Honors World Studies
Unit Eight: The Renaissance
How did the European worldview change from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance?
Key Concepts:
Key Terms:
Humanism Christian Humanism Inquisition sonnet
Sonnet Novella Rhetoric irony
Transubstantiation Predestination Defenestration of Prague
Thirty Years War allegory Poetic terms (handout)
People:
Machiavelli Galileo Petrarch Martin Luther Isaac Newton
Leonardo John Calvin Boccacio Michelangelo Queen Elizabeth
Ignatius of Loyola Henry VIII Gustavus Adolphus Shakespeare
Assignments:
8A. Dante Assignment
Few pieces of literature make an impression on students as much as Dante’s Inferno. Removed from our own time by nearly 700 years, we can still relate to Dante’s precise placement of souls in a literary hell of his own choosing. Your task will be to consider the issues of his time against the issues of our own time.
Overview of Dante
http://web.eku.edu/flash/inferno/
This website offers an extremely efficient and brief overview of
Dante’s Inferno. Moving through the various circles of Hell and noting the degree of sin found there will give you an immediate insight into Dante’s purpose.
In-dept understanding of Dante
http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/
This website offers background, history, explanations of the text as well as explanations of literary devices. The author and project director of Danteworlds, Guy P. Raffa, is a professor of English at the University of Texas; he designed this website in order to make Dante more accessible to his undergrads. He intended his site to serve as an enhancement and tool toward understanding rather than a replacement for reading Dante.
On your own
a. After you have visited #1, you will begin your own journey into the reading of the Inferno. When you encounter anything you do not understand, you can visit site #2 for a quick explanation and summary.
b. As you read through the text, please note specific circles of hell that may hold special interest for you.
In a group of three
c. Discuss the issues that Dante highlights in a particular
circle of Hell and discuss those issues in terms of today. Focus on the following:
Are the issues still relevant?
Does modern society see these issues in the same way as Dante did?
Do we have any issues that parallel or mirror these issues?
d. On a large piece of newsprint, make an outline of 4a.
On your own
Based on ideas gleaned from your group discussion, write a 500-700 word essay (2 typed pages of 12 pt. font double-spaced) in which you focus on an issue from Dante and an issue from today which you consider to be important. Dante’s issue and your issue may very well be the same, but you must look at your part from a modern perspective. Review pages 762-766 "Writing Workshop."
The set-up for you paper should look like this:
Introduction
Gives an overview of your circle
Introduces the issues
Provides a thesis
Body
Section on issue from Dante’s day – here’s where #2 can help you out
Use specific references to Dante using MLA citation
Section on a parallel issue today – this is your opinion
Conclusion
Consider the importance of making a stand about certain issues but also the ramifications of the written word.
Try to let your conclusion "open out" here and leave he reader with some implications of what you have said instead of just a summary of your paper.
8B. Due______Write a Petrarchan sonnet in which you imitate the style and content
of Petrarch. The poem must be – sigh – a love poem! It is important that you type the poem because I want you to copy the poem a second time. If you use Word, then use the "Insert Comment" feature and mark all the poetic devices you have used. You need to use six different devices. (14 pts.) If you do not use Word, then highlight the devices by putting them in bold. Immediately afterwards, in parentheses, tell what device it is.
Example of "Insert Comment" feature (from Petrarch)
Life hurries on, a frantic refugee
Example of using bold and parentheses:
Life hurries on, a frantic refugee (personification)
8C Test _______ Quiz over terms and key concepts will be on final exam.