WL Midterm Reviewer

(AEG 500) WORLD LITERATURE
MIDTERM PERIOD
LESSON 1: THE ILIAD (PART 1) 6. Polydamas – a prudent commander
whose advice is ignored; he is Hector’s
ILIAD
foil.
“Is this the face that launched a thousand 7. Agenor – a Trojan warrior, son of Antenor,
ships…” – Marlowe who attempts to fight Achilles.
8. Sarpedon – son of Zeus killed by Patroclus
BACKGROUND OF ILIAD 9. Glaucus – friend of Sarpedon and co-
- The Iliad is an ancient Greek epic poem leader of the Lycians
written in dactylic hexameter. 10. Euphorbus – first Trojan warrior to wound
- It narrates an episode of the Trojan War Patroclus
fought between the Achaeans (Greeks) 11. Dolon – a spy upon the Greek camp
against the Trojans. 12. Antenor – King Priam’s advisor, who
- It centers on the battles and events argues for returning Helen to end the war
during the weeks of a quarrel between 13. Polydorus – son of Priam and Laothoe
King Agamemnon and the warrior 14. Pandarus – famous archer and son of
Achilles. Lycaon
- The story covers only a few weeks in the CHARACTERS (TROJAN WOMEN)
final year of the Trojan war.
- The story is narrated in Medias Res. 1. Hecuba – Priam’s wife, mother of Hector,
- The epic narrative takes up events Cassandra, Paris and others
prophesied for the future, such as 2. Helen – abducted by Paris, the cause of
Achilles’ looming death, the fall of Troy, war
and the capture of Trojan women. 3. Andromache – Hector’s wife, mother of
- It contains 15,693 lines written in Homeric Astyanax
verse. 4. Cassandra – Priam’s daughter; courted
- It comprises 24 books of varying length. by Apollo, who bestows the gift of
- The events are usually dated to around prophecy to her
the eighth century BC. 5. Briseis – a Trojan woman captured by the
Greeks; she was Achilles’ prize of the
CHARACTERS (GREEKS) Trojan war
1. Agamemnon – King of Mycenae, leader 6. Chryseis – daughter of Chryses, a Trojan
of the Greeks. priest of Apollo
2. Achilles – Leader of the Myrmidons, half- CHARACTERS (DEITIES)
divine hero.
3. Odysseus – King of Ithaca, the wiliest 1. Zeus (Neutral) – the King of the
Greek commander and hero of the gods/goddesses
Odyssey. 2. Hera (Achaeans) – the queen of the
4. Ajax the Greater – son of Telamon, with gods, wife of Zeus
Diomedes, he is second to Achilles in 3. Artemis (Trojans) – the goddess of the
martial prowess. hunt and the moon
5. Menelaus – King of Sparta, brother of 4. Apollo (Trojans) – the god of truth,
Agamemnon. prophecy and healing
6. Neoptolemus – son of Achilles, killed King 5. Hades (Neutral) – the god of the
Priam of Troy. underworld
7. Diomedes – son of Tydeus, King of Argos. 6. Aphrodite (Trojans) – the goddess of love
8. Ajax the Lesser – son of Oileus, often and beauty
partner of Ajax the Greater. 7. Ares (Trojans) – the god of war
9. Patroclus – Achilles’ closest companion. 8. Athena (Achaeans) – the goddess of
10. Nestor – King of Pylos, and trusted advisor wisdom
to Agamemnon. 9. Hermes (Neutral) – the
11. Antilochus – son of Nestor. messenger/herald of the gods
12. Philoctetes – arms bearer of Hercules. 10. Poseidon (Achaeans) – the god of the
13. Calchas – a prophet of Mycenae. sea
14. Tiresias – a blind prophet. 11. Hephaestus (Neutral) – the divine forge
and armorer
CHARACTER (TROJANS) 12. Iris (Achaeans) – the messenger of Zeus
1. Hector – son of King Priam and the SETTING
foremost Trojan warrior
2. Aeneas – son of Anchises and Aphrodite - Takes place in the tenth year of the
3. Paris – Helen’s lover-abductor Trojan War
4. Deiphobus – brother of Hector and Paris - Various territories in Greece
5. Priam – the aged King of Troy - Trojan plains, Trojan gates and walls
MIDTERM PERIOD
PROLOGUE - The war lasted for nine years with no
clear victor
1. The wedding banquet of Peleus and Thetis
- Troy still intact, army undefeated
(the parents of Achilles)
- Achilles attacked the allies in the south
- All the Olympian gods were invited
and Ajax the allies in the north
except Eris, the goddess of discord.
- She vowed revenge and strife for the THE PLAGUE (BOOK 1)
insult.
- Apollo’s priest Chryses, whose daughters
- Eris (the goddess of discord) threw a
(Chryseis and Briseis) were kidnapped
golden apple with the inscription “For the
prayed for revenge
fairest”.
- Apollo shoots deadly arrows of plague to
2. The judgment of Paris
Greek camp
- Hera: I promised to make you the Lord of
Europe and Asia! ACHILLES VS. AGAMEMNON (BOOK 1)
- Athena: You will lead the Trojans to
victory against the Greeks and lay - Agamemnon returns Chryseis but got
Greece in ruins! Briseis
- Aphrodite: The fairest woman in the - Feeling dishonored, Achilles refused to
world should be yours! fight
- The golden apple went to Aphrodite. - He recalled his troops, the Myrmidons
- The most beautiful woman in the world in who are the best warriors, back to camp
Helen, wife of Menelaus, rulers of Sparta. ZEUS INTERVENES (BOOK 2)
- Paris left the nymph Oenone his wife at
Mt. Ida. - Achilles asks his mother, Thetis, to ask Zeus
for punishment to Greek army.
THE CAUSE OF WAR – HELEN’S ABDUCTION - Zeus sent a dream to Agamemnon,
- Paris went to Sparta as a visiting ally. urging him to attack Troy but they lost a
- Menelaus and Helen welcomed him as lot of men due to Achilles’s absence
their guest. MENALAUS VS. PARIS (BOOK 3)
- Paris broke this trust and snatched Helen
with the help of Aphrodite. - A duel was set between Menelaus, the
wronged husband; and Paris, the
“Paris who coming entered a friend’s kind abductor
dwelling, - The result will determine the outcome of
Shamed the hand there that gave him food, war
- Everyone will respect the outcome of the
Stealing away a woman” – Homer duel
THE GATHERING OF THE HOSTS APHRODITE INTERVENES (BOOK 3)
- The army assembled at Aulis, a seaport in - Menelaus is the clear winner of the duel
Euboea - Menelaus is about to finish Paris when
- Odysseus and Achilles are summoned, Aphrodite snatched Paris and whisks him
the war will not be won without them to Helen’s bedroom
- Aulis is a place of dangerous winds and
tides ATHENA INTERVENES (BOOK 4)
- Calchas the prophet declared that - Athena and Hera was determined that
Artemis was angry Troy be destroyed
- Agamemnon killed her sacred deer - She persuaded Pandarus to break the
- Iphigenia must be sacrificed true and shoot an arrow to Menelaus
THE LANDING AT TROY - The fighting rages anew and many men
died that day
- Prostesilaus was a suitor of Helen fulfilling
his vow THE GODS FIGHT (BOOK 5)
- He was the first casualty of the war, killed - Diomedes and Athena vs. Pandarus and
by Hector Aeneas and Aphrodite and Apollo
- His name means “first to be slain” - Ares and Hector vs. Diomedes and
- Hermes brought him up from dead to see Athena
once again his deeply, mourning wife, - Ares vs. Athena
Laodamia - Diomedes vs. Ares
- But Laodamia killed herself
- So Protesilaus begged Hermes to die
again to join his wife in THE DIVINE RUMBLE FOLLOWS…
THE STALEMATE WAR
MIDTERM PERIOD
• Aristeia – an episode/day glorious bravery - The onslaught of Trojans were supported
and gallantry in battle by Zeus as promised to Thetis
- Book 5 is the aristeia of Diomedes. Book 5 - The Greeks retreat in their ships
is also entitled Diomedia
ARISTEIA OF IDOMENEUS (BOOK 13)
- Other heroes have their own aristeia too.
• Ichor – the ethereal fluid flowing in the veins - Idomeneus, the Cretan king, has his
of the gods aristeia as he holds off the Trojan
attackers
DIOMEDES AND GLAUCUS (BOOK 6)
- The Trojans were not used to fight near
- Glaucus and Diomedes challenged ships, they use to fight on plains
each other to a combat
POSEIDON INTERVENES (BOOK 14)
- After learning their common lineage,
they became friends and exchanged - Poseidon disguised as the prophet
armors Calchas
- He stirred the Greek to defend their ships
HECTOR AND PARIS (BOOK 6)
and fight till the end
- Hector chastises Paris for his cowardly
HERA SEDUCES ZEUS (BOOK 15)
acts after finding him in bed with Helen
- Hector visits his wife Andromache with his - Zeus was seduced by Hera using
son Astyanax, to whom he said, “Greater Aphrodite’s girdle
is he than his father.” - After their act, Morpheus, god of sleep,
lulls Zeus to sleep
HECTOR VS. AJAX (BOOK 7)
DEATH OF PATROCLUS (BOOK 16)
- Hector and Ajax fought a duel with no
clear winner - Patroclus got permission to wear
- They call for a truce to let each side bury Achilles’s armor
their dead - The aristeia of Patroclus, kills many Trojans
- Antenor suggests to return Helen and including Sarpedon, Zeus’s son
end the war but Paris resents - Achilles warned him to just defend the
- Zeus forbids the gods from intervening ships, but he stormed the Trojan walls
this
ARISTEIA OF MENELAUS (BOOK 17)
HECTOR’S ARISTEIA (BOOK 8)
- With aid of Apollo, Hector kills Patroclus,
- Zeus watches the battle from Mt. Ida and stripped Achilles’s armor and dons it
decides to give Troy victory for the day - Menelaus protected the corpse of
- Hector is everywhere, slaying hundreds Patroclus and killed many Trojans
of men attempting to mutilate it
- It was finally brought to camp
GREEKS CONVENE (BOOK 9)
ACHILLES MOURNS (BOOK 18)
- Greeks were demoralized with the
onslaught of Hector - Achilles mourns, vows revenge for
- Nestor rebukes Agamemnon for Patroclus
Achilles’s refusal to fight - Thetis comforts Achilles, reminding him of
- Agamemnon convinces Achilles but he his fate
still refused to fight - Achilles decides to go back to battle,
Thetis asks Hephaestus to forge new arms
GAME OF SPIES (BOOK 10)
for Achilles
- Greeks sent Diomedes and Odysseus to
ACHILLES RETURNS TO WAR (BOOK 19)
spy on Trojan lines by night
- Trojans sent Dolon to counterspy the - Achilles wants the Greek to attack right
Greeks too away but Odysseus urged them to eat
- Diomedes and Odysseus capture Dolon and rest first
and kill him after getting information - Achilles said he will not eat nor rest until
he avenged Patroclus
ARISTREIA OF AGAMEMNON (BOOK 11)
ARISTEIA OF ACHILLES (BOOK 20)
- Agamemnon sweeps the battlefield with
strength and vigor - Achilles slew thousands of men in his
- But the Greeks were slowly defeated due onslaught
to Achilles’s absence - Aeneas was nearly killed but saved by
Poseidon upon order of Zeus
GREEKS RETREAT (BOOK 12)
MIDTERM PERIOD
- Aeneas is destined to be the sole survivor
among the Trojans and will be the
founder of Rome
ACHILLES AND THE GODS (BOOK 21)
- Achilles kills Scamander, the god of the

river in Troy and Lycaon, son of Priam
- He nearly killed Agenor but Apollo saved
him
- Athena defeated Ares and Aphrodite,
Hera braided Artemis
- Poseidon and Apollo squared off
DEATH OF HECTOR (BOOK 22)
- All Trojans hide behind the walls except

