dante and one of the damned. Many more encounters will take place. Like many of the other sinners in the Inferno, Francesca tries to avoid taking responsibility for her actions by blaming other people and even things.
• “Oh living creature” (Musa, Inferno 5.88) — why would Francesca refer to Dante as a “creature” rather than recognize his humanity?
The sin of incontinence is about rejecting one’s humanity. We are humans, not pigs, yet gluttons treat themselves as pigs. Instead of making use of their intellect and will, the incontinent sinners ignore those things. A human being can use intellect to figure out how much he or she should eat and drink, and a continent person uses his or her will to eat and drink that much, but an incontinent person ignores his or her humanity and acts like an animal that is incapable of understanding the difference between right and wrong.
This, of course, applies to the other incontinent sins. Francesca’s sin is lust. A human being can use intellect to know that adultery should be avoided and a human being can use will to resist the temptation of adultery, but Francesca has ignored her own humanity and succumbed to the temptation of committing adultery.
By committing adultery, Francesca has not recognized her own humanity, and by calling Dante a “living creature” (Musa, Inferno V.88) rather than a human being, she is not recognizing his humanity.
Reason is not in control of Francesca — desire is.
• A key to understanding the Inferno is that the guilty souls found there fully and completely believe that they are the most important thing in the universe. How does Francesca show that she believes that?
Francesca speaks to Dante before Dante speaks to her:
“O living creature gracious and benignant,
Who visiting goest through the purple air
Us, who have stained the world incarnadine,”
(Longfellow 5.88-90)
What she says is interesting. She seems to think that Dante has come to pay her a visit, a social call. Of course, Dante is not in the Inferno specifically to pay a visit to Francesca. He is in the Inferno to discover what he must do to stay out of the Inferno after he is dead. Dante is in the dark wood of error, and this journey he is taking is intended to save his soul.
Francesca continues speaking:
“If were the King of the Universe our friend,
We would pray unto him to give thee peace,
Since thou hast pity on our woe perverse.”
(Longfellow 5.91-93)
This is interesting. It is as if she has had a little quarrel with God — a quarrel that can be patched up rather easily. It is as if Francesca does not realize that she is in the Inferno forever.
Note that Francesca does speak with much elegance and courtesy.
• Francesca creates a personification of love — a certain kind of love that good people would NOT approve of — and then she says love made me do it.
Francesca tells Dante:
“Love, that on gentle heart doth swiftly seize,
Seized this man for the person beautiful
That was ta’en from me, and still the mode offends me.
Love, that exempts no one beloved from loving,
Seized me with pleasure of this man so strongly,
That, as thou seest, it doth not yet desert me;
Love has conducted us unto one death;”
(Longfellow 5.100-106)
Note that “this one” in line 101 of Musa’s translation refers to Paolo, Francesca’s adulterous lover.
Here Francesca blames an abstract Love for her plight. She is avoiding personal responsibility for her actions; instead, she is saying that Love made her do it.
Some prisoners can identify with Francesca. Before being sent to prison, a prisoner may blame everyone and everything for his or her actions. Sometimes, while in prison a prisoner may realize that he or she was doing exactly what Francesca is doing in Canto 5 of the Inferno.
• A key to understanding the Inferno (and The Divine Comedy) is that when Dante has long conversations with sinners (and other people), it is almost always because these sinners (and other people) have something important to say to him. Dante can learn from the sinners with whom he speaks, if he listens in the right way and does not allow himself to be scammed.
Here Dante can learn that he needs to take responsibility for his actions instead of blaming everyone and everything but himself.
Dante can also learn that he needs to carefully evaluate what sinners in the Inferno tell him. Here Francesca is spinning Dante by telling him only part of her story — she leaves out some details that incriminate her.
Of course, Dante the Pilgrim is still naive at this point. He feels sympathy and pity toward Francesca. However, as his journey continues, he will learn that the sinners in the Inferno deserve their punishment.
Dante the Pilgrim also needs to control his sexuality. Sex need not be bad (for example, sex between married people who love each other), but sex can be bad (for example, adulterous sex).
• In the story that Francesca tells, she leaves out some things. What are the things that she leaves out?
Francesca leaves out three important facts:
1) She and Paolo are married, but not to each other.
2) She is Paolo’s sister-in-law.
3) Her husband found her and his brother in bed together, and he killed them both.
When reading the story of Francesca da Rimini, the reader must be very careful. Francesca is very charming, but she is also in Hell. Since God put her in Hell, and since God does not make mistakes, Francesca must belong in Hell.
Francesca tells a very charming story, but she is an expert at spin. Like other sinners in Hell, she does not accept the blame for being condemned to Hell. Instead, she blames other people and even things for her presence in Hell.
• What is the fallacy of suppressed evidence?
When Francesca tells her story, she leaves out important facts. For example, Francesca and Paolo are married — but not to each other. Francesca’s husband found them in bed together, so he killed them both. In addition, Paolo is Francesca’s brother-in-law. These certainly seem to be important facts, but Francesca chooses to not mention them when talking to Dante the Pilgrim.
When Francesca tells her story, she commits the fallacy of suppressed evidence. In this fallacy, the arguer leaves out important information that is needed to reach an accurate conclusion. Francesca argues that she is innocent, but the reader who knows all the relevant evidence realizes that she is guilty.
Note also that Dante the Pilgrim is taken in by Francesca. He pities her so much that he faints. Dante the Poet — an older, wiser Dante — is not taken in by Francesca.
• Francesca does not take responsibility for her own actions. What does she blame instead?
Francesca has blamed Love. Now she blames a book:
“One day we reading were for our delight
Of Launcelot, how Love did him enthral.
Alone we were and without any fear.”
(Longfellow 5.127-129)
Lancelot (this is the more common spelling) is the Knight of the Round Table who had an adulterous love affair with King Arthur’s wife, Queen Guinevere. That adulterous love affair ended the civilization that King Arthur had brought to Camelot and medieval England.
Francesca and Paolo read a book about an adulterous love affair, and she and Paolo began their own love affair. Francesca says, “Our Galehot was that book and he who wrote it” (Inferno 5.137). Basically, Francisca and Paolo read about Lancelot and Guinevere kissing illicitly, and they did the same thing. Why? Because of the book. The book was their Galehot. Galehot was the go-between between Lancelot and Guinevere — we can look at Galehot as being a go-between or pimp who made the affair possible.
If Francesca and Paola were reading the book correctly, they would realize that committing adultery is a bad thing. The adultery of Queen Guinever and Sir Lancelot led to the destruction of King Arthur’s Camelot. For a brief time in the Dark Ages, Camelot arose, but because of an adulterous love affair, it soon fell back into the Dark Ages.
• One of the ultimate consequences of saying Love did it, or the book did it, is that I have no freedom of the will.
Of course, if we have no free will, then we are not responsible for the sins we commit, including the sins of incontinence.
Francesca places the blame not on herself, but on Love or on a book.
She implies that she did not make a choice — this just happened to her. Of course, she made a choice — a choice not to use her intellect and will. Now that she is in the second Circle of the Inferno, she can make no choice about where to go — the winds simply blow her around the Circle.
• Francesca says, “That day we read no further” (Musa, Inferno 5.138). What did Francesca and Paolo do instead?
We can guess what they did. They hopped into bed and started having sex. Then her husband found them and killed them.
• Francesca’s line is almost a quotation from Book 8 of Saint Augustine’s Confessions. However, Saint Augustine’s story has quite a different ending.
Saint Augustine’s Confessions had a big influence on Dante’s Divine Comedy. We see an example of that here.
Paolo’s name means Paul, and Saint Augustine was converted to Christianity by reading Saint Paul. Like Francesca and Paolo, Augustine read a book. Augustine’s book was by Saint Paul, who told him to turn to Christ. Augustine did that.
Augustine wrote, “No further would I read; nor needed I.” Instead of reading further, Augustine converted to Christianity.
Augustine’s reading leads him to turn to God, but Francesca and Paolo’s reading turn them away from God.
This is the relevant passage, as translated by Edward Bouverie Pusey:
So was I speaking and weeping in the most bitter contrition of my heart, when, lo! I heard from a neighbouring house a voice, as of boy or girl, I know not, chanting, and oft repeating, “Take up and read; Take up and read.” Instantly, my countenance altered, I began to think most intently whether children were wont in any kind of play to sing such words: nor could I remember ever to have heard the like. So checking the torrent of my tears, I arose; interpreting it to be no other than a command from God to open the book, and read the first chapter I should find. For I had heard of Antony, that coming in during the reading of the Gospel, he received the admonition, as if what was being read was spoken to him: Go, sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me: and by such oracle he was forthwith converted unto Thee. Eagerly then I returned to the place where Alypius was sitting; for there had I laid the volume of the Apostle when I arose thence. I seized, opened, and in silence read that section on which my eyes first fell: Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying; but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, in concupiscence. No further would I read; nor needed I: for instantly at the end of this sentence, by a light as it were of serenity infused into my heart, all the darkness of doubt vanished away.
• How did Francesca and Paolo die?
Francesca’s husband came home and found Francesca and Paolo in bed. He killed them both.
• How does Francesca regard her own husband?
