Study Guide to accompany Dorothy Sayers edition of

Dantes Inferno
(Written by Professor Darci Hill)

CANTO I
1. The poet wakes to find himself where? What had happened to the right road?
(Stanza 1)

2. Why does the speaker/poet feel compelled to tell his story?

3. Beginning in line 22, the speaker compares himself to what kind of athlete?

4. Name the 3 animals that Dante encounters. What does each represent? (See notes
at end of CANTO I)

5. Who is represented by the Greyhound that will slay [the Leopard] with a stroke
right sore? (ll. 100-102)

6. How does the Leopard present itself? (ll. 43-45) Why is this significant?

7. DANTE, despairing, asks for help. Who helps him? Since he is a Christian poet, why
is his helper significant?

8. How does DANTE respond when he realizes who his helper is? Paraphrase ll. 82-87.
How well does DANTE know his guide? What great work is the guide known for?
Consult Glossary, p.344.

9. Why can DANTEs guide not enter Heaven?

10. Explain the second death in l. 117. Of what does DANTE speak? (See notes at end
of CANTO; also see Rev. 20:14)

11. Look at ll. 38-40. Then consult your dictionary for the term prime mobile. Using
the definition, interpret these lines. Who is Love Divine? Why is this term
capitalized?

12. Define St. Peters Gate. (Consult notes at end of CANTO).

Vocabulary, CANTO 1
1. mantle (as a verb)
2. nigh
3. affright
4. piteous
5. main (noun)
6. contrive
7. hie(d) (verb)
8. nimble
9. pelt
10. gamboling
11. auguring
12. quake (verb)
13. amass(ed) (verb)
14. aghast
15. mute
16. ponder(ing)
17. sage
18. trammel (verb)
19. perpetually
20. Imperium
21. prime mobile (ll. 40-42)
Significant Characters:
Dante
Virgil
Significant Beasts:
Leopard
Lion
Wolf

CANTO II, Questions

1. On what important day and at what time of day does Canto II begin?

2. In l. 7, Dante addresses the Muses. Consult your glossary and write a description
of the Muses here. Then consult your Handbook to Literature and locate the names
of each of the 9 muses and of what each is patroness.

3. Link Dantes invocation to the Muses to epic poetry. Why is this significant? Look up
epic in Handbook to Literature.

4. In l. 8 Dante refers to Memory as faithful scrivener to the eyes. Explain.

5. Who is Hells great Foeman in l. 16? Why is his name not used in Hell?

6. Who is the Chosen Vessel Dante refers to in l. 28? (See Acts 7:15; II Cor. 12:2)

7. What, according to Virgil, is the function of cowardice (ll. 45-48)? Do you agree?
Explain.

8. Virgil tells DANTE that whose eloquence summoned him to be his guide? (ll. 49-73)

9. Why does this Lady think shes too late to help Dante? (ll. 64-66)

10. Who is Heavens Noble Lady who, according to Beatrice, cares for DANTE? What,
according to DANTE, is cancelled for her sake?

11.A third lady, Lucy or Lucia, is spoken of as the foe to what? (See notes at end of
Canto to discover that St. Lucia is the patron SAINT of whom?) Do you know any other
Lucy in literature?

10.Beatrice tells Virgil that she chose him to be DANTEs guide because of his what?
What purpose does this art of his serve? (ll. 112-114)

11. To what does DANTE compare his fainting powers? (ll. 127-132)

12. Why is it that DANTE is able to speak like a free man? (ll. 133-138)

13. Consult note to l. 70. What does Charles Williams say about religion and poetry, or
faith and imagination?

14. Consult note to l. 91. Explain Dantes and Lewis understanding of poetry.

15. Reread the story of Leah and Rachel in the book of Genesis. Briefly summarize the
story here. Why does Dante seem to favor Rachel?

Vocabulary, CANTO II
1. construe
2. scrivener
3. empery
4. papal
5. folly
6. nil
7. diligence
8. firmament
9. fond
10. forward
11. apace
12. liegeman
13. wight
14. sever
15. votary
16. beseech
17. ancestral
18. piteous
19. grapple
20. surpass
21. luster
22. prick (noun)
23. ails (verb)
24. assize
25. ruth (noun)
Significant Characters: Three Blessed Ladies
Beatrice
Virgin Mary
Lucia

Canto III, Questions

The Futile, the Mediocre, the Compromisers

1. In the inscription over Hell-gate the reader is instructed to lay down all what if you go
into the gate? What significance does this have in the context for the poet? For the
readier of the poem?

2. What effect does the inscription have on DANTE?

3. In ll.16-18 Virgil tells Dante that weve reached the place of those who have lost the
good of intellect. Explain this phrase. What does Aristotle say is the good of the
intellect? How is Dante using it? (Look at notes, p. 90)

4. Describe the sounds Dante hears upon entering the circle. Compare ll. 25-28 to Luke
eschatological reference to Hell.

5.

What is the sin of the people in this circle? (ll. 34-42)

6. In ll. 49-51 we learn that both _________ and _________ hold these people in scorn.
Why?

7. Explain Dantes phrase in l. 64 This scum, whod never lived. In what sense have
they never lived?

8. Does Virgil always answer all of Dantes questions immediately? Why or why not?

9. Why does Charon the ferryman not want to give Dante passage?
10. What is Virgils reply to Charon?
11. Explain the meaning of ll. 103-105 about blasphemy.

12. What does Dante mean by Adams ill seed?

13. Consult your notes on p. 91 and explain what Sayers means by saying Hell is the
souls choice. Can you think of another author who treats this concept?

Vocabulary, CANTO III

1. lintel
2. vestibule
3. futile
4. wrought (verb, past tense)
5. supernal
6. primal
7. quail(ing) (verb)
8. smite (smote) (verb)
9. blether
10. distraught
11. guerdon
12. infamy
13. caitiff
14. crass
15. ensign
16. abashed
17. unmeet
18. suffice(d)
19. shramming
20. abide (abode)
21. skiff
22. chafe
23. gash (adj.)
24. blaspheme
25. scud
26. seed
27. ire
28. chide
29. champaign
30. sodden
31. levin (lava)
32. incontinent