Hector
- Zeus and the gods watch as destiny
unfolded
- Athena disguised as Deiphobus fakely
assisted Hector
- Achilles stabs Hector in the throat
FUNERAL OF PATROCLUS (BOOK 23)
- 12 Trojans were sacrificed to be burned

along with Patroclus’s corpse
- Funeral games were conducted
- Hector’s corpse was protected by Apollo
and Aphrodite
FUNERAL OF HECTOR (BOOK 24)
- Achilles drags Hector’s body around

Patroclus’s bier for 11 days
- Priam, escorted by Hermes, ransoms
Hector’s body from Achilles
- Achilles grants 12 days of truce for
Hector’s funeral
- All Trojans lamented Hector’s death
- Trojans gather wood in the mountains
and burn Hector’s body
- His bones are then placed in a golden
chest
- Afterward, a great funeral banquet is
served in Priam’s palace
- Iliad ends.
MIDTERM PERIOD
LESSON 1: THE ODYSSEY (PART 2) and the resulting storm drove the ships
back the way they had come, just as
THE JOURNEY OF ODYSSEUS
Ithaca came into sight.
- “Odyssey” means a long and perilous - They were blown back to Aiolia, where
journey Aeolus refused to provide any further
- Odysseus’s journey was caused by the help because he thought Odysseus was
anger of Athena, Poseidon and his own unlucky.
hubris as well 6. TO ISLAND OF TELEPYLOS…
- “Hubris” is flaw of character of the hero - They came to Telepylos, the stronghold
1. FROM TROY… of Lamos, king of the Laestrygonians, a
- Odysseus fought in the Trojan War for 10 cannibalistic tribe.
years. After the fall of Troy, he left for his - These people attacked the fleet with
home in Ithaca, a journey which have boulders, sinking all but one of the ships
take only a few weeks. It was to take ten and killing/eating hundreds of
years… Odysseus’s men.
2. TO ISMAROS ISLAND… 7. TO ISLAND OF AEAEA
- The crew made for Ismaros in the land of - Odysseus sailed on and visited the witch-
the Cicones. The city was not all goddess Circe, who turned all of
protected and all of the inhabitants fled Odysseus’s men into pigs after feeding
without a fight into the nearby them cheese and wine.
mountains. - Hermes warned Odysseus about Circe
- Odysseus and his men looted the city and gave Odysseus a grass called moly
and robbed it of all its goods. which gave him resistance to Circe’s
- The next morning, the Cicones returned magic.
with their fierce kinsmen from the - Circe, being attracted to Odysseus’
mountains. resistance, agreed to bargain with him.
- On leaving Ismaros, Odysseus and his She agreed to change his men back to
twelve ships were driven off course by their human form in exchange for
fierce stroms. Odysseus’ love. They remained with her
3. TO ISLAND OF LOTUS-EATERS on the island for one year, while they
- When Odysseus and his men landed on feasted and drank.
the island of the Lotus-Eaters, Odysseus 8. TO THE UNDERWORLD
sent out a scouting party who ate lotus - Finally, guided by Circe’s instructions,
fruits with the natives. Odysseus and his crew crossed the
- This caused them to fall sleep and stop ocean and reached a harbor at the
caring about ever going home. western edge of the world, where
- Odysseus went after the scouting party Odysseus sacrificed to the dead and
and dragged them back against their summoned the spirit of the old prophet
will to the ship and set sail. Tiresias to advise him of how to appease
4. TO ISLAND OF POLYPHEMUS… the gods upon his return home.
- Polyphemus catches Odysseus and his - He saw the multitude of souls including
men, and devours two of them each Achilles’, Ajax, etc., killed in the Trojan
day. War.
- Odysseus tricks Polyphemus by giving 9. TO THE LAND OF THE SIRENS…
him intoxicating wine and then blinds him - Odysseus escaped the Sirens by having
with a wooden stake. all his sailors plug their ears with beeswax
- After this episode, Odysseus is haunted and tie him to the mast.
by the wrath of Poseidon, who then - He was curious as to what the Sirens
curses Odysseus to wander the sea for sounded like. When he heard their
ten years, during which he would lose all beautiful song, he ordered the sailors to
his crew and return home through the untie him but they ignored him.
aid of others. - When they had passed out of earshot,
5. TO ISLAND OF AIOLIA Odysseus stopped thrashing about and
- Aeolus gave them hospitality for a month calmed down, and was released.
and provided for a west wind to carry 10. TO SCYLLA & 11. CHARYBDIS…
them home. - Odysseus was given advice by Circe to
- Aeolus gave Odysseus a leather bag sail closer to the six-headed monster
containing all the winds, except the west Scylla, for the whirlpool Charybdis could
wind, a gift that should have ensured a drown his while ship.
safe return home. - Odysseus successfully navigates his ship
- However, the sailors foolishly opened the past Scylla and Charybdis, but Scylla
bag while Odysseus slept, thinking that in manages to catch six of his men,
contained gold. All of the winds flew out devouring them alive.
MIDTERM PERIOD
12. TO THE ISLAND OF THRINACIA… - Penelope tested Odysseus by asking
about their bed.
- Finally, Odysseus and his surviving crew
- Odysseus was reunited with Penelope.
landed on an island, Thrinacia, sacred to
- The relatives of the suitors want to
Helios, where he kept sacred cattle.
avenge but Athena intervenes.
- Through Odysseus warned his men not to
- Peace was restored and the odyssey has
(as Tiresias had told him), they killed and
ended.
ate some of the cattle.
- As guardians of the island, Helios’s
daughters told their father. Helios
destroyed the ship and all the men
excepts Odysseus.
13. TO THE ISLAND OF OGYGIA…
- Odysseus was washed ashore on
Ogygia, where the nymph Kalypso
(Calypso) lived.
- She made him her lover for seven years
and would not let him leave, promising
him immortality if he stayed.
- On pleadings of Athena, Zeus intervened
and sent Hermes to tell Calypso to let
Odysseus go.
14. …TO THE LAND OF THE PHAECIANS…
- Odysseus left Ogygia on a small raft
furnished with provisions of water, wine
and food by Calypso, only to be hit by a
storm and washed up on the island of
Scheria.
- He was found by Nausicaa, daughter of
King Alcinous and Queen Arete of the
Pheacians.
- They escorted him to Ithaca. On the
twentieth day of sailing, he arrived at his
home in Ithaca.
15. BACK TO ITHACA
- 10 years after he left Troy, Odysseus
arrives home in Ithaca.
- He disguised as a beggar and planned
to rid of the suitors.
- Euracleia, his old maid, spots his old scar
and was advised to remain silent.
THE CONTEST
- With Athena’s help, Odysseus and

Telemachus met near the piggery.
- They set a plan to rid the suitors.
- Penelope’s scheme (to finish the shawl
embroidery for Laertes) was discovered
by Antinous, leader of the suitors.
- Penelope asked for a contest among the
suitors and whoever wins will become her
husband.
THE MURDER IN THE HALL
- With the help of Athena, Telemachus

removed all weapons of the suitors.
- He stacked weapons for Odysseus and
armed himself.
- All suitors were killed except a poet who
pleaded in the name of Apollo.
ODYSSEY HAS ENDED…

MIDTERM PERIOD
LESSON 2: ROMAN MYTHOLOGY - Greek Mythology: Ares
- According to Ovid, Mars was son of Juno
The Capitoline Triad (Credit: CC by 3.0, Sailko)
alone, as his mother sought to restore
balance after Jupiter usurped her role as
mother by giving birth to Minerva from his
head. Famously god of war, Mars was
also guardian of agriculture and the
embodiment of virility and aggression.
APOLLO
- Greek Mythology: Apollo

- The Archer. Son of Jupiter and Latona,
twin of Diana. Apollo was god of music,
healing, light and truth. Apollo is one of
The three main Roman gods, known as the only a few Roman gods who kept the
Capitoline Triad, are Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. same name as his Greek counterpart.
JUPITER DIANA
- Greek Mythology: Zeus - Greek Mythology: Artemis