Francesca says about her husband:
“Love has conducted us unto one death;
Caina waiteth him who quenched our life!”
(Longfellow 5.106-107)
Caina is the place in the Inferno where are punished those who betray loved ones. Francesca tells us that her husband, who killed her, will end up there.
Of course, Francesca has been talking about Love. Apparently, her husband killed her because he loved her. If he had not loved her, he would not have cared with whom she slept. Francesca thinks that it is OK if Francesca is led to do something wrong by Love, but not OK if her husband is led to do something wrong by Love.
• Does Dante the Pilgrim believe Francesca’s version of her story? Does Dante the Poet?
Dante the Pilgrim is so overcome with pity for Francesca that he faints. Dante the Poet knows that Francesca is scamming Dante the Pilgrim.
Dante the Pilgrim is allowing himself to be scammed here. He is naïve, and during his journey through the Inferno, he needs to learn not to be naïve. God placed Francisca and Paolo in the Inferno. God does not make mistakes; Francisca and Paolo deserve eternal punishment.
• What is a good phrase to use when speaking of Francesca da Rimini?
Alexander Woollcott was a famous theater critic who was excited about meeting famous opera singer Mary Garden. Unfortunately, he was tongue-tied when meeting her and so she was unimpressed by him. However, she did tell a magnificent story about finding overnight success in Paris. She had loved the opera Louise and had studied it thoroughly, including marking out the places the person singing the title role would have to stand on stage. She was in the audience when the person singing the part of Louise took ill. Mary Garden took the singer’s place, sang magnificently, and the next morning she was famous throughout Paris. Unfortunately, Mary Garden told Alexander Woollcott, “You do not have my permission to print that story!” Too bad. It was a magnificent story, and Alexander Woollcott wanted to print it, but he did not dare to go against Mary Garden’s wishes. Later, he said about Mary Garden, “She was the most charming bitch I ever met.”
Francesca da Rimini can out-“charming bitch” Mary Garden any day.
• If you do research, you can find out other facts that can help excuse Francesca’s behavior. How should readers of Dante’s Inferno use those facts?
If you do research, you will read the story that Francesca meant to marry Paolo, not Paolo’s physically handicapped brother. A switch was pulled so that Francesca would marry (without her knowledge) the physically handicapped brother. This can seem to excuse Francesca, but I think that we should ignore those facts. Dante the Poet has put Francesca in the Inferno, and in this imaginative work of art we are meant to believe that God put Francesca in the Inferno. God does not make mistakes, and so Francesca is exactly where she belongs. Apparently, adultery is always wrong, even for someone who was tricked into marrying a man whom she did not intend to marry.
In addition, the story about Francesca being tricked into marrying Paolo’s brother may have been made up after their deaths to excuse their actions. In reading Dante’s Inferno, it is best to completely ignore this story; it plays no part in Dante’s Inferno.
• Some critics believe that Francesca and Paolo have triumphed because they are in love and are together for all eternity. Is this interpretation correct?
No. God knows what He is doing. The two are being punished. Francesca never refers to her lover by name but instead refers to him impersonally as “this one” (Musa, Inferno 5.101 and 5.135). In addition, Paolo, who never speaks, is weeping (Musa, Inferno 5.140).
Francesca is so charming that she is able to convince even good critics that she is not responsible for her sins.
• Why do you suppose the word “Heaven” is never mentioned in Hell?
Hell is not an appropriate place for Heaven to be mentioned, so it is never mentioned there.
• Do you know of anyone who is guilty of the sin of Lust?
Former President Bill Clinton comes to mind. Many other politicians, both Democrat and Republican, also come to mind. So do the names of some preachers.
• If you want to stay out of the Inferno, what can you do?
You need to avoid inappropriate sexual behavior. Don’t commit adultery, and make sure that the sex you engage in is consensual sex. Of course, in Dante’s society you should have sex within marriage only.
Chapter 6: “Canto 6: The Gluttonous”
• What does “Incontinence” mean when it is applied to sin?
Being incontinent in a sinful way means not being able to control yourself.
Being incontinent in a sinful way means putting your desires ahead of your reason.
Being incontinent in a sinful way means submitting reason to desire.
• What are the sins of incontinence?
These are the sins of incontinence:
1) Lust: not being able to control your sexual desire.
2) Gluttony: not being able to control your desire for food and drink.
3) Hoarding Money (Misers) or Spending Money Too Freely (Spendthrifts) — The Hoarders and the Wasters: not being able to control your desire for money — or for the things that money can buy.
4) Being Angry or Being Sullen (or Possibly Being Slothful): not being able to control your attitude.
• What is the sin of gluttony?
Gluttony is eating and drinking too much.
Gluttony is allowing desire for food and drink to overrule reason.
Gluttony is being obese or alcoholic.
• The Gluttons are in the third Circle. Why is Cerberus a fitting choice to be a guard to be over the Gluttons?
The next — the third — Circle of Hell punishes the Gluttons, whose guard is Cerberus, the three-headed dog of mythology. Cerberus is a fitting guard of the Gluttons because he is a Glutton himself — having three heads also means having three mouths to feed. When Aeneas visits the Underworld, his guide the Cumaean Sibyl quiets Cerberus by giving him something to eat. In Dante’s Inferno, Dante the Pilgrim’s guide, Virgil, also quiets Cerberus by giving him something to eat — in this case, Virgil throws gobs of mud down Cerberus’ three throats. (In Virgil’s Aeneid, when Aeneas journeys to the Underworld, his guide, the Sibyl, gives Cerberus honey-cakes that are drugged to make the three-headed dog sleep.) Also, of course, having three heads means having six eyes — all the better to keep an eye on the sinners.
• Describe the punishment of the Gluttons.
Mud is plentiful in the third Circle of the Inferno because rain is always falling. The Gluttons wanted to enjoy the good things, but now they are forced to live in uncomfortable surroundings — surroundings much like a muddy pigsty. The Gluttons made pigs of themselves while living, and now, although they are dead, they live like pigs. Dante the Pilgrim speaks briefly with a Florentine Glutton nicknamed Ciacco. After their brief conversation, Ciacco lies down and goes to sleep in the mud, just like a Glutton would go to sleep after enjoying a huge meal. Ciacco is unable to focus his eyes; he is in a stupor, just as a Glutton would be in a stupor after eating a huge meal. In addition, Cerberus bites the Gluttons the way that the Gluttons bit into their food.
Poet and Divine Comedy translator John Ciardi refers to the third Circle of Hell as being a “gigantic garbage dump” (Ciardi, Divine Comedy, 54).
• What does the nickname “Ciacco” mean?
The nickname means “pig” or “hog.” It is a fitting name for a sinner in this particular Circle of Hell.
• The Damned in the Inferno can foresee the future. What prophecy does Ciacco make to Dante regarding the future of Florence?
Ciacco predicts a few future events. He knows that the Guelfs defeated the Ghibellines in 1289, thus Ciacco reveals that he has knowledge of the past. He now predicts that the Guelfs will be divided into two factions: the White and the Black. In 1301, the White Guelfs will expel the Black Guelfs from Florence. Eventually, the Black Guelfs will defeat the White Guelfs, and in 1302 send them (including Dante) into exile.
We should note that although The Divine Comedy is set in 1300, Dante wrote it after that date, so most of the predictions that are made in The Divine Comedy had already occurred when Dante wrote the epic poem.
Also, Dante the Pilgrim often does not understand the prophecies that are made to him. It is only in the Paradise that he fully understands that he will be exiled.
In addition, the three sins responsible for the troubles of Florence, according to Ciacco, are “pride, envy, avarice” (Musa, Inferno 5.74). These can remind us of the three beasts symbolizing sin in Canto 1 of the Inferno.
• Sinners in the upper Circles of the Inferno want to be remembered on Earth.
Ciacco tells Dante the Pilgrim:
“But when thou art again in the sweet world,
I pray thee to the mind of others bring me;”
(Longfellow 6.88-89)
The word “sweet,” of course, is a good word for a Glutton to use.
We will see later in the Inferno that sinners in the lower Circles do not want to be remembered on Earth. Apparently, their sins are so bad that they do not want to be remembered.
• Will the punishment of the sinners be more intense following Judgment Day?
Yes, the punishment will be more intense. Right now, the sinners in the Inferno have souls only, not bodies. On Judgment Day, they will be reunited with their bodies (except for the Suicides, as we will see later). Because the sinners will be complete, having both souls and bodies, they will feel their punishment more intensely.
• Why is the punishment of the Gluttons fitting?
The Gluttons lived a life devoted to pleasure on Earth. They ate and drank too much. Now they are like pigs in a filthy pigsty. They lie in mud the way that pigs do.
• Do you know of any famous Gluttons?
Diamond Jim Brady lived to eat. He used to go to a restaurant, sit down at the table with his belly a certain number of inches from the table, and then eat until his belly touched the table. He once liked a certain kind of candy, so he ordered several hundred boxes of it. Unfortunately, the candy company could not handle an order of that size, so he gave the candy company an interest-free loan so it could expand the size of its operations. He loved a sauce that was made by a chef in Paris, but the chef would not reveal how the sauce was made. Therefore, Diamond Jim Brady paid a man to go to Paris, work for the chef, learn how to make the sauce, and come back to America and work at a restaurant that Diamond Jim frequented. (Diamond Jim said that he could eat a dishtowel if it were covered with that sauce.) When Diamond Jim died, an autopsy revealed that his stomach had been stretched to four times the size of a normal stomach.
