This document provides guidance for students to analyze Dante Alighieri's poem "Inferno" through group activities exploring the different senses. Students are asked questions about the poem and instructed to make a poster, recording, dance, or speech highlighting details about hell from Canto III. By focusing on the sights, sounds, and experiences in hell described in the text, students can gain a deeper understanding of the theme and Dante's description of the first part of the journey through the afterlife.
2. Objectives:
1. Take note of the important details in
the poem.
2. Discover the theme of the poem
through its elements.
3. Show understanding of the theme
through a poster.
3. Do you believe that there is hell?
What is your understanding of hell?
5. Guide Questions:
1. Who is speaking in the poem?
2. Why was Dante disallowed to cross the river?
3. Who are the souls tortured in this canto?
4. Describe the punishment given to the tormented
souls.
6. In Canto III, Dante begins his description of Hell, which
becomes an assault on the senses of the readers. As we read
his harrowing descriptions of the sounds, sights and even
smells of Hell, we come to share in Dantes repugnance of the
horrible experience the poet encounters. List the details from
the Canto for each sense in its proper column.
7. List the details from the Canto for each
sense in its proper column.
Canto III
The Vestibule of Hell
The Opportunist
Eye Ear Hand Lips Nose
8. Form 4 groups. Perform the task assigned
to your group.
Group 1. EYE GROUP Make a poster of what the hell looks like based on the
text.
Group 2. EAR GROUP Record sounds of hell based on the details from the
text or use your voice and other materials available in producing the
sounds.
Group 3. HAND GROUP Show an interpretative dance to reflect the
movements of tormented souls.
Group 4. LIP GROUP Present a speech choir about doing good to avoid
being in hell. (based on the text)