"Creative" Alternative Assignment #1:  Poetry and Commentary

Non-thesis Driven Assignment: Dante’s Inferno.

Write your own canto, elaborating on one of Dante’s sins or adding one of your own, and imitating Dante’s allegorical mode. Choose your own literary guide and either develop and extend the treatment of one of Dante’s sinners or choose sins and sinners of your own, consigning them to internal punishments of your own devilish devising. Your canto should reflect your understanding of Dante’s method, particularly the technique of contrapasso, or counter-penalty; the canto should not be parody. Your canto must be followed by at least a page of commentary; use John D. Sinclair’s translation and commentary as a model. You will probably want to exceed the usual five-page limit in order to carry out this assignment.