Anyone who has seen Monty Python’s 1983 film The Meaning of Life will remember the Glutton whose stomach explodes because he eats too much. This film still offends, something that makes Monty Python member Eric Idle proud.
George Handel, composer of Messiah and the “Hallelujah Chorus,” was a bit of a glutton. He once ordered a dinner for three at an inn. The food was slow in coming, so he asked the innkeeper when he would be served. The innkeeper said that he would serve the food when the company arrived. Handel replied, “I am the company.”
Chapter 7: “Canto 7: The Wasters, Hoarders, Wrathful, and Sullen (or Slothful)”
• Why is Plutus a fitting choice to be the guard over the Wasters (the Spendthrifts) and the Hoarders (the Misers)?
In Canto 7 of the Inferno, Dante writes about the Wasters and the Hoarders. These are people who either save as much money as possible and never spend it or people who spend every penny they can and never save anything. Both types of people are sinners. To be good with money, we need to spend some money to acquire necessities and good things; however, we also need to have an emergency fund. When it comes to money, we need to seek a mean between extremes.
The Wasters and the Hoarders are both incontinent with money. The Wasters value too much what money can buy, and the Hoarders value too much the money itself.
Plutus is also known as Pluto, and he is the pagan god of wealth, as well as the god who ruled the Underworld. (Some other authorities regard Plutus and Pluto as two separate gods.) It is fitting that he rules the Underworld because much wealth (gold, silver, diamonds) comes from under the ground. His association with wealth makes him a fitting guard for the Wasters and the Hoarders.
• How are the Wasters and the Hoarders punished?
The Wasters are Spendthrifts, who spent every penny they could, saving nothing for emergencies. The Hoarders are Misers, who saved every penny they could, spending little even to make themselves comfortable. These two opposed groups are condemned to roll great weights at each other. Each group sets off in an opposing direction around the Circle, then meet and crash the weights together, one group crying “Why hoard?” (Musa, Inferno 7.30) and the other group crying “Why waste?” (Musa, Inferno 7.30). Then they roll the weights back and meet again on the other side of the Circle.
Interestingly, in his illustrations for The Divine Comedy, Gustave Doré represents the huge weights as huge bags of coins.
• Why is the punishment of the Wasters (the Spendthrifts) and the Hoarders (the Misers) fitting?
These two groups were opposed to each other in life; now they are eternally opposed to each other in death.
In addition, Dante does not recognize any of the souls here. These souls were undiscerning in life — they did not know what true wealth is. Now, in death the souls are unable to be discerned by the living Dante.
Dante does recognize that some of the souls were monks by their haircuts, but he does not know their names. Popes are mentioned as being guilty of being greedy for money — the first time we have Popes mentioned in Hell. During the Middle Ages, priests, monks, cardinals, and popes were often criticized for their greed.
Dante says that he should recognize some of the souls here, but Virgil tells him this:
And he to me: “Vain thought thou entertainest;
The undiscerning life which made them sordid
Now makes them unto all discernment dim.”
(Longfellow 7.52-54)
By the way, the late comedian Bill Hicks and his comedian friends loved to watch such religious programs as The PTL[Praise the Lord] Club. They used to make bets about how long it would take the preacher to stop talking about Jesus and start talking about dollars. (Source: Cynthia True, American Scream: The Bill Hicks Story, p. 103.)
• What is Aristotle’s Mean Between Extremes?
This theory of the mean between extremes is a famous part of Aristotle’s ethical thought. He believed in moderation — as most Greeks did. If you had too much or too little of something, you would suffer from an excess or a deficiency of that thing. Think about food. If you eat too much food, you will be overweight. If you eat too little food, you will be underweight. You need to eat the right amount of food so that you will have a healthy weight. What you need is exactly the right amount. A different example: Courage is the mean between the extremes of Rashness (excess) and Cowardice (deficiency). Here are some means and their extremes:
Courage
Rashness (Excess); Courage (Virtue); Cowardice (Deficiency)
Liberality
Prodigality (Excess); Liberality (Virtue); Miserliness (Deficiency)
Nobility
Vanity (Excess); Nobility (Virtue); Ignobility (Deficiency)
Good Temper
Hot Temper (Excess); Good Temper (Virtue); Indifference (Deficiency)
Truthfulness
Boastfulness (Excess); Truthfulness (Virtue); False Modesty (Deficiency)
Each set of three represents the excess, mean, and deficiency of a certain activity. The first set is about the activity of confidence; the second set, giving and getting money; the third set, honor and dishonor; the fourth set, anger; the final set, truthfulness.
One point to notice is that not all activities have a mean between extremes. Some activities are already excessive in themselves. Thus, adultery is always wrong. You will never be able to commit adultery with the right woman (or man) at the right time and in the right manner. (You should never say, “I don’t want to commit too little adultery or too much adultery; I just want to commit exactly the right amount of adultery”!) Also, the mean can vary among people. In determining how much food to eat, the mean for a weightlifter will be much greater than the mean for an inactive person.
The Greeks, of course, believed in moderation. The temple of Apollo at Delphi bore this inscription: “Nothing in excess.” Comedian Ernie Kovacs’ tombstone, however, says, “Nothing in moderation.”
• How does Aristotle’s Mean Between Extremes apply to the Wasters (the Spendthrifts) and the Hoarders (the Misers).
The Wasters (Spendthrifts) and the Hoarders (Misers) did not pursue the mean between extremes when it came to money. The Hoarders saved every penny they could, not even spending money on things to make themselves comfortable, and the Wasters spent every penny they could, not saving any for emergencies. A person who pursues the mean between extremes will save some money and spend some money to make his or her life comfortable.
It is a mistake to spend every penny you can borrow and get deep in debt. It is also a mistake to save every penny you can and go hungry (without a good reason) when you have lots of money.
• Do you know of any famous Wasters or Hoarders, either in fact or fiction?
The Wasters throw their money around, spending it all and not saving any. On the other hand, the Hoarders become misers, seldom spending money — even for their own comfort.
For a good example of a Hoarder (Miser), think of Ebenezer Scrooge. However, we need to be aware that Ebenezer Scrooge repented his sins, and therefore he would not end up in the Inferno. Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol tells the story of how Ebenezer Scrooge stopped being a miser.
For a good example of a Waster, think of someone who wins a $10 million lottery and is broke within a year.
Misers
Hetty Green was a famous miser, although she may not have deserved her reputation. Supposedly, she took her son to a charity hospital to have his bad leg treated, although she had millions of dollars to take him to a very good hospital. Her son’s leg had to be amputated. Supposedly, if she had taken him to a better hospital, her son’s leg would not have been amputated. (This story may not be true.)
Hetty Green’s father was a miser. He smoked cheap cigars, and he once declined the gift of an expensive cigar because he was afraid that he would like it and start smoking expensive cigars.
Wasters
In James Barter’s Artists of the Renaissance, we read of the wealthy businessman Agostino Chigi, who gave a dinner party for Pope Julius II at which the food was served on solid gold plates. After the guests had eaten, the servants did not wash the solid gold plates — they threw them away.
Some people win multi-million-dollar lotteries, get a huge cash payment, and then a few years later, they are broke.
Evelyn Adams won the New Jersey lottery twice (1985, 1986). Evelyn Adams said these things:
• “Winning the lottery isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be. I won the American dream but I lost it, too. It was a very hard fall. It’s called rock bottom.”
• “Everybody wanted my money. Everybody had their hand out. I never learned one simple word in the English language: ‘No.’ I wish I had the chance to do it all over again. I’d be much smarter about it now.”
• “I was a big-time gambler. I didn’t drop a million dollars, but it was a lot of money. I made mistakes, some I regret, some I don’t. I’m human. I can’t go back now, so I just go forward, one step at a time.”
Date Accessed: 13 March 2008
• Who is Fortune, and what does she do?
Fortune is a minister of God. She sees that money goes from person to person, family to family, country to country. She controls the Wheel of Fortune. At times, a person may be at the top of the Wheel of Fortune and be very prosperous, but as the Wheel turns, that person’s prosperity decreases. The thing to do is to be prepared for the turning of the Wheel of Fortune. Often she is called Lady Fortune.
• How can people be incontinent with their own emotions?
They can be excessive in their emotion, often becoming overly angry.
They can be deficient in their emotion, being sullen rather than becoming angry.
A person who follows the mean between extremes will be angry when there is a good reason to be angry, but will not be angry when there is not a good reason to be angry. This person will show emotion when there is a good reason to show emotion.
• Why is the punishment of the Wrathful and the Sullen (or perhaps they are the Slothful) fitting?
The Wrathful can be found in a marsh, and they attack each other, biting and scratching and head-butting each other. They are not able to control their anger.
Buried in the swamp, their presence noted only by bubbles rising to the top of the water, are the Sullen (or Slothful). Translator Mark Musa believes that the Slothful are found here. In Purgatory, one of the sins purged is Sloth, so it would be unlikely that no Slothful are found in the Inferno. Others believe that these sinners are the Sullen. However, some commentators believe that the Slothful are punished in the Vestibule of the Inferno.