- Supreme King of the gods. God of the sky - Daughter of Jupiter and Latona and twin
and thunder, and patron god of Rome. of Apollo. Diana was goddess of the
hunt, the moon and birth. To some Diana
JUNO
was also considered to be goddess of
- Greek Mythology: Hera lower classes, especially slaves, for whom
- Queen of the gods. Saturn’s daughter her festival on the Ides of August in Rome
Juno was the wife and sister of Jupiter, and Aricia was also a holiday.
and sister of Neptune and Pluto. She was
VULCAN
the mother of Juventas, Mars and
Vulcan. - Greek Mythology: Hephaestus
- God of fire, volcanoes, metal work and
MINERVA
the forge; maker of the weapons of the
- Greek Mythology: Athena gods. In some mythology Vulcan is said
- Goddess of wisdom, arts, trade and to have been banished from the
strategy. Minerva was born of the head heavens as a child because of a physical
of Jupiter after he swallowed her mother defect. Hidden in the base of a volcano
Metis, having been told that the child he he learnt his trade.
had impregnated her with could be
VESTA
more powerful than he.
- Greek Mythology: Hestia
NEPTUNE
- Goddess of hearth, home and domestic
- Greek Mythology: Poseidon life. Vesta was a daughter of Saturn and
- Brother of Jupiter, Pluto and Juno, Ops and sister to Jupiter, Juno, Neptune
Neptune was god of freshwater and the and Pluto. She was enshrined in the
sea, along with earthquakes, hurricanes sacred and perpetually burning fire of
and horses. Neptune is often depicted as the Vestal Virgins (all female and Rome’s
an older man with a trident, sometimes only full-time priesthood).
being pulled across the sea in a horse
MERCURY
drawn chariot.
- Greek Mythology: Hermes
VENUS
- Son of Maia and Jupiter; god of profit,
- Greek Mythology: Aphrodite trade, eloquence, communication,
- Mother of the Roman people, Venus was travel, trickery and thieves. Mercury was
the goddess of love, beauty, fertility, sex, a roman psychopomp, tasked with
desire and prosperity, equal to her Greek guiding the souls of the dead to the
counterpart Aphrodite. She was also, underworld.
however, goddess of victory and even
CERES
prostitution, and patron of wine.
- Greek Mythology: Demeter
*Fresco of Venus and Mars from which the
- The Eternal Mother. Ceres is the daughter
House of Venus and Mars in Pompeii takes its
of Saturn and Ops. She was goddess of
name
agriculture, grain, women, motherhood
MARS and marriage; and the lawgiver.
MIDTERM PERIOD
MIDTERM PERIOD
LESSON 3: THE AENEID 1. Epodes – a poem of great similarity with
Greek verses.
INTRODUCTION TO ROMAN LITERATURE
2. Epistles – a compilation of letters
- Roman Literature is written in Latin published in two volumes.
language, the lingua franca of the 3. Ars Poetica – is a poem written in which
Roman Empire and the world until the he advises poets on the art of writing
Middle Ages. poetry and drama.
- Latin literature drew heavily on the 4. Odes – his classical masterpiece.
traditions of other cultures, particularly
THE ROMAN LITERARY GIANTS – VIRGIL
the more matured literary traditions of
Greece. - Publius Vergilius Maro (also known as
- Catullus pioneered the naturalization of Virgil or Vergil)
Greek lyric verse forms into Latin. - Lived October 15, 70 BCE – September
- The Hellenizing tendencies of Golden 21, 19 BCE
Age Latin reached their apex in the epic - The Greatest of Classical Roman poets
poetry of Virgil, the odes and satires of
The Author – Virgil
Horace and the elegiac couplets of
Ovid. - Best known for his three major works:
- Formal Latin literature began in 240 BC. 1. The Eclogues (or Bucolics)
- Livius Andronicus translated Homer’s 2. The Georgics
Green epic The Odyssey into an old type 3. The Aeneid – his masterpiece
of Latin verse called Saturnian. - Several minor poems are also attributed
- Gnaeus Naevius was the first Latin poet to him.
to write on a Roman theme. - He was born in the village of Andes, near
- He composed an epic poem about the Mantua.
first Punic War, in which he had fought. - He worked on the Aeneid during the last
- Naevius’s dramas were mainly ten years of his life.
reworkings of Greek originals, but he also - He caught a fever and died in Brundisium
created tragedies based on Roman harbor on September 21st, 19 BCE.
myths and history. - Augustus Caesar ordered the
publication of Aeneid despite his wish to
THE ROMAN LITERARY GIANTS – OVID
have it burned.
- Publius Ovidius Naso or Ovid was one of
THE AENEID AND ITS BACKGROUND
the greatest Roman poets.
- He wrote about love, seduction and - Aeneid was written to uplift the Romans’
mythological transformation. faith in the “Greatness of Rome”.
- He is considered a master of the elegiac - Augustus Caesar made the epic as an
couplet. awareness campaign to institute a new
- Metamorphoses is his masterpiece and is era of prosperity and peace, specifically
considered to have decisively through the re-introduction of traditional
influenced European art and literature, Roman moral values.
including Chaucer, Dante, Shakespeare - It depicts the heroic Aeneas as a man
and Milton. devoted and loyal to his country and its
prominence, rather than personal gains,
The Roman Literary Giants – Ovid’s Other Works
and going off on a journey for the
1. Heroines – a collection of 21 letters of betterment of Rome.
heroines to their partners. - It attempted to legitimize the rule of
2. Amores – is a three-book collection of Julius Caesar as part of the prophecy
love poems. given to Aeneas in the Underworld.
3. Ars Amatoria – a didactic elegiac poem - He renamed Aeneas’ son, Ascanius
in three books which sets out to teach (called Ilus from Ilium, meaning Troy), to
the arts of seduction and love. Iulus and offering him as an ancestor of
the gens Julia, the family of Julius Caesar.
THE ROMAN LITERARY GIANTS – HORACE
- Rome was founded in 753 B.C. by one of
- Quintus Horatius Flaccus or Horace was Aeneas’s descendants, Romulus, who,
one of the greatest Roman poets. with his twin brother, Remus, was a son of
- Studied in Athens and became a soldier. Mars, the god of war, and the Vestal
- His works would deeply influence later Virgin Rhea Silvia.
writers including Ben Jonson, Alexander
Pope, W.H. Auden, Robert Frost, and
many others. THE AENEID AND ITS WRITING STYLE
The Roman Literary Giants – Horace’s Works - The Aeneid has 12 books.
MIDTERM PERIOD
- First 6 books – patterned after Odyssey. THE MAIN CHARACTERS OF AENEID – DEITIES
- Second books – patterned after Iliad
1. Juno – (Hera in Greek) the queen of the
- The Aeneid is written in dactylic
gods, the wife and sister of Jupiter.
hexameter or more commonly known as
2. Venus – (Aphrodite in Greek) the
“heroic hexameter”
goddess of love and the mother of
- “Dactyl” in Greek means finger, which
Aeneas.
has one long and two short nodes
3. Jupiter – (also known as Jove, and Zeus
(syllables)
in Greek) the king of the gods, and the
- “Hexameter” is a poetic line with six feet.
son of Saturn.
- As with other classical Latin poetry, the
4. Neptune – (Poseidon in Greek) god of
meter is based on the length of syllables
the sea is generally an ally of Venus and
rather than the stress, though the
Aeneas.
interplay of meter and stress is also
5. Mercury – (Hermes in Greek) the
important.
messenger god. The other gods often
- Virgil also incorporated such poetic
send Mercury on errands.
devices as alliteration, onomatopoeia,
6. Aeolus – the god of the winds.
synecdoche, and assonance.
7. Cupid – (Eros in Greek) a son of Venus
THE MAIN CHARACTERS OF AENEID – MORTALS and the god of erotic desire.
8. Allecto – one of the Furies, or deities who
1. Aeneas – the protagonist of the Aeneid.
avenge sins, sent by Juno to incite the
Aeneas is a survivor of the siege of Troy.
Latin people to war against the Trojans.
2. Dido – the queen of Carthage, a city in
9. Vulcan – (Hephaestus in Greek) god of
northern Africa, in what is now Libya, and
fire and the forge, and husband of
lover of Aeneas.
Venus.
3. Turnus – the ruler of the Rutulians in Italy
10. Tiberinus – the river god associated with
and Aeneas’s major antagonist among
the Tiber River, where Rome will
mortals.
eventually be built.
4. Ascanius – (also called Iulus). Aeneas’s
11. Saturn – (Cronus in Greek) the father of
young son by his first wife, Creusa.
the gods. Saturn was king of Olympus
5. Anchises – Aeneas’s father and a symbol
until his son Jupiter overthrew him.
of Aeneas’s Trohan heritage.
12. Minerva – (Athena in Greek mythology)
6. Creusa – Aeneas’s wife at Troy, and the
the goddess who protects the Greeks
mother of Ascanius.
during the Trojan War and helps them
7. Sinon – the young Greek spy who
conquer Troy.
pretends to have been left behind at the
13. Apollo – a son of Jupiter. God of truth,
end of the Trojan War.
prophecy, and archery.
8. Latinus – the king of the Latins, the
14. Diana – (Artemis in Greek) Apollo’s twin
people of what is now central Italy,
sister, goddess of hunting, the moon and
around the Tiber River.
youth.
9. Lavinia – Latinus’s daughter and a
15. Penates – the Trojan and Roman
symbol of Latium in general.
household gods or gods of the state.
10. Amata – Queen of Laurentum (a region
16. Lares – a small ancestral gods brought by
of Latium, in Italy) and wife of Latinus.
Anchises from Troy.
11. Evander – King of Pallanteum (a region of
17. Iris – the messenger goddess of Jupiter.
Arcadia, in Italy) and father of Pallas.
18. Mars – (Ares in Greek) the god of war.
12. Pallas – son of Evander, whom Evander
entrusts to Aeneas’s care and tutelage. THE AENEID
13. Drancës – a Latin leader who desires an
“Find your place under the sun…”
end to the Trojan-Latin struggle.
14. Camilla – the leader of the Volscians, a The Aeneid – Book 1
race of warrior maidens.
15. Juturna – Turnus’s sister. - Aeneas, a prince of Troy is struggling to
16. Achates – a Trojan and a personal friend find his ancestral homeland, but Juno
of Aeneas. opposes him.
17. Ulysses – (Latin name of Odysseus) the - Juno arranges for a storm to drive him
hero of Homer’s Odyssey toward North Africa and Carthage.
18. Achilles – the greatest of the Greek - Dido, founder and queen of Carthage
warriors. welcomes Aeneas and his companions.
19. Hector – the greatest of the Trojan - Jupiter assures Venus that her son
warriors, killed at Troy. Aeneas will prevail and found the Latin
20. Andromachë – Hector’s wife, who race in Italy. Venus sends Cupid to
survives the siege of Troy. poison Dido with love for Aeneas, so she
will not harm him.
MIDTERM PERIOD
The Aeneid – Book 2 - Aeneas finally arrives in Latium,
welcomed by King Latinus.
- Dido is gracious to Aeneas and his
- Turnus, King of the Rutulians, wants to
companions and interested in the story
marry Lavinia.
of the fall of Troy.
- Juno sends Allecto from the underworld
- Aeneas tells her how the Greeks created
and urges her to stir poisonous rage into
the deception of the Trojan Horse.
Amata, Lavinia’s mother and into Turnus,
- Aeneas relates the final battle, and his
Lavinia’s suitor.
furious fighting until his mother Venus
- Ascanius (Iulus) shoot a per deer
instructed him to leave Troy with his
belonging to Sylvia, a local peasant girl.
father (Anchises), son (Ascanius) and the
household gods of his family and of Troy. The Aeneid – Book 8
- While fleeing Troy, Creusa, Aeneas’ wife
- Aeneas travels to the king of the
was parted from them and killed.
Arcadians, Evander, seeking alliance.
The Aeneid – Book 3 - Evander welcomes him, introduces him
to the ancient rural piety of the region,
- Aeneas narrates their journey to establish
and offers Aeneas troops led by his own
new Troy.
son Pallas.
- First they went to Thrace, and met the
- Venus persuades her husband Vulcan to
soul of Polydorus.
make new armor for Aeneas.
- They went to Delos Island and learned a
- The shield portrays critical moments
prophecy.
when Rome was saved. At the center of
- They went to Crete, then to Strophades,
the shield is the Battle of Actium.
then to Actium, followed by Buthrotum,
to the Underworld, the Cyclop’s Island, The Aeneid – Book 9
and how they were swept to Carthage
- The battle goes on at Trojan Camp.
by a storm concocted by Juno.
- Nisus and Euryalus, foray into the sleeping
The Aeneid – Book 4 enemy camp and slaughter many
before being killed themselves.
- Incited by Cupid, Dido fell madly in love
- Ascanius gets his first real taste of battle
with Aeneas.
and kills his first man, Numanus.
- The two became attached and enjoy
- Turnus gets into the Trojan stockade and
each other’s company.
rages furiously, slaughtering men.
- Jupiter sends Hermes to chide Aeneas of
- Trojans pursued him and he escaped.
his duty and abides.
- Dido prevents Aeneas but eventually The Aeneid – Book 10
gives in.
- Jupiter wants peace, but Juno and
- She watches Aeneas sail away and kills
Venus are still bickering.
herself by jumping on a funeral pyre.
- Finally, Aeneas returns with numerous
The Aeneid – Book 5 allies.
- Turnus and Aeneas both rage in battle.
- Aeneas goes back to Sicily where he
- Pallas fights bravely, but is finally killed by
arranges Memorial Games for Anchises.
Turnus.
- Aeneas displays his skills as a leader,
- Turnus fate is sealed when he stripped
carrying out rituals, presiding at the
Pallas his belt and wore it.
games, encouraging his men, restraining
anger, preventing injuries. The Aeneid – Book 11
- Juno sends her messenger, Iris, to inflame
- Aeneas learns that Pallas has died, and
the Trojan women with fury, encouraging
he prepares to send him back to his
them to burn the Trojan ships so they will
father for his funeral.
not have to travel any further.
- Both sides bury their dead.
The Aeneid – Book 6 - King Latinus wants to make peace and
share his land and rule with the Trojans.
- The Cumaean Sibyl leads Aeneas into
- Turnus is in favor of continuing the war,
the underworld.
which resumes.
- Aeneas meets the shade of Dido and her
- Camilla, a woman warrior ally of Turnus,
husband.
enters the fray, fights bravely, and is killed
- He met his father Anchises in Elysium.
by Arruns.
- He met his future descendants over
twelve centuries, culminating in Augustus The Aeneid – Book 12
Caesar.
- Turnus challenges Aeneas to a duel that
The Aeneid – Book 7 will settle the war.
MIDTERM PERIOD
- Juturna, Turnus’ sister helps him fight
Aeneas.
- Queen Amata hangs herself.
- Turnus tells his sister to stop interfering,
because fate has won, and he wants to
fight Aeneas honorably before he dies.
- Turnus and Aeneas begin to duel, and
Jupiter holds up his scales to confirm their
fates.
- Turnus’ sword breaks; he panics and runs
away, Aeneas pursuing. However, gods
are still interfering.
- Aeneas throws his spear, wounding
Turnus.
- Turnus begs for his life, but Aeneas sees
the belt of dead Pallas on Turnus and,
enraged, kills Turnus.
- Aeneas and Lavinia were married.
MIDTERM PERIOD
LESSON 4: BEOWULF ✓ “Hell’s captives”
Type of Work: Poem Caesura – In Old English poetry, it is a pause

