Mr. Nesheim · 2026–27

Literature 11

A course centered around the question of desire: its meaning and its end.

Meets daily, period 2. On Fridays we meet period 4.

The Map of Hell

Every circle, canto by canto

Click your way down the nine circles of the Inferno. Each circle gives the cantos, the guardian, the punishment as Dante describes it, and the souls he names, beside the engravings Gustave Doré made for it. The map also marks how far down we have come. Opens in a new tab.

Open the map

Reading guide

100 Days of Dante

An excellent reading guide to the Divine Comedy, with a short video for every canto. I highly recommend it. Opens in a new tab.

Open the guide

Timeline

The World We Study: 1100–1616

One interactive timeline of the year: the events and people of History, and the books we read beside them. Opens in a new tab.

Open the timeline

Dante's Italy

Two maps to compare. Italy today is one country. The Italy Dante knew was a patchwork of republics, kingdoms, and papal lands.

Italy in 1300, when Dante was writing
Open the map
Italy today
Open the map

The 1300 map is "Italia nell'età di Dante," drawn by the Touring Club Italiano for the Treccani encyclopedia. Its labels are in Italian. Source: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Homework and reading

Due Monday, August 31

Cantos II through VI, read and annotated, with one discussion question for the whole stretch. We started II and III in class Thursday; read IV through VI on Friday or Saturday, never Sunday.

Looking ahead

Next week runs on the reading-day rhythm: Cantos VII and VIII for Wednesday, then IX through XI with a comprehension question sheet for Friday. Each assignment is given in class on the reading day. Friday, September 4 is a half day; Literature meets at 10:43.

Sources and links

Links will be added here as we use them in class.