Whether they are Sullen or Slothful, these sinners cannot control themselves. The Sullen should have been happy, and the Slothful should have been vigorous.
Once again, these sinners have failed to achieve a mean between extremes.
• What is frugality?
Frugality is the opposite of wastefulness.
These anecdotes illustrate frugality; the second anecdote is a humorous exaggeration:
The Zen master Gisan was taking a bath. The water was too hot, so he asked a student to add some cold water to the bath. The student brought a bucket of cold water, added some cold water to the bath, and then threw the rest of the water on a rocky path. Gisan scolded the student: “Everything can be used. Why did you waste the rest of the water by pouring it on the path? There are some plants nearby which could have used the water. What right do you have to waste even a drop of water?” The student became enlightened and changed his name to Tekisui, which means “Drop of Water.” (Source: Tsai Chih Chung (editor and illustrator) and Kok Kok Kiang (translator), The Book of Zen, p. 50.)
Appendix C: Outline of the Inferno
Cantos 1-2: Dark Wood of Error
Virgil arrives at the request of three heavenly ladies to be Dante’s guide through the Inferno and up the Mountain of Purgatory.
Canto 3: Vestibule of Hell
Sinners who never took a stand in life either for or against are punished here. Neither Heaven nor Hell wants them.
Canto 4: Limbo (Circle 1)
Circle 1: The virtuous pagans are separated from God, but they are not tortured.
Cantos 5-8: Sins of Incontinence — Circles 2-5
Canto 5: Circle 2: Lustful
Canto 6: Circle 3: Gluttonous
Canto 7: Circle 4: Spendthrifts and Misers
Cantos 7-8: Circle 5: Angry and Sullen/Slothful.
Cantos 9-10: Sin of Heresy (Circle 6)
Cantos 9-10: Circle 6: Heretics
Canto 11: Virgil Explains the Classification of Sins
Canto 11: Dante and Virgil rest in order to grow used to the stench arising from the lower Circles.
Cantos 12-14: Sins of Violence (Circle 7)
Circle 7 has three concentric parts:
Canto 12: River of Boiling Blood: Violent Against Others
Canto 13: Wood: Suicides, including Violent Wasters
Cantos 14-16: Desert: Blasphemers (Canto 14), Sodomites (Cantos 15-16), Greedy Moneylenders (Canto 16)
Cantos 17-30: Simple Fraud (Without Treachery) — Circle 8
Canto 17: Geryon brings Dante and Virgil down into Circle 8.
Circle 8 has 10 “evil pouches” (Bolge) of Malebolge:
Note: “Bolge” is plaural’ “bolgia” is singular.
Canto 18: Bolgia 1: Panderers and Seducers
Canto 18: Bolgia 2: Flatterers
Canto 19: Bolgia 3: Simonists
Canto 20: Bolgia 4: Sorcerers
Cantos 21-22: Bolgia 5: Grafters
Canto 23: Bolgia 6: Hypocrites
Cantos 24-25: Bolgia 7: Thieves
Cantos 26-27: Bolgia 8: Evil Counselors/Misusers of Great Abilities
Canto 28: Bolgia 9: Schismatics
Cantos 29-30: Bolgia 10: Counterfeiters of Various Kinds (Counterfeiters of Money, Impersonators, Liars, Alchemists)
Cantos 31-34: Complex Fraud (With Treachery) — Circle 9
Canto 31: The giant Antaeus lowers Dante and Virgil into Circle 9.
Circle 9 has 4 concentric rings of ice:
Canto 32: Caina: Traitors to Kin/Family
Canto 32: Antenora: Traitors to City or Country
Canto 33: Tolomea: Traitors to Guests/Hosts
Canto 34: Judecca: Traitors to Benefactors
Appendix D: Short Reaction Memos
The questions in this short guide to Dante’s Inferno can be used in discussions; however, they can also be used for short reaction memos. For example, I do this at Ohio University. See below for the assignment and sample short reaction memos.
How Do I Complete the Reaction Memo Assignments?
During the quarter, you will have to write a series of short memos in which you write about the readings you have been assigned.
Each memo should be at least 250 words, not counting long quotations from the work of literature. Include a word count for each memo, although that is not normally part of the memo format.
Following the memo heading (To, From, Re, Date, Words), write the question you are answering and the part of the book that the question applies to.
You may answer one question or more than one question. I will supply you with a list of questions that you may answer.
Note that a Works Cited list is needed if you use quotations.
For examples from my Great Books courses at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, see the following pages.
To: David Bruce
From: Jane Student
Re: Odyssey, Book 12 Reaction Memo
Date: Put Today’s Date Here
Words: 323
Odyssey, Book 12: Is Odysseus a bad leader?
This is an important question in the Odyssey. After all, Odysseus leads 12 ships and many men to Troy, but the ships are all destroyed and all of his men die and he returns home to Ithaca alone. Who is responsible for the deaths of Odysseus’ men? Is Odysseus responsible for their deaths, or do the men bear some responsibility for their own deaths? Many readers prefer Odysseus, the great individualist, to Aeneas, the man who founds the Roman people, but then they realize that all of Odysseus’ men died, while Aeneas succeeded in bringing many Trojans to Italy. When readers think of that, they begin to have a greater respect for Aeneas.
From the beginning of the Odyssey, this has been an issue. The bard says that the men perished because of the “recklessness of their own ways” (1.8). However, we notice that Odysseus is asleep at odd times. In Book 10, Aeolus gives Odysseus a bag in which the contrary winds have been tied up. This allows Odysseus to sail to Ithaca safely. However, they reach the island and see smoke rising from the fires, Odysseus goes to sleep and his men open the bag, letting the contrary winds escape, and the ship is blown back to King Aeolus’ island. Similarly, in Book 12, on the island of the Sun-god, Odysseus is asleep when his men sacrifice the Sun-god’s cattle.
It does seem that Odysseus does not bear the blame for his men’s death. In many cases, they do perish through their own stupidity. In other cases, of course, they die during war or during adventures, but in those times, Odysseus was with them, and he could have died, too.
One other thing to think about is that Odysseus is telling his own story. Could he be lying? After all, some of the adventures he relates are pretty incredible. (Probably not. The gods vouch for some of what he says.)
Works Cited
Homer. The Odyssey. Trans. Robert Fagles. New York: Penguin Books, 1996. Print.
To: David Bruce
From: Jane Student
Re: Inferno, Canto 1 Reaction Memo
Date: Put Today’s Date Here
Words: 264
Inferno, Canto 1
• What do you need to be a member of the Afterlife in Dante’s Inferno?
To be a member of the afterlife in Hell, you must meet a number of criteria:
1) You must be dead.
2) You must be an unrepentant sinner.
3) You must be a dead, unrepentant sinner by 1300.
Of course, only dead people — with a few exceptions such as Dante the Pilgrim — can be found in the Inferno.
Only unrepentant sinners can be found in the Inferno. Everyone has sinned, but sinners who sincerely repented their sins are found in Purgatory or Paradise, not in the Inferno.
Dante set his Divine Comedy in 1300, so the characters who appear in it are dead in 1300.
Inferno, Canto 1
• What does it mean to repent?
A sinner who repents regrets having committed the sin. The repentant sinner vows not to commit the sin again, and he or she does his or her best not to commit the sin again.
Inferno, Canto 1
• What is the geography of Hell? In The Divine Comedy, where is Hell located?
Hell is located straight down. We will find out later that when Lucifer was thrown out of Paradise, he fell to the Earth, ending up at the center of the Earth. The center of the Earth is the lowest part of Hell. Lucifer created the Mountain of Purgatory when he hit the Earth.
To: David Bruce
From: Jane Student
Re: Candide, Ch. 26-30
Date: Today’s Date
Words: 368
Ch. 30: Write a brief character analysis of the old man and his family.
When Candide and his friends meet the old man, the old man is “sitting in front of his door beneath an arbor of orange trees, enjoying the fresh air” (119). The old man basically ignores politics that he cannot influence. Some people have recently been killed in Constantinople, and the old man does not even know their names. However, the old man does enjoy some material things, including good food, and he enjoys hospitality.
The old man invites Candide and his friends to enjoy some refreshments inside his house. They are served with “several kinds of fruit-favored drinks” and “boiled cream with pieces of candied citron in it, oranges, lemons, limes, pineapples, pistachio nuts, and mocha coffee” (119). The old man and his family have an abundance of food, but although Candide wonders if the old man has an enormous farm, the old man tells him, “I have only twenty acres of land, which my children and I cultivate. Our work keeps us free of three great evils: boredom, vice, and poverty” (119).
From this brief encounter, we learn several things:
• The old man and his family are content — even happy.
• The old man and his family ignore the wars and murders and crimes that happen elsewhere.
• The old man and his family have enough. They work hard on their little farm, and they have plenty of food and good things to eat.
• The old man and his family have only 20 acres, but 20 acres are enough.