in a line that exists where a person would
Genre: Alliterative verse, Elegy
naturally pause while speaking. It can be at the
Date of First Publication: Around 1000 AD beginning of a line (initial), in the middle of the
line (medial) or at the end of the line (terminal).
Narrator: A Christian telling a story of pagan
times So. II The Spear-Danes in days gone by II And the
kings who ruled them had courage and
Language: Anglo-Saxon greatness. II We have heard of those princes’
Time and Place written: Estimated date of heroic campaigns. II
composition ranges between 700 to 1000 AD in Who are the Characters in Beowulf?
England
1. Beowulf – Geatish hero; Strongest and
Point of View: Third Person ablest warrior; Wise and effective ruler;
Tone: The poet is generally enthusiastic about “Perfect Hero”.
Beowulf’s feats, which is often surrounded by 2. King Hrothgar – King of Danes; Static
doom. Character; Wise and Aged Ruler; A
Father Figure.
Setting (Time): The main action of the story is set 3. Grendel – Demon; Ruthless and
around 500 A.D.. Some narratives recount Miserable; Full with resentment and
historical events that happened much earlier. malice.
What are the Literary Devices used in Beowulf? 4. Dragon – the guard of treasures; Ancient
and powerful.
✓ Alliteration 5. Grendel’s Mother – unnamed swamp-
✓ Kennings hag; Full of vengeance in her heart.
✓ Caesura
THE DANES
Anglo-Saxon scops relied on certain poetic
devices to aid their memory and give their The Danes were a North Germanic tribe
poems structure and impact. Three of these inhabiting southern Scandinavia, including the
devices can be found in Beowulf. area now of comprising Denmark proper, and
the Scanian provinces of modern-day southern
Alliteration – the occurrence of the same letter Sweden, during the Nordic Iron Age and the
or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely Viking Age.
connected words.
1. Shield Sheafson – Legendary Danish
➢ “Hrothgar’s men lived happy in his hall.” King; Mythical founder who inaugurates
➢ “Miserable, mighty men tormented” a long line of Danish rulers and embodies
the Danish Tribe’s highest value of
Kenning – a concise compound or figurative
heroism and leadership.
phrase replacing a common noun, especially in
2. Beow – the second king; Son of Shield
Old Germanic, Old Norse and Old English
Sheafson; Father of Halfdane; A gift of
poetry.
God to the people in need of a
Compound Words: leader.
3. Wealtheow – Hrothgar’s wife; Gracious
✓ “Hell-forged”
Queen of Danes.
✓ “Banquet-rich”
4. Unfearth – jealous of Beowulf; Unwilling to
✓ “Ring-giver”
fight Grendel
✓ “Mead-cup”
5. Hrethric – Hrothgar’s eldest son; Stands to
✓ “She-wolf”
inherit the Danish throne, but Hrethric’s
Prepositional Phrases: eldest cousin Hrothulf will prevent him
from doing so.
✓ “Shelter of warriors”
6. Hrothulf – Hrothgar’s nephew; Hrothulf
✓ “Shapes of darkness”
betrays and usurps his cousin, Hrethic,
✓ “Shepherd of evil”
the rightful heir of the Danish throne.
✓ “Tormentor of their days”
✓ “Journey into darkness” THE GEATS
Possessives: In the epic poem Beowulf, there are several

groups of people mentioned, but the Geats
✓ “Ocean’s furrows”
stand above the rest as the most beautiful, the
✓ “God’s bright beacon”
bravest, the boldest, and the most loyal. The
✓ “Heaven’s high arch”
land of the Geats is in southern Sweden.
✓ “Geats’ brave prince”
MIDTERM PERIOD
1. Hygelac – Beowulf’s uncle; King of the Part 6
Geats; Husband of Hygd. Hygelac
- Few knew that Grendel had a mother
heartily welcomes Beowulf back from
and those that did were most likely dead.
Denmark.
The story shifts from Beowulf’s heroic
2. Hygd – Hygelac’s wife; A young,
victory to the great revenge of Grendel’s
intelligent and beautiful queen of the
mother. Grendel’s mother killed
Geats. Hygd is contrasted with Queen
Aeschere, one of the King’s best
Modthryth.
men/personal aid out of revenge and
3. Wiglaf – a young kinsman and retainer of
returns to her swamp soon after. Beowulf
Beowulf who helps him in the fight
and his men grouped for revenge.
against the dragon while other soldier
ran away. Part 7
4. Sigemund – a figure from Norse
Mythology, famous for slaying a dragon. - Beowulf found the swamp where
It foreshadows Beowulf encounter with Grendel’s mother lies waiting for them.
the dragon. He dives down to the swamp to look for
the angry mother of Grendel. After
PLOT SUMMARY seducing Beowulf, Grendel’s mother
charges to Beowulf which started their
Part 1
battle. Beowulf stands victorious by
- The story begins in the kingdom of the cutting down Grendel’s mother by a
Danes on a land called Denmark. It was sword forged by giants.
full of peace and prosperity until the
Part 8
Grendel, the great demon arose. This
caused great fear, death and despair to - The battle is now over. Beowulf cuts off
the Danish people. the head of Grendel’s mother as a
trophy to the Danish King. The people of
Part 2
Dane celebrated with great joy as
- Then a man came from a faraway land. peace was restored in their lands all
A man depicted as a warrior. He was tall, thanks to the heroic acts of Beowulf. He
muscular, confident and handsome. It sails back to the land of the Geats.
was Beowulf. He accepted the plea of
Part 9
the Dane king to defeat the demon,
Grendel, to prove he is an unbeatable - Upon returning to Geats, Beowulf was
warrior. appointed as King and ruled for fifty
years. One day, a thief disturbs a tomb of
Part 3
treasure guarded by a ferocious dragon.
- The Danish king decided to celebrate It launched series of killings to the people
with Beowulf before facing Grendel for of Geats. This was a chance to once
they foreshadow victory, talking about again prove Beowulf’s skills.
Beowulf’s tales of victory from previous
Part 10
journeys. The celebration continues until
Grendel has awakened. - Beowulf is no longer have the young
blood and skills he possessed fifty years
Part 4
ago in Danes. Still, his courage was
- Grendel came to Beowulf to face him. flaming within his heart to defeat the
Beowulf accepted the challenge. They ferocious dragon. Wiglaf companioned
both displayed great strength as Beowulf him to begin the journey and bring back
fought Grendel with bare hands. peace to their lands.
Grendel carrier within him the fear of
Part 11
Beowulf. This caused Grendel to be weak
before Beowulf. - Beowulf and Wiglaf confronted the
dragon in what is considered to be the
Part 5
most difficult and rigorous battle of their
- Beowulf became victorious in his battle lifetime. Beowulf manages to cut deep in
against Grendel. Although Grendel was the skin of the dragon but he was beaten
not yet dead and Beowulf is not yet by the dragon. The venom begins to
finished. He rips Grendel’s arms, held it up spread in his body.
high for all to see. Grendel manages to
Part 12
escape mortally wounded and returns to
his swamp and spends his last moments - Beowulf begun to feel the poison
in the comfort of his mother. crawling to his body. He sits down by the
river with Wiglaf with his dying words—”
MIDTERM PERIOD
You are the last of our family, Wiglaf. All
the others fell when fate decided they
must. Now I must follow them...”. He asks
to remember him as a great warrior.
Major Conflict:
- The poem’s overarching conflict is

between close-knit warrior societies and
the various menaces that threaten their
lands and boundaries.
Themes:
1. The importance of establishing identity.

