"This is hell, Dante, not your personal fantasy"

Here are some links to check out that will expand your knowledge about Dante and The Divine Comedy.

Your task--to explore them--and to comment.

• Dante's Flash Inferno
• Dante Today
• Dante's Biography
• Sandow Birk's film that dramatizes the Inferno using puppets
• Dante's Inferno Test
• The Video Game

The Great Chessmaster

Omar Khayyam's quatrain 69 from the Rubaiyat reads:

But helpless Pieces of the Game He plays

Upon this Checker-board of Nights and Days;

Hither and thither moves, and checks, and slays,

And one by one back in the Closet lays.

Let's first discuss Khayyam's quatrain. What is he suggesting? You may want to become acquainted with Khayyam--his poetry, his contributions to society, and his famous poetry.

Second, do you agree with Khayyam's view? Why or why not?

Critical Lenses--A New Way of Seeing

Here's a link to a painting by Ford Madox Brown. Spend some time first absorbing the painting--there's so much to see--to catch. Then think about it. What was Brown trying to say? With what lens might this artwork be viewed?