Candide and his friends decide to emulate the old man and his family. Each of them begins to work hard on their little farm. Cunegonde learns to make pastry, Paquette begins to embroider, and the old woman does the laundry and repairs the linen. Brother Giroflée becomes a carpenter, and Candide and the others grow “abundant crops” (120). At the end of the short novel, the group of friends seem to have come the closest they can to happiness in a world filled with evil, but it does take an effort on their part. As Candide says in the short novel’s last words, “… we must cultivate our garden” (120).
Works Cited
Voltaire. Candide. Trans. Lowell Bair. New York: Bantam Books, 1981. Print.
To: David Bruce
From: Jane Student
Re: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Ch. 1-4 Reaction Memo
Date: Put Today’s Date Here
Words: 286
CH. 3: “KNIGHTS OF THE TABLE ROUND”
• What hints do we have of the relationship between Queen Guenever and Sir Launcelot?
Some hanky-panky is going on between Sir Launcelot and King Arthur’s wife, Queen Guenever. Some six or eight prisoners address her, and they tell her that they have been captured by Sir Kay the Seneschal. Immediately, surprise and astonishment are felt by everybody present. The queen looks disappointed because she had hoped that the prisoners were captured by Sir Launcelot.
As it turns out, they were. Sir Launcelot first rescued Sir Kay from some attackers, then he took Sir Kay’s armor and horse and captured more knights. All of these prisoners were actually captured by Sir Launcelot, not by Sir Kay at all.
Two passages let us know that something is going on between Sir Launcelot and Queen Guenever:
1. The first is subtle; she looks disappointed when Sir Kay says that he captured the knights: “Surprise and astonishment flashed from face to face all over the house; the queen’s gratified smile faded out at the name of Sir Kay, and she looked disappointed …” (503).
2. The other is much more overt and occurs after Guenever learns that the knight who really captured the prisoners was Sir Launcelot: “Well, it was touching to see the queen blush and smile, and look embarrassed and happy, and fling furtive glances at Sir Launcelot that would have got him shot in Arkansas, to a dead certainty” (503).
Works Cited
Twain, Mark. Four Complete Novels. New York: Gramercy Books, 1982. Print.
Appendix E: About the Author
It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly a cry rang out, and on a hot summer night in 1954, Josephine, wife of Carl Bruce, gave birth to a boy — me. Unfortunately, this young married couple allowed Reuben Saturday, Josephine’s brother, to name their first-born. Reuben, aka “The Joker,” decided that Bruce was a nice name, so he decided to name me Bruce Bruce. I have gone by my middle name — David — ever since.
Being named Bruce David Bruce hasn’t been all bad. Bank tellers remember me very quickly, so I don’t often have to show an ID. It can be fun in charades, also. When I was a counselor as a teenager at Camp Echoing Hills in Warsaw, Ohio, a fellow counselor gave the signs for “sounds like” and “two words,” then she pointed to a bruise on her leg twice. Bruise Bruise? Oh yeah, Bruce Bruce is the answer!
Uncle Reuben, by the way, gave me a haircut when I was in kindergarten. He cut my hair short and shaved a small bald spot on the back of my head. My mother wouldn’t let me go to school until the bald spot grew out again.
Of all my brothers and sisters (six in all), I am the only transplant to Athens, Ohio. I was born in Newark, Ohio, and have lived all around Southeastern Ohio. However, I moved to Athens to go to Ohio University and have never left.
At Ohio U, I never could make up my mind whether to major in English or Philosophy, so I got a bachelor’s degree with a double major in both areas, then I added a Master of Arts degree in English and a Master of Arts degree in Philosophy. Yes, I have my MAMA degree.
Currently, and for a long time to come (I eat fruits and veggies), I am spending my retirement writing books such as Nadia Comaneci: Perfect 10, The Funniest People in Dance, Homer’s Iliad: A Retelling in Prose, and William Shakespeare’s Othello: A Retelling in Prose.
If all goes well, I will publish one or two books a year for the rest of my life. (On the other hand, a good way to make God laugh is to tell Her your plans.)
By the way, my sister Brenda Kennedy writes romances such as A New Beginning and Shattered Dreams.
Appendix F: Some Books by David Bruce
(Lots of FREE PDFs)
RETELLINGS OF A CLASSIC WORK OF LITERATURE
Ben Jonson’s The Alchemist: A Retelling
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/731768
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZEHJnB1_5RpznJDgrdO9Fzkz0R5nqF6n/view?usp=sharing
Ben Jonson’s The Arraignment, or Poetaster: A Retelling
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1144681
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S1nIEZ7fgHIyV4-ZDozfJ4FcVUlaC13_/view?usp=sharing
Ben Jonson’s Bartholomew Fair: A Retelling
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/759774
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SIoalHNdD99q9jKmXO3kVvh8ydxB4to8/view?usp=sharing
Ben Jonson’s The Case is Altered: A Retelling
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1112743
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WHn6mnGPDbZlTus6A644w0TCg_QoNDE4/view?usp=sharing
Ben Jonson’s Catiline’s Conspiracy: A Retelling
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1098400
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uQOLh10ExHMrx9z-P-5qUxaHc2CQTD0x/view?usp=sharing
Ben Jonson’s The Devil is an Ass: A Retelling
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/953165
https://drive.google.com/file/d/17vGtkBruVyQ09aeFtVStum9NCixZtfN1/view?usp=sharing
Ben Jonson’s Epicene: A Retelling
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1073045
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dsXMV0sZ26Y9gwFFeu_Kry1cNcz2te6c/view?usp=sharing
Ben Jonson’s Every Man in His Humor: A Retelling
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1104946
https://drive.google.com/file/d/14-GEUj96Fxm_Oopp2YyICHPXskE8QLCp/view?usp=sharing
Ben Jonson’s Every Man Out of His Humor: A Retelling
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1121591
Ben Jonson’s The Fountain of Self-Love, or Cynthia’s Revels: A Retelling
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1129496
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-fdVc1npRztXd35ghACIA5SMMo060w8b/view?usp=sharing
Ben Jonson’s The New Inn: A Retelling
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1081049
https://drive.google.com/file/d/13yJqpwBvx7Z-NI7SgwQkgsEDj7UOpy3q/view?usp=sharing
Ben Jonson’s Sejanus’ Fall: A Retelling
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1138210
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eC9wyTDHm8cU2DTzk7sXcP3BQeaYnHEe/view?usp=sharing
Ben Jonson’s The Staple of News: A Retelling
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1088627
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sRxzFLJWRGRzOUO_lSzscxvQcADrTgX4/view?usp=sharing
Ben Jonson’s Volpone, or the Fox: A Retelling
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/745087
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EagmTdd7dPmGac68TiEYyOVOQwza5moT/view?usp=sharing
Christopher Marlowe’s Complete Plays: Retellings
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/911460
Christopher Marlowe’s Dido, Queen of Carthage: A Retelling
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/871108
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WqCOjMsMUZMxvrIkJZQXLSCT0ZiGaaeP/view?usp=sharing
Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus: Retellings of the 1604 A-Text and of the 1616 B-Text
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/824058
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UubeU27eLLD5n-ldCChu6WpSU0op30dp/view?usp=sharing
Christopher Marlowe’s Edward II: A Retelling
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/904128
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dL1zOwOsQXTmBMuVvL7byFHSvm7A_XVS/view?usp=sharing
Christopher Marlowe’s The Massacre at Paris: A Retelling
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/880308
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wr0cECCJNB7Y5EB7a8ZTd0nD7ZfnY-6j/view?usp=sharing
Christopher Marlowe’s The Rich Jew of Malta: A Retelling
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/909794
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10QIuaaar9tavcxDtRcOfPnpkitZu3AEy/view?usp=sharing
Christopher Marlowe’s Tamburlaine, Parts 1 and 2: Retellings
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/890081
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vlnL66UbtvRMOWAnwTpSq12tbosRNrCN/view?usp=sharing
Dante’s Divine Comedy: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/238180
https://drive.google.com/file/d/16MC3INNAzLtjT4TqGtUmxBKYmp6Lnc5k/view?usp=sharing
Dante’s Inferno: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/89244
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LQ66lugwlsEX5yW1RreCHGxbj27Uptzm/view?usp=sharing
Dante’s Purgatory: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/210951
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LCQVTO9wq7l187pyaTg5__OBMERuzLc4/view?usp=sharing
Dante’s Paradise: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/238110
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ak3NNXxO0JspM2qXcM7-FmFLR16wnkeS/view?usp=sharing
The Famous Victories of Henry V: A Retelling
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/781086
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yj-AAS0oRbapdSeAw33gg6k2il78N7Yu/view?usp=sharing
From the Iliad to the Odyssey: A Retelling in Prose of Quintus of Smyrna’s Posthomerica
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/287203
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hRMimR9VchgFI7q5nBKmE6udiotCzq7c/view?usp=sharing
George Peele’s The Arraignment of Paris: A Retelling
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/942964
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wP9QhCckDYb74nMjJDDVTy2RnCTgB0ja/view?usp=sharing
George Peele’s The Battle of Alcazar: A Retelling
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1006013
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eUZu9AJ46GfP9bMKoBFTJ9_yGal9ZBp_/view?usp=sharing
George’s Peele’s David and Bathsheba, and the Tragedy of Absalom: A Retelling
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/993326
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RxPvTQl_qnKhbHAfynddd6mswOxY3mi8/view?usp=sharing
George’s Peele’s Edward I: A Retelling
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1061540
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KbKXK8nazt_KPpw9LfOi9ufZt9wEgybs/view?usp=sharing
George Peele’s The Old Wives’ Tale: A Retelling
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/918341