2. Tensions between the heroic code and
other value systems.
3. The difference between a good warrior
and a good king.
Symbols:
- The Golden Torque
- The
Banquet
FORESHADOWING
- The funeral of Shield Sheafson, with

which the poem opens, foreshadows
Beowulf’s funeral at the end of the
poem.
- The story of Sigemund told by the scop,
or bard, foreshadows Beowulf’s fight with
the dragon.
- The story of King Heremod foreshadows
Beowulf’s eventual ascendancy to
kingship.
- The story of King Heremod foreshadows
Beowulf’s eventual ascendancy to
kingship.
And a young prince must be prudent like that,

giving freely while his father lives so that
afterwards in age when fighting starts steadfast
companions will stand by him and hold the line.
Behavior that’s admired is the path to power
among people everywhere. (Lines 20-25)
MIDTERM PERIOD
LESSON 5: THE CANTERBURY TALES - The Outer Frame Story is about the
pilgrims meeting at the Tabard Inn
GEOFFREY CHAUCER (1343-1400)
preparing for the journey to Canterbury.
- The author - The Inner Frame Story would be all the
- The father of English Literature stories told by the assembled pilgrims
- He was born in London in the early 1340s along their journey to and from
- He came from a merchant family, but Canterbury.
due to his father’s wealth he became a
THE TALES BEGIN
page in the household of Prince Lionel.
- He served in the Hundred Years’ War - It begins with a prologue. The narrator,
both as a soldier and a diplomat. presumable Chaucer himself, meet 29
- He was sent several times on important other pilgrims at the Tabard Inn located
diplomatic missions to France and Italy. in the suburbs of London.
- He held many important positions as a - The host of the Inn, Harry Bailey, set a
government official such as Controller of challenge. Each pilgrim will tell two
Customs, Justice of Peace, Clerk of the stories on the way to Canterbury and two
Works, etc. which mean that he could stories on the return trip. The person who
learn a lot about how things worked in tells the best tale will be treated to a
their country at that time. feast hosted by other pilgrims. Harry is the
- He died on October 25, 1400 and was judge.
buried at the Westminster Abbey.
MEDIEVAL
- It is where Queen Elizabeth I of England,
Isaac Newton, King Henry V, Charles - In the Prologue, Chaucer sketches a
Dickens and other notable people are brief but vivid portrait of each pilgrim,
also buried. creating a lively sense of medieval life
during that time.
THE CANTERBURY
- The description may literally describe an
- The Canterbury Tales documents the article of clothing, but figuratively
various social tensions in the manner of symbolical that implies something about
popular genre of states satire. However, the character.
the narrator refrains from making overt - Chaucer used a lot of satiric statements.
political statements, and what he does Satire is a literary composition in verse or
say is in no way thought to represent prose, in which human folly and vice are
Chaucer’s own sentiments. held up to scorn, derision, or ridicule.
- Estate Satire is a genre of writing from 14th Used to evoke change.
Century, Medieval literary works. The - In the Prologue, Chaucer examines the
three Medieval estates were the Church three segments of Medieval England:
(those who prayed), the Nobility (those 1. Old Feudal Order
who fought) and the Peasantry (those 2. The Merchant Class
who labored). These were the major 3. The Ecclesiastical (Church) Class
social classes of the time and were
THE FEUDAL CLASS
gender specific to men.
- Chaucer presents the world as he sees it. - These are all of the pilgrims associated
- The Canterbury Tales is incomplete. with the feudal class system like Knights,
Chaucer died in 1400, the “General Squire, Yeoman, and Plowman.
Prologue” has only 24 tales completed.
The supposed total tales should be 120. THE MERCHANT CLASS
- It shows the cross section of Medieval - This was the rising middle class of the
society. time; towns and cities were emerging
- It has a frame story of the pilgrimage to and therefore necessitated the need for
Canterbury (80 miles from London) to visit skilled services like Merchants, Man of
the tomb of the martyr Thomas Beckett Law, Guildsmen and Cook.
(killed in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170).
- Pilgrimages to shrines were mass THE ECCLESIASTICAL (CHURCH) CLASS
activities in the Middle Ages, partly - These were all the members of the
because they were as likely to be church. Chaucer is most critical of this
vacations as religious observance. segment of society. This includes Prioress,
- The Canterbury Tales is actually a story Monks, Friars and Pardoners.
about stories, twenty-four different tales
set within the overarching tale of the
pilgrimage.
LITERARY ANALYSIS
Frame Story – a story within a story.
CHARACTERIZATION
MIDTERM PERIOD
1. Direct Characterization 3. Personality or character traits (e.g.,
- It presents direct statements about a charming, confident, dependable,
character, such as Chaucer’s statement arrogant, greedy, etc.)
that the Knight “followed chivalry, 4. How other characters react to the
Truth and Honor..” character.
2. Indirect Characterization 5. Things the character likes.
- It uses actions, thoughts and dialogue to
Indirect Characterization (Inferences)
reveal a character’s personality. By
saying “he was not gaily dressed” for 1. What the character values.
instance, Chaucer suggests that the 2. What the character believes in.
Knight is not vain and perhaps takes the 3. Character’s personality traits or
pilgrimage seriously enough to rush to character flaws.
join it straight from battle. 4. Determining if the author likes a
character and considers them positive
IRONY
or normal.
- Irony is a meaningful contrast between 5. Determining if the author dislikes a
what is said and what it actually character and considers them immoral.
meant.
THE KNIGHT (LINES 43-80)
Example: Saying, “The best Monk” when
Military (Good Guy)
really the monk does not really adhere to
the ideals of a monastic life. - He is an ideal, tried and true, proven in
battle, adherent to chivalry, dress in
PHYSIOGNOMY
modest and far from overdone, A Man of
- It is the use of physical appearance to Action and does what is expected of
suggest attributes of a person’s him.
character or personality.
THE SQUIRE (LINES 81-102)
Example: Think of evil stepmother figures
Military (Good Guy in Training)
in Disney movies. Their harsh, angular
appearance always hint at their malevolent - He appears conscious, having the
motives. qualities of an artist, seems to have a
passionate quality associated with the
THE TYPES OF TALES
youth. His father is a fighter but he is in a
The Canterbury Tales show case the different romantic figure.
views of the world portraying different truths.
THE YEOMAN (LINES 102-121)
ALLEGORY
Middle Class (Good Guy)
- A story with purpose of teaching a moral
- He is the attendant of the esquire.
lesson.
Dressed in green; carries peacock arrows
Characters and events represent abstract and a bow and wears a bracelet to
qualities and ideas. The writer intends a protect his arm; a sword, a shield and a
secondary meaning. dagger. He is a hunter, outdoorsman,
a wood worker.
Characters are often personifications of
abstractions like greed, envy, etc. THE PRIORESS (LINES 122-168)
ROMANCE Clergy (Greed and Pride)
- It is a story focusing on the episodic - She is the “appearance of culture” in

adventures of knights and the masked sarcasm. Cares about animals,
challenges they face. not people. Loves worldly possessions of
God. Perfect table manners ae a vehicle
FABLIAU
to demonstrate the gluttony of a un.
- It deals with the basic human needs of
THE MONK (lines 169-211)
sex, food and money.
Clergy (Greed)
CHARACTERS
- Nearly all about the monks contradicts
Direct Characterization (Explicit Details)
moral values of his position. He defies the
1. What the character looks like. single task of his job—to serve St.
2. How the character acts or behaves. Augustine. He breaks monastic rules
having no guilt. Pervert and selfish.
THE FRIAR (LINES 212-279)

MIDTERM PERIOD
Clergy (Lust and Greed) - Sarcasm—” And certainly he was a good
fellow” followed by perfect example of
- Possesses corruption in the clergy
his dishonesty (thieving). This man was
(bribery), having such charm does not
hardened by the world, a cynic. He is
make one a good person. He have
experienced, but made cruel by it.
manipulative and selfish attitude, a
drinker and womanizer and THE DOCTOR (LINES 421-454)
opportunistic.
Middle Class (Greed)
THE MERCHANT (LINES 280-294)
- Physically healthy but not spiritual, rarely
Middle Class (Misguided Good Guy) reads the Bible; loves money. He
manipulates the facts about profit.
- A well-dressed person (appearance vs.
reality). He tries to come off as THE WIFE OF BATH (LINES 455-486)
prosperous, but really owes money
Middle Class (Pride and Lust)
(fraud). He is Cleverish. They are known
for ingenuity and work ethics. - The “Professional Wife”. Wears fancy
clothes that are bit ridiculous. She had
THE CLERK (LINES 295-311)
been all over (worldly and promiscuous).
Middle Class (Idealized Good Guy) She “knew the remedies of love”.
- A student-nod to the writer; keeper of THE PARSON (LINES 487-538)

books; pure intellectuality. He is formal
Clergy (Ideal and Good Guy)
and extremely respectful—glad to
learn and teach. He is a “starving artist” - An unselfish, charitable, a good
spending all his money to books. example. “If gold rusts, what shall you
do?” He gives money to the poor, lives in
THE LAWYER (LINES 319-341)
poverty but is rich in holy thought and
Middle Class (Envy) deeds.
- He is fond to falsity and posturing. THE PLOWMAN (LINES 539-555)

Pretending is part of human nature—
Working Class (Good Guy)
believes himself to be much more
important than he is. He is also discreet - The parson’s brother and ideal worker;
and cautious. known for being industrious. He lives in
peace and helps out neighbors. He loves
THE FRANKLIN (LINES 341-379)
God and pays his tithes.
Middle Class (Envy and Pride)
THE MILLER (LINES 561-584)
- He always have food and drink ready at
Working Class (Greed, Lust, Wrath)
his house (hospitality, expert in “living
well”). A Parliamentary representative for - A strong, big-mouthed person. Warts are
the country. A Social climber—styles evident all around his face. He is
himself as important; projects himself as uncivilized and interrupts civilized
an image of success. behaviors, disrupts order and eventually
tells his tale out of turn.
THE CRAFTSMEN (LINES 371-388)
THE MANCIPLE (LINES 585-604)
Working Class (Envy)
Working Class (Greed)
- A carpenter, haberdasher, dyer, weaver
and tapestry maker. A dressed more - He is smart though uneducated, gets
mightily than their rank suggests wealth provisions for college or court. Know for
and success. being illiterate but was able to cheat
even the smartest of lawyers.
THE COOK (LINES 389-397)
THE REEVE (LINES 605-640)
Working Class (Gluttony)
Working Class (Lust and Greed)
- Described as perhaps the most qualified
of all the characters. Chaucer’s pursuit to - A steward of manor. He steals from his
elevate the states of the common man. master. Though shrewd, he knows all his
Every man’s work is equally important for master’s secrets plots and rules whom to
society to function. fear. The foil to Miller, a Reeve is small.
THE SHIPMAN (lines 398-520) THE SUMMONER (LINES 641-688)
Middle Class (Greed) Middle Class (Greed and Sloth)
MIDTERM PERIOD
- He brings those accused of breaking the
law to court. He has a scarred face that
children fear of, which reflects his soul. He
is always drunk, irritable and eats smelly
food.
THE PARDONER (LINES 689-734)
Clergy (Greed and Sloth)
- A personification of evil; he sells fake holy

relics. He extorts money by preaching
about sin of greed. A clean-shaved man
but have a unmanly attitude.
CHAUCER’S PROLOGUE
- Chaucer believes that falsity can be

found in most people.
- Chaucer has no problem with
religion himself, but has contempt
for hypocrisy that is found in
religious figures.
- Chaucer has an admiration for
anyone who does a good job.
How are you going to compare Chaucer’s time