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_Cnr70ydtTbXAYaihq6I_V-3ik1sTW0Q/view?usp=sharing
George-A-Greene, The Pinner of Wakefield: A Retelling
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1108197
https://drive.google.com/file/d/18MYbD9wENgFqSMC_s-PijXsorVQguFWx/view?usp=sharing
The History of King Leir: A Retelling
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/800724
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MdkCVAtxuWZrgkCNMwrJ2uDLNDwjnFBk/view?usp=sharing
Homer’s Iliad: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/264676
https://drive.google.com/file/d/18tiAjtd5a6Qil0FHIss2UpCEacizaij3/view?usp=sharing
Homer’s Odyssey: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/87553
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rn5b3A6TFJngdZ_DC0daL9jZBToiSy-P/view?usp=sharing
Jason and the Argonauts: A Retelling in Prose of Apollonius of Rhodes’ Argonautica
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/337653
https://drive.google.com/file/d/11fFWYrzu_YBK_Zb8aYQkYDvj5tDjSYPw/view?usp=sharing
The Jests of George Peele: A Retelling
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1064210
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AwIT0aSbN5pJjMu-tqa46LoQyN3aHyL8/view?usp=sharing
John Ford: Eight Plays Translated into Modern English
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/989979
John Ford’s The Broken Heart: A Retelling
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/792090
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PVkKm5BxBYE8uUY9IzcjdEQZ5ipGmxlm/view?usp=sharing
John Ford’s The Fancies, Chaste and Noble: A Retelling
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/989291
https://drive.google.com/file/d/19JQQmLv_b3Oy3N3yhRpQM0b5ymAFh_zy/view?usp=sharing
John Ford’s The Lady’s Trial: A Retelling
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/985699
https://drive.google.com/file/d/16F0PoPepXJJAX2RBn2lVK1Apvp6gwO9g/view?usp=sharing
John Ford’s The Lover’s Melancholy: A Retelling
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/946285
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DTu7EkdqS8PEuljstF4KMnW9d3S5CiXc/view?usp=sharing
John Ford’s Love’s Sacrifice: A Retelling
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/925020
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aE9jUQfe3e4acoJ63kIaqY57Mi9hrJja/view?usp=sharing
John Ford’s Perkin Warbeck: A Retelling
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/937190
https://drive.google.com/file/d/14GOL5rPf6lcYb-e7ml9_BDzcFufbPjo1/view?usp=sharing
John Ford’s The Queen: A Retelling
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/930049
https://drive.google.com/file/d/14GOL5rPf6lcYb-e7ml9_BDzcFufbPjo1/view?usp=sharing
John Ford’s ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore: A Retelling
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/771031
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1V9aUtdKeYWY6DRoVimK-Vq6J8a6DL9JN/view?usp=sharing
John Webster’s The White Devil: A Retelling
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1000808
https://drive.google.com/file/d/19zCtHbfGVamswILTd8MUDWC1pabCUEs8/view?usp=sharing
King Edward III: A Retelling
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/814530
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_gqk9Es--Qvi8EjqY_4OztVsCiVJcQ0j/view?usp=sharing
The Merry Devil of Edmonton: A Retelling
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/957047
Robert Greene’s Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay: A Retelling
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/915455
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bX1a4cbdne38rgJ2sy4A4_8SIQ_ljnCW/view?usp=sharing
The Taming of a Shrew: A Retelling
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1052341
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10FsrQNk4Z1TAbiW_5VCD303VnEZqR6tP/view?usp=sharing
Tarlton’s Jests: A Retelling
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/772884
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QcGqnBsSPsRdPwctADo6DytHqZSyDMkG/view?usp=sharing
The Trojan War and Its Aftermath: Four Ancient Epic Poems
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/486330
Virgil’s Aeneid: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/277646
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yl8jYM0EJwB99WnoNlZRQEIms6UJIpFW/view?usp=sharing
William Shakespeare’s 5 Late Romances: Retellings in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/724666
William Shakespeare’s 10 Histories: Retellings in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/776868
William Shakespeare’s 11 Tragedies: Retellings in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/776890
William Shakespeare’s 12 Comedies: Retellings in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/715562
William Shakespeare’s 38 Plays: Retellings in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/777062
William Shakespeare’s 1 Henry IV, aka Henry IV, Part 1: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/396839
https://drive.google.com/file/d/12o7eBSJGMgUC0g8SAMu0nMU2NiACJXrf/view?usp=sharing
William Shakespeare’s 2 Henry IV, aka Henry IV, Part 2: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/502075
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qGGQ-Lspj4Gb83sAPswNqUS4b0GRZJ1o/view?usp=sharing
William Shakespeare’s 1 Henry VI, aka Henry VI, Part 1: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/675826
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Hh1jTLrHrAKoALVcwJEbrt5aT8pQL_zi/view?usp=sharing
William Shakespeare’s 2 Henry VI, aka Henry VI, Part 2: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/687115
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rvMb6nXxK_okkITLF_tyDGaqhuTYVijX/view?usp=sharing
William Shakespeare’s 3 Henry VI, aka Henry VI, Part 3: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/694202
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_jjUayHsRVJ2h2gUO1rCfGTCj7SUFJLA/view?usp=sharing
William Shakespeare’s All’s Well that Ends Well: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/660279
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ja-2V83BSWhghpq9AL0hhtqFWLW_bPSn/view?usp=sharing
William Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/561440
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1G1KG2zguWBWjPuhZ5QjwLF03kxFoPclG/view?usp=sharing
William Shakespeare’s As You Like It: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/411180
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-0v9ArsOwf-En5qozztSS38VNXR1p1V8/view?usp=sharing
William Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/474177
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wAatX3tir_baMztNcSFMKBgtXJ3cgvb8/view?usp=sharing
William Shakespeare’s Coriolanus: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/651995
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1p6TclIesIQIWseyinVn1JKlaVtVdCkyR/view?usp=sharing
William Shakespeare’s Cymbeline: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/607757
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_rFv0GMVio1GWDRzKZaQPz0bpKnmZ4gK/view?usp=sharing
William Shakespeare’s Hamlet: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/521558
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uspV57BL_sPkdiFW9CpSfe8NWqb3Cm4T/view?usp=sharing
William Shakespeare’s Henry V: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/494583
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Pgwen6K6fAsytS-S2yNZGLaqkshi4man/view?usp=sharing
William Shakespeare’s Henry VIII: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/702433
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IKgOFql3um0hFyrvC3IIlc37YaHbwmBb/view?usp=sharing
William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/417297
https://drive.google.com/file/d/11rRg9RPr0pRQXF8daiUj6jMudKwRxNks/view?usp=sharing
William Shakespeare’s King John: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/667943
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Aub_JpQL7vZQAAp5g-34Vr7NVZyHvuKu/view?usp=sharing
William Shakespeare’s King Lear: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/549148
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kO0SpOyjHJEka1hxx0yXJ4qAg9Bf1aFV/view?usp=sharing
William Shakespeare’s Love’s Labor’s Lost: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/640495
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-WidUGo3nNGJcZuFw8Qcb9G3MmPzTJQ6/view?usp=sharing
William Shakespeare’s Macbeth: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/371976
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1I87NcdPFwUcR2fkAAjRQ3qDXigjYcTQ4/view?usp=sharing
William Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/530136
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fxyLYZse-hVzDdDH5SzqvFysH_juUcxk/view?usp=sharing
William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/485384
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DvnFHudHaRpdIzALOYGWcmdmAn-H7bdI/view?usp=sharing
William Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/510046
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EeW_R4qKQ_jC99YXWI_1fZjWhTAYVvwK/view?usp=sharing
William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/389517
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UBJqRbLvEfExAmGTEwyasgyUInvNl_eW/view?usp=sharing
William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/432053
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UBJqRbLvEfExAmGTEwyasgyUInvNl_eW/view?usp=sharing
William Shakespeare’s Othello: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/469501
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VrfnhPm0GYX2zcNwvWgHQ0ak9sZ51co8/view?usp=sharing
William Shakespeare’s Pericles, Prince of Tyre: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/588726
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OnOYpIU6ttyYeDPnE2eZ9HDGaDTKs_Pu/view?usp=sharing
William Shakespeare’s Richard II: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/633694
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WBbCx2hqqkeb61YNVOFm_umGUOuER-CT/view?usp=sharing
William Shakespeare’s Richard III: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/598141
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jkpgFM73fq_jNSQy38OV6pNBlZ-b8qMl/view?usp=sharing
William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/385811
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1J8ZCJ5mBzgrW_04gxTZbw71ZAwIIHF9A/view?usp=sharing
William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew: A Retelling in Prose
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1He6vWJCLxqnsKe-tAU6Kya6ZqFJec2NU/view?usp=sharing
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/424622
William Shakespeare’s The Tempest: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/437521
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HX0qJl1uHXVVAQOURGunZOYrBO7_VXxC/view?usp=sharing
William Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/626171
https://drive.google.com/file/d/12T_925ZjKyv7nq6KabkDSjb5-R25Z-Uu/view?usp=sharing
William Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/569421
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1j2-iaeffwqRl36PBDraU5IHZf56vIIZp/view?usp=sharing
William Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/617533
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VB7kp0nYIU-7hs60mT3swV7VQoyQr0ll/view?usp=sharing
William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/404123
https://drive.google.com/file/d/181NOX5-JArXwgQEvXP_8ih_4KBVha9xw/view?usp=sharing
William Shakespeare’s The Two Gentlemen of Verona: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/575743
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ptJBBd08TQX3Uc8DvTltF7n5hZBZ-4-5/view?usp=sharing
William Shakespeare’s The Two Noble Kinsmen: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/712849
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Snd6Ml_LDOm-d36mvhLuvC3GhdbN1vBz/view?usp=sharing
William Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale: A Retelling in Prose
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/539561
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KudUVwHQ4Cly2KlW_scQLkRSg1rkoE9C/view?usp=sharing
OTHER FICTION
Candide’s Two Girlfriends (Adult)
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/247531
The Erotic Adventures of Candide (Adult)
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/249299
Honey Badger Goes to Hell — and Heaven
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/306009
I Want to Die — Or Fight Back
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/83479
“School Legend: A Short Story”
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1123252
“Why I Support Same-Sex Civil Marriage”
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/34568
CHILDREN’S BIOGRAPHY
Nadia Comaneci: Perfect Ten
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/96982
PERSONAL FINANCE
How to Manage Your Money: A Guide for the Non-Rich
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/469305
ANECDOTE COLLECTIONS
250 Anecdotes About Opera
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/310277
250 Anecdotes About Religion
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/106782
250 Anecdotes About Religion: Volume 2
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/106861
250 Music Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/427367
Be a Work of Art: 250 Anecdotes and Stories
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/105419
Boredom is Anti-Life: 250 Anecdotes and Stories
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/156495
The Coolest People in Art: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/97814
The Coolest People in the Arts: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/159914
The Coolest People in Books: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/98030
The Coolest People in Comedy: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/98364
Create, Then Take a Break: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/254240
Don’t Fear the Reaper: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/98212
The Funniest People in Art: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/99002
The Funniest People in Books: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/99313
The Funniest People in Books, Volume 2: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/105652
The Funniest People in Books, Volume 3: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/105939
The Funniest People in Comedy: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/99159
The Funniest People in Dance: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/98588
The Funniest People in Families: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/108542
The Funniest People in Families, Volume 2: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/108809
The Funniest People in Families, Volume 3: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/108821
The Funniest People in Families, Volume 4: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/108830
The Funniest People in Families, Volume 5: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/108841
The Funniest People in Families, Volume 6: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/108857
The Funniest People in Movies: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/34647
The Funniest People in Music: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/100442
The Funniest People in Music, Volume 2: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/100473
The Funniest People in Music, Volume 3: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/100544
The Funniest People in Neighborhoods: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/106442
The Funniest People in Relationships: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/108060
The Funniest People in Sports: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/107239
The Funniest People in Sports, Volume 2: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/107576
The Funniest People in Television and Radio: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/106234
The Funniest People in Theater: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/104257
The Funniest People Who Live Life: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/107847
The Funniest People Who Live Life, Volume 2: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/108564
The Kindest People Who Do Good Deeds, Volume 1: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/34822
https://wordpress.com/page/davidbruceblog4.wordpress.com/4
The Kindest People Who Do Good Deeds, Volume 2: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/35011
Maximum Cool: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/97550
The Most Interesting People in Movies: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/108582
The Most Interesting People in Politics and History: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/108392
The Most Interesting People in Politics and History, Volume 2: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/108398
The Most Interesting People in Politics and History, Volume 3: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/108422
The Most Interesting People in Religion: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/107097
The Most Interesting People in Sports: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/107857
The Most Interesting People Who Live Life: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/108598
The Most Interesting People Who Live Life, Volume 2: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/108801
Reality is Fabulous: 250 Anecdotes and Stories
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/209963
Resist Psychic Death: 250 Anecdotes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/97267
Seize the Day: 250 Anecdotes and Stories
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/96869
PHILOSOPHY FOR THE MASSES
Philosophy for the Masses: Ethics
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/374071
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mdBXcfY2lH6vgADeulvt9cWT2SFpz8g1/view?usp=sharing
Philosophy for the Masses: Metaphysics and More
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/374629
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WZhGfAFWyX3Mpt4kIWIyma1IpGx33WdH/view?usp=sharing
Philosophy for the Masses: Religion
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/376026
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10Pkuj2HT64Ug5oq6dy3fc5oqnnVAFi7I/view?usp=sharing
DISCUSSION GUIDE SERIES
Dante’s Inferno: A Discussion Guide
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/342391
Dante’s Paradise: A Discussion Guide
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/345337
Dante’s Purgatory: A Discussion Guide
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/344723
Forrest Carter’s The Education of Little Tree: A Discussion Guide
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/340944
Homer’s Iliad: A Discussion Guide
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/364356
Homer’s Odyssey: A Discussion Guide
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/360552
Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice: A Discussion Guide
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/352848
Jerry Spinelli’s Maniac Magee: A Discussion Guide
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/339978
Jerry Spinelli’s Stargirl: A Discussion Guide
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/340610
Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”: A Discussion Guide
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/352048
Lloyd Alexander’s The Black Cauldron: A Discussion Guide
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/339002
Lloyd Alexander’s The Book of Three: A Discussion Guide
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/339120
Lloyd Alexander’s The Castle of Llyr: A Discussion Guide
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/338589
Lois Lowry’s Number the Stars: A Discussion Guide
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/339720
Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: A Discussion Guide
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/350434
Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: A Discussion Guide
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/348104
Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court: A Discussion Guide
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/351719
Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper: A Discussion Guide
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/349030
Nancy Garden’s Annie on My Mind: A Discussion Guide
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/339564
Nicholas Sparks’ A Walk to Remember: A Discussion Guide
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/356224
Virgil, “The Fall of Troy”: A Discussion Guide
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/356868
Virgil’s Aeneid: A Discussion Guide
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/358529
Voltaire’s Candide: A Discussion Guide
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/346971
William Shakespeare’s 1 Henry IV: A Discussion Guide
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/355953
William Shakespeare’s Macbeth: A Discussion Guide
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/354870
William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream: A Discussion Guide
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/355465
William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet: A Discussion Guide
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/354231
William Sleator’s Oddballs: A Discussion Guide