to our current social trend?
THE KNIGHT’S
THE MILLER’S TALE
THE WIFE OF BATH’S
THE PARDONER’S
MIDTERM PERIOD
LESSON 6: DON QUIXOTE DE LA MANCHA - The title character soon gets lost in his
own fantasy world, believing he is one of
Knowing the Author…
these knights, and convinces a poor
MIGUEL DE CERVANTES SAAVEDRA (1547-1616) peasant, Sancho Panza, to serve as his
squire.
- Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes - In one scene, the deluded Don Quixote
created one of the world's greatest even fights a windmill, mistaking it for a
literary masterpieces, 'Don Quixote,' in giant. Quixote finally regains his senses
the early 1600s. before the novel ends.
- Born near Madrid in 1547. He became a - In 1612, the first translation of Don
soldier in 1570 and was badly wounded Quixote into a foreign language appears
in the Battle of Lepanto. four years after the death of Cervantes
- Captured by the Turks in 1575, Cervantes and seven years after it was first
spent five years in prison before he was published. Thomas Shelton entitled the
ransomed and returned home. translation, The History of the Valorous
- After less successful earlier efforts, and Wittie Knight Errant, Don Quixote of
Cervantes finally achieved literary the Mancha.
success in his later years, publishing the
first part of Don Quixote in 1605. He died THE CHARACTERS
in 1616.
1. Don Quixote
- His father, Rodrigo, deaf from birth,
- A fifty-year-old hidalgo, the lowest level
worked as a surgeon, a lowly trade at the
of gentry, of La Mancha in rural Spain, he
time, and the family moved around
has long since given up running his
often in Cervantes youth as his father
modest estate and has begun selling off
searched for better prospects.
some of his property in order to buy
- Whatever his family's financial
books.
conditions, Cervantes was an avid
- These books all relate to chivalry, a
reader as a child—a skill he was
subject that is about to drive Quixano
reportedly taught by a relative. There is
over the edge of reason, where he will
still much debate if he undergone formal
take on the name of Don Quixote de la
education.
Mancha. A spavined dray and hack
His life as a Poet and a Soldier… horse, Rosinante, becomes his steed.
2. Sancho Panza
- Cervantes's first known published writing - A local laborer who is enlisted to serve
dates to 1569, when he contributed the newly dubbed knight, lured
some poetry to a memorial collection principally by the promise of his own
after the death of Elizabeth of Valois, the island to govern. His primary means of
wife of Spain's King Philip II. transportation is an ornery mule, Dapple.
- But by the following year, Cervantes had 3. Teresa
put his pen aside and, instead, picked up - Sancho Panza's wife, who runs the
a weapon, joining a Spanish military unit household and cares for the couple's
in Italy. two children while Sancho is off in his
- Known for his bravery, Cervantes took chivalric pursuits with Quixote.
part in the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. 4. Dulcinea El Taboso
Stationed on the ship La Marquesa, he - A young country girl who barely knows
fought against the Ottoman Empire and Don Quixote, she nevertheless becomes
sustained serious injuries in the conflict, the newly dubbed knight's womanly
suffering two chest wounds and the ideal.
complete maiming of his left hand. 5. John Haldudo, the Rich
- In 1575, Cervantes and his brother - The rich man who, in Quixote's first
Rodrigo tried to return to Spain, but they knightly adventure, is castigated by
were captured during their voyage by a Quixote for beating his servant-boy.
group of Turkish ships. Cervantes 6. Andrew
subsequently spent five years as a - A young apprentice whom Quixote
prisoner and an enslaved person, and attempts to help, in the process causing
made several failed attempts to escape more trouble.
during his imprisonment. 7. Antonia
- In 1605, Cervantes published the first part - Quixote's loving niece, who is conflicted
of Don Quixote, a novel that tells the story by her desire to keep her uncle safely at
of an elderly man who becomes so home and her wish for the old gentleman
enamored by the old stories of brave to enjoy himself at his new
knights that he seeks out his own preoccupation.
adventures. 8. Muñaton
MIDTERM PERIOD
- A scholar whom Antonia accuses of escapes from his house again, but
stealing Quixote's library. this time he is accompanied by a
9. Samson Carrasco humble neighbor who acted as his
- A young student from Quixote's village. squire.
He believes that by providing Quixote - The appearance of Sancho Panza
with adventures, he will make the "knight" enriches the possibilities of the novel
tire of chivalric pursuits. Carrasco is a key since Sancho Panza is going to be Don
character; he appears in many guises, Quixote’s confidant, opening the doors
especially as knights-at-arms, and finally to dialogues which is important for their
is the cause of Quixote's return home. journey ahead.
10. The Duke and Duchess - Besides, Sancho Panza and Don Quixote
- A pair of decadents, high-ranking nobles are two opposite characters well-
who become amused by Quixote and matched by their differences. On this
Panza, orchestrating lavish and complex journey, we can read about a lot of
pranks as a source of amusement. They different adventures and how Don
are frequent causes of pain and Quixote was tricked into going home.
humiliation for the pair from La Mancha.
Second Part (1615)
11. Cid Hamet Benegali
- The Arab translator of Don Quixote. - It covers the third and last journey.
Appearing as a satiric character, he is New adventures on the way to
constantly being accused of dishonesty Barcelona. Most of them take place
by Cervantes in authorial asides. in the court of some Dukes that have
12. Cardenio ("The Ragged Knight of the Sorry read the first part of the book. They
Countenance") know Don Quixote and for a bit of
- A young man whose heart is broken entertainment they pretend that
when his lover, Lucinda, marries Don they live in a chivalrous court.
Fernando. He and Dorothea apprehend - At the end of the second part, another
Don Fernando at the inn, late in Book I. character from Don Quixote’s village,
Cardenio ends up with Lucinda in the dressed also as a knight-errant,
end. challenges Don Quixote and wins. This
13. The Priest forces Don Quixote to go back home.
- A scholar who Antonia accuses of There he regains his sanity and dies at
stealing Quixote's library. peace.
PLOT ANALYSIS
Alonzo Quijano (Don Quixote) goes crazy from - Don Quixote is the model of the ideal
reading too many chivalry books. This madness aesthetic and ethical life. He becomes a
makes him to try imitate the adventures which knight-errant so that he can defend
he has read. He leaves his hometown and justice in the world, do good and live the
embark himself in a series of adventures and life as if it was a work of art.
returns defeated. - Don Quixote is a synthesis of life and
literature, a life that has been lived and
First Part (1605)
a life that has been dreamed. It is a
Don Quixote’s First Journey fabulous integration of reality and
fantasy.
- Don Quixote prepares his old, rusty
- Miguel de Cervantes displayed an
weapons which belongs to his great-
extraordinary example of the difficulties
grandfathers. He puts them on and sets
of writing about complex human
out through La Mancha with the hope of
relationships.
doing justice, just as it happened in the
stories he read. THEMES
- He arrives in an Inn in which he believes
Idealism vs Realism
is a castle, where he is knighted in a
ridiculous ceremony. He then seeks - Don Quixote is the ultimate idealist. He
adventures and returns home wounded constructs a moral code built around
and in failure. unrealistic expectations and outdated
beliefs, then he fully immerses himself in a
fantasy world that soon becomes
his reality.
Don Quixote’s Second Journey Honor vs Virtue
- The second journey makes up the - The ideas of honor and virtue go hand
rest of the book. Don Quixote in hand in Don Quixote. The best men
MIDTERM PERIOD
are honorable; the most desirable
women are virtuous. Chivalric romance
stories are the ultimate example of
honor and virtue, which is why Don
Quixote has dedicated himself to the
protection of both.
Love
- Love is a common thread in Don

Quixote, particularly in how it relates to
marriage. In the various stories told
throughout Part 1, love is presented as
immediate and all-encompassing and
as an excuse for bad behavior.
Cervantes blames this perversion
of what it means to be in love on the idea
that chivalric romances were accepted
as fact.
Insanity
- Is Don Quixote actually insane?

Cervantes explores this question
throughout Don Quixote without ever
coming to a formal conclusion. Insanity,
it seems, is in the eye of the beholder.
While most people find Don Quixote's
dedication to knight-errantry a symptom
of madness, Sancho Panza initially takes
it as a matter of fact.
Social Class
- Don Quixote is, among other things, a

commentary on class in 17th-century
Spain. The upper class is depicted as
idle, lazy, and not altogether nice, as
evidenced by the Duke and the
Duchess. They view those socially
beneath them as nothing more than
playthings for their amusement.
MIDTERM PERIOD
LESSON 7: ITALIAN LITERATURE colloquial, and sometimes scurrilous, in keeping
with the themes dealt with in the poetry.
Italian literature, the body of written works
produced in the Italian language that had its The famous Laudes creaturarum o Cantico di
beginnings in the 13th century. Until that time Frate Sole (c. 1225; “Canticle of Brother Sun”), of
nearly all literary work composed in Europe St. Francis of Assisi was one of the earliest
during the Middle Ages was written in Latin. Italian poems. It was written in rhythmical prose
that recalls the verses of the Bible and uses
Literature in Italian developed later than
assonance in place of rhyme.
literature in French and Provençal, the
languages of the north and south of France. Literary vernacular prose began in the 13th
Only small fragments of Italian vernacular century, though Latin continued to be used for
verse before the end of the 12th century have writings on theology, philosophy, law, politics,
been found and surviving 12th- and 13th- and science.
century verse reflects French and Provencal
The literature of 14th-century Italy dominated all
influence.
of Europe for centuries to come and may be
THE INFLUENCE OF FRANCE TO ITALIAN regarded as the starting point of the
LITERATURE Renaissance. Three names stand out: Dante,
Petrarch, and Boccaccio.
French prose and verse romances were
popular in Italy from the 12th to the 14th century. Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)
By the 13th century a “Franco-Venetian”
- Is one of the most important and
literature, for the most part anonymous, had
influential names in all of European
developed. Italians copied French stories, often
literature, but it was only after his exile
adapting and extending various episodes and
from his native Florence at age 37 (1302)
sometimes creating new romances featuring
that he set out to write his more ambitious
characters from the French works.
works.
In the cultured environment of the Sicilian court - Dante’s genius found its fullest
of the Italian-born Holy Roman emperor development in his Commedia (written
Frederick II Hohenstaufen, who ruled the Sicilian c. 1308–21; The Divine Comedy), an
kingdom from 1208 to 1250, lyrics modeled allegorical poem—though after the first
on Provençal forms and themes were written in canto the allegory is only occasionally
a refined version of the local Sicilian vernacular. obtrusive—in terza rima, mini-stanzas of
three lines each, called terzine, rhyming
Sicilian poetry continued to be written after the
aba, bcb, cdc, and so on.
death of Frederick II, but the center of literary
activity moved to Tuscany, where interest in the Francesco Petrarca (1304–74)
Provençal and Sicilian lyric had led to several
- Petrarch’s influence on literature was
imitations by Guittone d’Arezzo and his
enormous and lasting—stretching
followers.
through the Italian humanists of the
Guittone experimented with elaborate verse following century to poets and scholars
forms, according to Dante in the De vulgari throughout western Europe at least until
eloquentia, Guittone’s language mingled the 18th century.
dialect elements with Latinisms and - The literary phenomenon known as
Provençalisms and had none of the beauty of Petrarchism developed rapidly within the
the southern school. poet’s lifetime and continued to grow
during the following three centuries,
While Guittone and his followers were still writing,
deeply influencing the literatures of Italy,
a new development appeared in love poetry,
Spain, France, and England.
marked by a concern for precise and sincere
expression and a new serious treatment of love. Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–75)
It has become customary to speak of this new - The early writings of Boccaccio, almost
school of poets as the dolce stil novo (or nuovo; all of which are available in English
“sweet new style”), an expression used by translation, are purely literary, without
Dante in his Commedia (Purgatorio, Canto any didactic implications.
XXIV, line 27), in a passage where he - The Decameron, a prose collection of
emphasized delicacy of expression suited to the 100 stories recounted by 10 narrators—3
subject of love. men and 7 women—over 10 days, is
Boccaccio’s most mature and important
Poesia giocoso (a realistic, or comic, verse) was
work.
a complete contrast to serious love poetry. The
language was often deliberately unrefined,
MIDTERM PERIOD
LESSON 8: THE DIVINE COMEDY Trench I: Panderers and Seducers
About the Author… Trench II: Flatterers
Born: Mid-May to mid-June, c. 1265 Florence, Trench III: Simoniacs

Republic of Florence
Trench IV: Sorcerers
Died: September 13/14, 1321 (aged about 56)
Trench V: Barrators
Ravenna, Papal States
Trench VI: Hypocrites
Occupation: Statesman, poet, language
theorist, political theorist Trench VII: Theives
Nationality: Italian Trench VIII: Evil Counselors
Period: Late Middle Ages Trench IX: Sowers of Discord
Literary movement: Dolce Stil Novo Trench X: Falsifiers
STRUCTURE OF THE STORY Circle 9: Traitors
The Divine Comedy is composed of 14,233 lines Region 1: Kindred
that are divided into three canticas (Italian
plural cantiche) Region 2: Country
1. Inferno (Hell) Region 3: Guests

2. Purgatori (Purgatory) Region 4: Lords
3. Paradiso (Paradise)
INFERNO
Each consisting of 33 cantos (Italian plural
canti). An initial canto, serving as an - This is a place where the souls of sinners
introduction to the poem and generally would go after they die.
considered to be part of the first cantica, brings Canto I
the total number of cantos to 100.
The Inferno follows the wanderings of the poet
Additionally, the verse scheme used, terza rima, Dante as he strays off the rightful and straight
is hendecasyllabic (lines of eleven syllables), path of moral truth and gets lost in a dark wood.
with the lines composing tercets according to And that, folks, is just the beginning.
the rhyme scheme aba, bcb, cdc, ded, …
At the age of thirty-five, on the night of Good
The physical aspect of Hell is a gigantic funnel Friday in the year 1300, Dante finds himself lost
that leads to the very center of the Earth. in a dark wood and full of fear.
According to the legend used by Dante, this Canto I: The Dark worlds of Error
huge, gigantic hole in the Earth was made
when God threw Satan (Lucifer) and his band Just as three wild animals threaten to attack
of rebels out of Heaven with such force that him, Dante is rescued by the ghost of Virgil, a
they created a giant hole in the Earth. celebrated Roman poet and also Dante’s idol.
Satan was cast all the way to the very center of Canto II: The Descent
the Earth, has remained there since, and will
When asked why he came, Virgil answers that
remain there through all of eternity.
the head honchos of Heaven—the Virgin Mary
Circle 1: Those in Limbo and Santa Lucia—felt sorry for Dante.
Circle 2: The Lustful Virgil asked the deceased love-of-Dante’s-life,

Beatrice, to send someone down to help him.
Circle 3: The Gluttonous Virgil to the rescue! He’s an appropriate guide
Circle 4: The Hoaders because he’s very much like Dante, a fellow
writer and famous poet.
Circle 5: The Wrathful
Canto III: The Opportunists (Gate)
Circle 6: The Heretics
After passing through the vestibule, Dante and
Circle 7: The Violent Virgil reach the ferry that will take them across
Ring 1: Murderers, Robberers and Plunders. the river. Acheron and to Hell proper. The ferry is
piloted by Charon, who does not want to let
Ring 2: Suicides and those harmful to the world. Dante enter, for he is a living being.
Ring 3: Against GOD, Nature and Art. Virgil forces Charon to take him however, the
passage across the Acheron is undescribed,
Circle 8: The Faudelent
MIDTERM PERIOD
since Dante faints and does not awaken until he (presumably for help), but Dante angrily rejects
is on the other side. him.
Canto IV: The Virtuous Pagan (Circle 1 – Limbo) Canto IX-XI: The Wrathful and Sullen (Circle 5 –
The Gate of Dis)
The first circle of Hell (Limbo), considered pre-
Hell, just contains all of the unbaptized and Now at the gates of a city called Dis, Virgil takes
good people born and before the coming of it upon himself to persuade the demon guards
Christ, who obviously couldn’t be saved by him. to let them pass. Unexpectedly, he fails.
Virgil resides here, along with a bunch of other The walls of Dis are guarded by fallen angels.
Greek and Roman poets.
This means that instead of continuing on with
Dante encounters the poets Homer, Horace, the journey, Dante and Virgil must wait for an
Ovid, and Lucan, who include him in their angel to come down and force open the gates
number and make him “sixth in that high for them.
company”.
Canto IX-XI: The Heretics (Circle 6)
Canto V: The Lustful (Circle 2)
After passing the city of Dis, our dynamics duo,
Dante and Virgil leave Limbo and enter the enters the sixth circle, where the Heretics lay in
Second Circle—the fight of the circles of fiery tombs.
Incontinence – where the punishments of Hell
Dante talks to Farinata degli Uberti, who
proper begin. It is described as “a part where no
predicts that Dante will have difficulty returning
things gleam.” They find their way hindered by
to Florence from exile.
the serpentine Minos.
Canto XII: The Violent against Neighbors (Circle
Who judges all of those condemned for active,
7)
deliberately willed sin to one of the lower circles.
This circle houses the violent. Its entry is guarded
He sentences each soul to its torment by
by Minotaur.
wrapping his tail around himself a
corresponding number of times. Divided into 3 rings:
In the second circle, lustful sinners are tossed 1. Outer ring – violent against their
around by endless storms. neighbors
2. Middle ring – violent against themselves
Dante speaks to the soul of Francesca da Rimini,
3. Inner ring – violent against GOD
a woman who was stuck in a loveless, arranged
marriage and committed adultery when she fell As they cross from the sixth to the seventh circle,
in love with a dashing youth named Paolo. where the Violent are punished, Virgil finally
begins explaining the layout of Hell.
Canto VI: The Gluttonous (Circle 3)
Canto XII: The Violent against Neighbors (Circle
Cerberus – the monstrous three-headed beast
7 – Outer Ring)
of Hell, ravenously guards the gluttons lying in
the freezing mire, mauling and flaying them with Outer ring – housing the violent against people
his claws as they howl like dogs. and property, who are immersed in Phlegethon
– a river of boiling blood, to a level
Dante then awakes in the third circle, where the
commensurate with their sins.
Gluttonous sinners suffer under a cold and filthy
rain. Canto XIII: The Violent against themselves
(Circle 7 – Middle Ring)
Canto VII: The Avaricious and Prodigal (Circle 4
– Guarded by Plutus) Middle ring – in this ring are the suicides, who are
transformed into gnarled thorny bushes and
Virgil leads Dante on to the fourth circle, where
trees.
the Avaricious (greedy people) and Prodigal
(reckless spenders) roll heavy weights in endless *The trees are a metaphor; In life the only way
circles. of the relief of suffering was through pain
(suicide).
Canto VIII: The Wrathful and Sullen (Circle 5 –
The River Styx) Canto XIV-XVII: The Violent against GOD,
Nature and Art (Circle 7 – Inner Ring)
The next stop on the tour is the fifth circle, where
the Wrathful and Sullen are immersed in the Inner ring – all reside in a desert of flaming sand
muddy river Styx. with fiery flakes raining from the sky.
While they are crossing the Styx, a sinner named Violent against:
Filipino Argenti reaches out to Dante
• GOD – blasphemers
MIDTERM PERIOD
• Nature – Sodomites Panderers and Seducers walk in separate lines
• Art – Userers in opposite direction, whipped by demons.
Canto XVIII: The Fraudulent (Circle 8) Flatterers are steeped in human excrement.
Finally, Dante and Virgil ready themselves to Canto XIX-XX: The Fraudulent (Circle 8) Trench
cross to the eighth circle. Dante, at Virgil’s III: Simoniacs; Trench IV: Sorcerers
command, summons the beast Geryon from
Simoniacs – those who commited simony are
the depths with a cord wrapped around his
place head first in holes in the rock, with flames
waist.
burning on the soles of their feet.
*Geryon, symbol of deceit.
Sorcerers and false prophets – they have their
Virgil stays to talk with the beast while urging heads twisted around on their bodies
Dante to look at the last of the Violent sinners. backward, so they can only see what is behind
When Dante comes back, they mount Geryon them and not in the future.
and ride the beast during the descent into the
Canto XXI-XXIII: The Fraudulent (Circle 8)
eighth circle.
Trench VI: Hypocrites; Trench VII: Thieves
The eighth circle contains ten pouches, each
Corrupt politicians (barrators) are immersed in a
containing different types of sinners.
lake of boiling pitch, guarded by devils, the
DANTE’S INFERNO Malebranche.
Circle 1: Those in Limbo Hypocrites listlessly walking along wearing gold-

gilded lead cloaks.
Circle 2: The Lustful
Canto XXIV-XXVII: The Fraudulent (Circle 8)
Circle 3: The Gluttonous
Trench VII: Thieves; Trench VIII: Evil Counselors
Circle 4: The Hoaders
Thieves are bitten by snakes. Snakes’ bites make
Circle 5: The Wrathful them undergo various transformations and
some resurrected after being turned to ashes.
Circle 6: The Heretics
Evil counselors are encased in individual flames.
Circle 7: The Violent
Canto XXVII-XXXI: The Fraudulent (Circle 8)
Ring 1: Murderers, Robberers and Plunders. Trench IX: Sowers of Discord; Trench X: Falsifiers
Ring 2: Suicides and those harmful to the world. A sword-weildded devil hacks at the sowers of
Ring 3: Against GOD, Nature and Art. discord. As their wounds heal, the devil will tear
their bodies again.
Circle 8: The Faudelent
Groups of various sort of falsifiers are afflicted
Trench I: Panderers and Seducers with different types of diseases.
Trench II: Flatterers Canto XXVII-XXXI: The Fraudulent (Circle 8)
Trench III: Simoniacs As they leave, Virgil points out the sinning giants
Trench IV: Sorcerers who are immobilized around them in
punishment.
Trench V: Barrators
Nimrod—who was responsible for building the
Trench VI: Hypocrites Tower of Babel—has lost the ability to speak
coherently. His words are gibberish.
Trench VII: Theives
Virgil requests that one of the unbound giants,
Trench VIII: Evil Counselors
Antaneus, transport them in the palm of his
Trench IX: Sowers of Discord hand down to the last circle of Hell. He
complies.
Trench X: Falsifiers
Canto XXXIII: The Traitors (Circle 9)
Circle 9: Traitors
The ninth circle of Hell, where traitors are
Region 1: Kindred
punished, contains four different zones.
Region 2: Country
Traitors, distinguished from the “merely”
Region 3: Guests fraudulent in that their acts involve betraying
one in a special relationship to the betrayer, are
Region 4: Lords
frozen in a lake of ice known as Cocytus.
Canto XVIII: The Fraudulent (Circle 8) Trench I:
The Four Concentric Zones of 9th Circle
Panderers and Seducers; Trench II: Flatterers
MIDTERM PERIOD
LATE-REPENTANT
PROUD
ENVIOUS
Region 3: Region 4: WRATHFUL