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/353345
***
GOOD DEEDS SERIES (PLURAL)
The Kindest People Who Do Good Deeds: Volume 1
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qQ-aJ4kjGQti20c3G2CPm1zile51Yd-5/view?usp=sharing
https://wordpress.com/page/davidbruceblog4.wordpress.com/4
The Kindest People Who Do Good Deeds: Volume 2
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1h1ZaZEixmzjGLHI5_57AwTFuQ02g8lL3/view?usp=sharing
https://wordpress.com/page/davidbruceblog4.wordpress.com/4
The Kindest People Who Do Good Deeds: Volume 3
https://drive.google.com/file/d/12iOTDEzHV6P576LGAijcPQgpt1ogax0R/view?usp=sharing
https://wordpress.com/page/davidbruceblog4.wordpress.com/4
The Kindest People Who Do Good Deeds: Volume 4
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1z0-CAMz-4ulX29CAIHNU16Z912eNqt-v/view?usp=sharing
https://wordpress.com/page/davidbruceblog4.wordpress.com/4
The Kindest People Who Do Good Deeds: Volume 5
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Y7DlPdu-eZwA23gEHPT2YWMT0W5r8eu7/view?usp=sharing
https://wordpress.com/page/davidbruceblog4.wordpress.com/4
The Kindest People Who Do Good Deeds: Volume 6
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zHZv2iTHQnbVY0n_LihTWXKOvUr4_hyr/view?usp=sharing
https://wordpress.com/page/davidbruceblog4.wordpress.com/4
The Kindest People Who Do Good Deeds: Volume 7
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FSCTtviio4xrX7e07-OuAgYpxmWlIPuk/view?usp=sharing
https://wordpress.com/page/davidbruceblog4.wordpress.com/4
***
You’ve Got to Be Kind: Volume 1
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GfiQMNnQ4G0CHGt1AZQQIPODV596k30j/view?usp=sharing
You’ve Got to Be Kind: Volume 2
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OHcETsSaWbIhFPIZWeW0laO6mdHVbcph/view?usp=sharing
You’ve Got to Be Kind: Volume 3
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XZCFlAWhtXPnf35OGlUoh991i05D0Bs0/view?usp=sharing
You’ve Got to Be Kind: Volume 4
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Cj8yIDLmFFG6dGzLpoVE3RrQ3-LhKV0d/view?usp=sharing
You’ve Got to Be Kind: Volume 5
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LxqLrwm898Chg3mnRY2NiGZA4FkFdOXR/view?usp=sharing
You’ve Got to Be Kind: Volume 6
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PmAxX5C-viQF0GfIpsM7mTtsyQ9lfm8J/view?usp=sharing
You’ve Got to Be Kind: Volume 7
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Bq_SmSf4rsWdtqA7p0kN9tJ5ip3gqEht/view?usp=sharing
***
The Kindest People: Be Excellent to Each Other (Volume 1)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FqbObI95XKwIr1QWn0lBFDSNsIENTR9B/view?usp=sharing
The Kindest People: Be Excellent to Each Other (Volume 2)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QWF5bRarJBauD7Qdb-_99K9UuQBL_fZ7/view?usp=sharing
The Kindest People: Be Excellent to Each Other (Volume 3)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gUUA4ms-CX7BvVlOaNmpYswPN-eBfKIa/view?usp=sharing
The Kindest People: Be Excellent to Each Other (Volume 4)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BXLhqmY1qOEaF4u5IMRpSCm7H6jy2mj_/view?usp=sharing
The Kindest People: Be Excellent to Each Other (Volume 5)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Pks6XXM4T-r_r4cBBSmUIlP0jARS8i-0/view?usp=sharing
The Kindest People: Be Excellent to Each Other (Volume 6)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ohXsEp79jwf8OdlIXI7I3nPIotjX5wWb/view?usp=sharing
The Kindest People: Be Excellent to Each Other (Volume 7)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_orz__RY0T3A-kpa7fpbS8koDwp0I91p/view?usp=sharing
***
The Kindest People: Heroes and Good Samaritans (Volume 1)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/13X4KOLTIvPVwSBo1ijX0aJABB8wbgZyT/view?usp=sharing
The Kindest People: Heroes and Good Samaritans (Volume 2)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wbRuc4G0EdFeM4UVWk6LwbxDKkF19T2s/view?usp=sharing
The Kindest People: Heroes and Good Samaritans (Volume 3)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ksyO9KnAJ6yGpK5CNMY12Ry9HTQ9vxm1/view?usp=sharing
The Kindest People: Heroes and Good Samaritans (Volume 4)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NuAM7qAb_XLRGHxUTMLrm2PhOfjU7Fk8/view?usp=sharing
The Kindest People: Heroes and Good Samaritans (Volume 5)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1T5HB-AwL4S61aj4lLK3K5Q0ulgQbarR7/view?usp=sharing
The Kindest People: Heroes and Good Samaritans (Volume 6)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PYx6MyYI9YY_RKCv3nUZnENwv0jIxfRn/view?usp=sharing
The Kindest People: Heroes and Good Samaritans (Volume 7)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1I8aphNRXnok_slWALv8s8TjJ344sZVml/view?usp=sharing
***
COMPOSITION PROJECTS
Composition Project: Writing an Autobiographical Essay
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1138445
Composition Project: Writing a Hero-of-Human-Rights Essay
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/481598
Composition Project: Writing a Problem-Solving Letter
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1138745
TEACHING
How to Teach the Autobiographical Essay Composition Project in 9 Classes
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/487660
***
IT’S A WONDERFUL WORLD SERIES (Stories and Anecdotes and Opinions)
It’s a Wonderful World: Volumes 1-7
https://wordpress.com/page/davidbruceblog429065578.wordpress.com/690
***
THE RELATIONSHIP BOOKS SERIES
The Relationship Books (Volumes 1-8)
https://wordpress.com/page/davidbruceblog429065578.wordpress.com/674
***
BE KIND AND BE USEFUL SERIES (Stories and Anecdotes and Opinions)
Be Kind and Be Useful: Volumes 1-5)
https://wordpress.com/page/davidbruceblog429065578.wordpress.com/686
***
BRUCE’S MUSIC RECOMMENDATIONS SERIES
Bruce’s Music Recommendations: Volumes 1-8
https://anecdotesandmusic.wordpress.com/2022/04/26/bruces-music-recommendations-free-pdfs/
Bruce’s Music Recommendations: Volumes 1-9
https://anecdotesandmusic.wordpress.com/2022/05/16/bruces-music-recomendations-volume-9/
***
davidbruceblog #1
http://davidbruceblog.wordpress.com/
davidbruceblog #2
https://davidbrucemusic.wordpress.com
davidbruceblog #3
https://cosplayvideos.wordpress.com
davidbruceblog #4
https://davidbruceblog4.wordpress.com
David Bruce Books: Free PDFs
davidbrucebooks: EDUCATE YOURSELF
https://davidbruceblog429065578.wordpress.com
Anecdotes, Arts, Books, and Music
https://anecdotesandmusic.wordpress.com
George Peele: English Dramatist
https://georgepeeleenglishdramatist.wordpress.com
David Bruce’s Books at Blogspot
https://davidbrucebooks.blogspot.com
David Bruce’s Books at WIX
https://bruceb22.wixsite.com/website/blog
David Bruce’s Books at Smashwords
http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/bruceb
David Bruce’s Books at Apple Books
https://itunes.apple.com/ie/artist/david-bruce/id81470634
David Bruce’s Books at Kobo
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/search?query=david%20bruce&fcsearchfield=Author
David Bruce’s Books at Barnes and Noble
Teaching Stuff
https://davidbruceblog429065578.wordpress.com/teaching-guides/
How to Teach the Autobiographical Essay Composition Project in 9 Classes
https://davidbruceblog429065578.wordpress.com/teaching-guides/
William Sleator’s Oddballs: A Discussion Guide
https://davidbruceblog429065578.wordpress.com/teaching-guides/
Composition Project: Writing a Problem-Solving Letter
https://davidbruceblog429065578.wordpress.com/teaching-guides/
Composition Project: Writing a Hero-of-Human-Rights Essay
https://davidbruceblog429065578.wordpress.com/teaching-guides/
Composition Project: Writing an Argument Paper with Research
https://davidbruceblog429065578.wordpress.com/teaching-guides/
Composition Project: Writing an Employee Manual
https://davidbruceblog429065578.wordpress.com/teaching-guides/
Composition Project: Writing an Evaluation or Review
https://davidbruceblog429065578.wordpress.com/teaching-guides/
Composition Project: Writing a Famous-Plagiarist/Fabulist Report
https://davidbruceblog429065578.wordpress.com/teaching-guides/
How Do I Write a Resume, List of References, and Job-Application Letter
https://davidbruceblog429065578.wordpress.com/teaching-guides/
How Do I Write Humor and Satire?
https://davidbruceblog429065578.wordpress.com/teaching-guides/
Composition Project: The Set of Instructions
https://davidbruceblog429065578.wordpress.com/teaching-guides/
Composition Project: Writing a Manual
https://davidbruceblog429065578.wordpress.com/teaching-guides/
Composition Project: Writing a Media Opinion Essay
https://davidbruceblog429065578.wordpress.com/teaching-guides/
Composition Project: Interview About On-the-Job Writing
https://davidbruceblog429065578.wordpress.com/teaching-guides/
Composition Project: Writing a Progress Report
https://davidbruceblog429065578.wordpress.com/teaching-guides/
How Do I Write the Introductory Memo Assignment?
https://davidbruceblog429065578.wordpress.com/teaching-guides/
How to Teach the Argument Paper Composition Project in 10 Classes
https://davidbruceblog429065578.wordpress.com/teaching-guides/
How to Teach the Famous-Plagiarist Research Report Composition Project in 8 Classes
https://davidbruceblog429065578.wordpress.com/teaching-guides/
How to Teach the Manual Composition Project in 8 Classes
https://davidbruceblog429065578.wordpress.com/teaching-guides/
How to Teach the Resume, Job-Application Letter, and List of References Composition Project in 6 Classes
https://davidbruceblog429065578.wordpress.com/teaching-guides/
Free Writing Handouts with Anecdotes: Volume 1
https://davidbruceblog429065578.wordpress.com/teaching-guides/
Free Writing Handouts with Anecdotes: Volume 2
https://davidbruceblog429065578.wordpress.com/teaching-guides/
Free Writing Handouts with Anecdotes: Volume 3
https://davidbruceblog429065578.wordpress.com/teaching-guides/
DANTE INFERNO HAIKU PDF
https://cosplayvideos.files.wordpress.com/2018/09/dante-inferno-haiku.pdf
DANTE PURGATORY HAIKU PDF
https://cosplayvideos.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/dante-purgatory-haiku-pdf.pdf
DANTE PARADISE HAIKU PDF
https://cosplayvideos.files.wordpress.com/2018/09/dante-paradise-haiku.pdf
davidbrucehaiku #1 through #10 (Free PDFs)
https://davidbruceblog.wordpress.com/patreon/
davidbrucehaiku #11
https://davidbrucemusic.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/davidbrucehaiku-11.pdf
davidbrucehaiku #12
https://cosplayvideos.files.wordpress.com/2019/01/davidbrucehaiku-12.pdf
davidbrucehaiku #13
https://cosplayvideos.wordpress.com/2019/04/08/davidbrucehaiku-13/
https://cosplayvideos.files.wordpress.com/2019/04/davidbrucehaiku13.pdf
davidbrucehaiku #14
https://davidbruceblog429065578.wordpress.com/davidbrucehaiku/
davidbrucehaiku #15
https://davidbruceblog429065578.wordpress.com/davidbrucehaiku/
davidbrucehaiku #16
https://davidbruceblog429065578.wordpress.com/davidbrucehaiku/
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