Region 2: Ptolomæa Judecca
Region 1:
Antenora Is probably Is named for
Caïna
Is named for named for Judas the SLOTHFUL
Named for
Antenor of Ptolemy, the Iscariot,
Cain, is home
Troy, who captain of Biblical
to traitors to
their
betrayed his Jericho. He betrayer of AVARICIOUS
city to the killed Simon Christ, is for
kindered.
Greeks. Maccabaeus traitor to their
and his sons. Lords. GLUTTONOUS
LUSTFUL
Ante-Purgatory (Late-Repentant)
- This is the level where the late-repentants

stay.
Region 1: Caïna
- These sinners stay in purgatory until the
- The souls here are immersed in the ice up prayers of their loved ones shorten their
to their necks. stay there.
Region 2: Antenora First Terrace (Proud)
- The souls here are immersed the same - Those who are proud are being punished
level as those in Caïna, except they are in this level.
unable to bend their necks. - The proud are purged by carrying giant
stones on their backs, unable to stand up
Region 3: Ptolomæa straight.
- Where traitors against their guests suffer, Second Terrace (Envious)
immobilized in ice and their tears frozen
against their eyes. - Those who are envious are being
punished in this level.
Region 4: Judecca - The envious are purged by having their
- In the fourth the final zone, Judecca, eyes sewn shut and wearing clothing
where traitors against their benefactors that makes the soul indistinguishable
are punished, Dante witnesses the king of from the ground.
Hell, the three-headed Lucifer, giant and Third Terrace (Wrathful)
frozen at the core. In his three mouths,
Lucifer mechanically chews on the most - Those who are wrathful are being
evil mortal sinners—Judas, Brutus, and punished in this level.
Cassius. - The wrathful are purged by walking
around in acrid smoke.
PURGATORY
Fourth Terrace (Slothful)
- This is the place where the souls of sinners,
who still have the chance to redeem - Those who are slothful are being
themselves, would go after they die. punished in this level.
- The slothful are purged by continually
Having survived the depths of Hell, Dante and running.
Virgil ascend out of the undergloom, to the
Mountain of Purgatory on the far side of the Fifth Terrace (Avaricious)
world.
- Those who sinned on the fifth through
Beatrice, Dante’s ideal woman, guides him seventh terraces are those who loved
through PURGATORY. Beatrice was a Florentine good things but loving them in a
woman whom he had met in childhood and disordered way.
admired from afar in the mode of the then- - Those who are avaricious and prodigal
fashionable courtly love tradition which is are being punished in this level.
highlighted in Dante’s earlier work La Vita - The avaricious and prodigal are purged
Nuova. by lying face-down on the ground,
unable to move.
THE TERRACES OF PURGATORIO
Sixth Terrace (Gluttonous)
MIDTERM PERIOD
- Those who are gluttonous are being
punished in this level.
- The gluttonous are purged by abstaining
from any food or drink.
Seventh Terrace (Lustful)
- Those who are lustful are being punished

in this level.
- The lustful are purged by burning in an
immense wall of flame.
AN ILLUSTRATION OF PURGATORIO
Moon
- The sphere is that of faith, the content of

faith, taken on trust that will be revealed,
realized, self-evidently as “truth”.
PARADISO
- The spirits in the moon is also associated
- Is the third and final Journey of Dante, in our culture with woman, with the
following the Inferno and the Purgatorio. virginity and chastity of Diana.
It is an allegory telling of Dante’s journey - Spirits are those who failed in the aspect
through Heaven, guided by Beatrice, of faith by breaking their vows.
who symbolizes theology.
Mercury
Dante, under the guidance of Beatrice,
- Justinian and the hope of the Roman
completes his journey to the afterlife by leaving
Empire.
the earth and rising through the ten celestial
- Refers to the justice of the sin of the Fall
heavens of the ancient cosmos. Paradiso
of Man.
narrates how Dante and Beatrice encounter
- Mercury is filled with spirits who hoped for
blessed spirits in the seven planetary spheres.
earthly fame and honor, so they
In describing the heavens, Dante is going impaired the force of their spiritual hope.
beyond previous poets, driven by intellect - The spirits are satisfied because reward is
(Minerva), steered by divine creativity (Apollo), matched with merit and they are free of
and guided by poetic inspiration (The Muses). envy.
Venus
- Still in the heaven of Venus, Dante speaks

first with Cunizza, the mistress of the
troubadour poet, Sordello, and sister of
the tyrant, Ezzelino da Romano, and
secondly with Foulquet of Marseilles, a
troubadour poet, renowned as much for
his amours as for his poetry. The discourse
of both souls is concerned with affairs on
The System of Dante’s Paradise earth, Cunizza foretelling the disasters
which will befall the inhabitants of the
Trevisan territory, and Foulquet deploring
the avarice of the Church and her
neglect of true religion. Both spirits rejoice
MIDTERM PERIOD
in the degree of bliss to which God has The Primum Mobile/ Crystalline
destined them; the love in which they
erred in their first life is now discerned by
them as the power by which the universe
in governed.
The Angelic Circles
Sun There is a spiritual
rather than a spatial Concentric Sphere
Concentric Angelic
Orders Centered on
correspondence Centered on Earth.
God.
between the two
- The spirits are manifested who arrangements.
reconciled spiritual and earthly wisdom;

pagan and Christian learning and
history, and directed the virtuous
Christian life on Earth.
Mars The Empyrean
- Signifies the virtue of Fortitude. - Here, Dante had seen the redeemed
- The red planet carries traditional spirits and the angels in their form of the
associations of blood and war in myth Last Judgment.
and astrology; but in here, it represents - The Emyprean is the full Light of Truth
the associations of the Church Militant which is filled with Divine Love. That love
and of the Crucifixion. is full of transcendent joy coming from
- The spirits are those of the warriors of the Supreme God, the essence of Love.
God; those who fought for the Chosen - The Angels fly among the redeemed, in
People of the old law (Old Testament), the form of a white rose, and God.
and of Christ’s Church in the new (New Angels’ faces are flame, their wings
Testament). golden and the rest, white: the three
colors that symbolize Love, Knowledge
Jupiter and Purity.
- It is associated with Justice and Wisdom,
with Jupiter the Roman God, and
therefore with the Roman Emperors, and
with the Christian God.
- The head and neck of an Eagle:
1. The emblem of Rome
2. The divine sign of Empire and Justice
- The mind of God inspires the earthly
forms, the nests where intellect builds
and creates justice.
Saturn
- The contemplative spiritual life of an

individual and the fourth cardinal virtue
of Temperance.
- Is also a reminder of the Golden Age
when in myth, Saturn ruled the Earth; a
time of simplicity, moderation and primal
innocence.
Fixed Stars
- Love, in all its forms, reads to him, is Divine

Love, the good God, Himself. Love is one
continuum, from the divine to the earthly.
All love is one.
Dante will be examined by the Apostles who

stand at the threshold to the Primum Mobile,
concerning his understanding of the
theological virtues:
Saint Saint Saint

Peter James John
- Faith - Hope - Love

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(AEG 500) WORLD LITERATURE

ACHILLES AND THE GODS (BOOK 21)

- Achilles kills Scamander, the god of the

DEATH OF HECTOR (BOOK 22)

- All Trojans hide behind the walls except

FUNERAL OF PATROCLUS (BOOK 23)

- 12 Trojans were sacrificed to be burned

FUNERAL OF HECTOR (BOOK 24)

- Achilles drags Hector’s body around

- With Athena’s help, Odysseus and

THE MURDER IN THE HALL

- With the help of Athena, Telemachus

ODYSSEY HAS ENDED…

- Greek Mythology: Apollo

- Greek Mythology: Zeus - Greek Mythology: Artemis

Type of Work: Poem Caesura – In Old English poetry, it is a pause

Possessives: In the epic poem Beowulf, there are several

- The poem’s overarching conflict is

1. The importance of establishing identity.

- The Golden Torque

- The funeral of Shield Sheafson, with

And a young prince must be prudent like that,

ROMANCE Clergy (Greed and Pride)

- It is a story focusing on the episodic - She is the “appearance of culture” in

THE FRIAR (LINES 212-279)

- A student-nod to the writer; keeper of THE PARSON (LINES 487-538)

- He is fond to falsity and posturing. THE PLOWMAN (LINES 539-555)

THE PARDONER (LINES 689-734)

Clergy (Greed and Sloth)

- A personification of evil; he sells fake holy

- Chaucer believes that falsity can be

How are you going to compare Chaucer’s time

THE MILLER’S TALE

THE WIFE OF BATH’S

Don Quixote’s Second Journey Honor vs Virtue

- Love is a common thread in Don

- Is Don Quixote actually insane?

- Don Quixote is, among other things, a

About the Author… Trench II: Flatterers

Born: Mid-May to mid-June, c. 1265 Florence, Trench III: Simoniacs

1. Inferno (Hell) Region 3: Guests

Circle 2: The Lustful Virgil asked the deceased love-of-Dante’s-life,

Circle 1: Those in Limbo Hypocrites listlessly walking along wearing gold-

Region 3: Region 4: WRATHFUL

- This is the level where the late-repentants

Region 2: Antenora First Terrace (Proud)

Seventh Terrace (Lustful)

- Those who are lustful are being punished

- The sphere is that of faith, the content of

- Still in the heaven of Venus, Dante speaks

reconciled spiritual and earthly wisdom;

Mars The Empyrean

- The contemplative spiritual life of an

- Love, in all its forms, reads to him, is Divine

Dante will be examined by the Apostles who

Saint Saint Saint

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