DANTE'S INFERNO 2026/2027 QUESTIONS AND
ANSWERS RATED A+
✔✔Canto IV - ✔✔Dante's awakening to the First Circle, or Limbo, inhabited by those
who were worthy but lived before Christianity and/or without baptism. The welcoming of
Virgil and Dante by Homer, Horace, Ovid, Lucan. The catalogue of other great-hearted
spirits in the noble castle of Limbo.
✔✔That shade is Homer, the consummate poet;
the other one is Horace, satirist;
the third is Ovid, and the last is Lucan...
Soon after they had talked a while together,
they turned to me, saluting cordially;
and having witnessed this, my master smiled;
and even greater honor then was mine,
for they invited me to join their ranks—
I was the sixth among such intellects. - ✔✔Inferno 4
(First Circle)
✔✔Two major faculties of Dante's conception of soul - ✔✔1. Reason
2. Will
✔✔Three levels of soul's appetites - ✔✔1. Rational appetite
2. Sensitive appetite (violence; anger)
3. Concupiscent appetite (lust, gluttony, avarice, prodigality)
✔✔Canto V - ✔✔The second Circle, where the lustful are forever buffeted by violent
storms. Minos. The catalogue of carnal sinners. Francesca da Rimini and her brother-in-
law, Paolo Malatesta. Francesca's tale of their love and death, at which Dante faints.
✔✔Even as doves when summoned by desire,
borne forward by their will, move through the air
with wings uplifted, still, to their sweet nest,
those spirits left the ranks where Dido suffers,
approaching us through the malignant air;
so powerful had been my loving cry. - ✔✔Inferno 5
(Second Circle)
✔✔"O living being, gracious and benign,
who through the darkened air have come to visit
our souls that stained the world with blood, if He
who rules the universe were friend to us,
then we should pray to Him to give you peace,
for you have pitied our atrocious state.
Whatever pleases you to hear and speak
,will please us, too, to hear and speak with you,
now while the wind is silent, in this place.
The land where I was born lies on that shore
to which the Po together with the waters
that follow it descends to final rest..." - ✔✔Inferno 5
(Second Circle)
✔✔"Love, that can quickly seize the gentle heart,
took hold of him because of the fair body
taken from me—how that was done still wounds me.
Love, that releases no beloved from loving,
took hold of me so strongly through his beauty
that, as you see, it has not left me yet.
Love led the two of us unto one death.
Caïna waits for him who took our life." - ✔✔Inferno 5
(Second Circle)
✔✔"One day, to pass the time away, we read
of Lancelot—how love had overcome him.
We were alone, and we suspected nothing.
And time and time again that reading led
our eyes to meet, and made our faces pale,
and yet one point alone defeated us.
When we had read how the desired smile
was kissed by one who was so true a lover,
this one, who never shall be parted from me,
while all his body trembled, kissed my mouth.
A Gallehault indeed, that book and he
who wrote it, too; that day we read no more." - ✔✔Inferno 5
(Second Circle)
✔✔And while one spirit said these words to me,
the other wept, so that—because of pity—
I fainted, as if I had met my death.
And then I fell as a dead body falls. - ✔✔Inferno 5
(Second Circle)
✔✔Canto VI - ✔✔Dante's awakening to the Third Circle where the Gluttonous, supine
are flailed by cold and filthy rain and tormented by Cerberus. Ciacco and his prophecy
concerning Florence. That state of the damned after Resurrection
✔✔Francesca and Paollo - ✔✔Sin of lust; Gueniviere and Lancelot; damned to be
attached all eternity
✔✔And he to me: "After long controversy,
, they'll come to blood; the party of the woods
will chase the other out with much offense.
But then, within three suns, they too must fall;
at which the other party will prevail,
using the power of one who tacks his sails.
This party will hold high its head for long
and heap great weights upon its enemies..." - ✔✔Inferno 6
(Third Circle)
✔✔Ciacco - ✔✔Glutton, greedy; prophecy of war between White and Black Gwelphs;
speaks of Bonafice VIII exile of White Gwelphs
✔✔Cerberus - ✔✔Guardian of Third Circle; gluttony; three heads = bigger appetite
✔✔Canto VII - ✔✔The demon Plutus. The Fourth Circle, where the Avaricious and the
Prodigal, in opposite directions, roll weights in semicircles. Fortune and her ways.
Descent into the Fifth Circle: the Wrathful and the Sullen, the former besmirched by the
muddy Styx the latter immersed in it.
✔✔Canto IX - ✔✔The gate of Dis. Dante's fear. The three Furies, invoking Medusa.
Virgil's warning to Dante lest he look at Gorgon, Medusa's head. A heavenly
messenger. The flight of the demons. Entry into Dis, where Virgil and Dante reach the
Sixth Circle and its Arch-Heretics, entombed in red-hot sepulchers.
✔✔Canto VIII - ✔✔Still the Fifth Circle: the Wrathful and the Sullen. The tall tower.
Phlegyas and the crossing of the Styx. Filippo Argenti and Dante's fury. Approach to
Dis, the lower part of Hell: its moat, its walls, its gate. The demons, fallen angels, and
their obstruction of the poet's entry into Dis.
✔✔...he himself turned me
around and, not content with just my hands,
used his as well to cover up my eyes.
O you possessed of sturdy intellects,
observe the teaching that is hidden here
beneath the veil of verses so obscure. - ✔✔Inferno 9
(Fifth Circle)
✔✔Allegory of Poets - ✔✔Literal meaning is fiction; hidden meaning; moral lesson
✔✔Allegory of Theologians - ✔✔Literal meaning is historically true; still contains hidden
meaning; Bible, scripture
✔✔Four Levels of Allegory of Theologians - ✔✔1. Literal
2. Allegorical
3. Tropological
ANSWERS RATED A+
✔✔Canto IV - ✔✔Dante's awakening to the First Circle, or Limbo, inhabited by those
who were worthy but lived before Christianity and/or without baptism. The welcoming of
Virgil and Dante by Homer, Horace, Ovid, Lucan. The catalogue of other great-hearted
spirits in the noble castle of Limbo.
✔✔That shade is Homer, the consummate poet;
the other one is Horace, satirist;
the third is Ovid, and the last is Lucan...
Soon after they had talked a while together,
they turned to me, saluting cordially;
and having witnessed this, my master smiled;
and even greater honor then was mine,
for they invited me to join their ranks—
I was the sixth among such intellects. - ✔✔Inferno 4
(First Circle)
✔✔Two major faculties of Dante's conception of soul - ✔✔1. Reason
2. Will
✔✔Three levels of soul's appetites - ✔✔1. Rational appetite
2. Sensitive appetite (violence; anger)
3. Concupiscent appetite (lust, gluttony, avarice, prodigality)
✔✔Canto V - ✔✔The second Circle, where the lustful are forever buffeted by violent
storms. Minos. The catalogue of carnal sinners. Francesca da Rimini and her brother-in-
law, Paolo Malatesta. Francesca's tale of their love and death, at which Dante faints.
✔✔Even as doves when summoned by desire,
borne forward by their will, move through the air
with wings uplifted, still, to their sweet nest,
those spirits left the ranks where Dido suffers,
approaching us through the malignant air;
so powerful had been my loving cry. - ✔✔Inferno 5
(Second Circle)
✔✔"O living being, gracious and benign,
who through the darkened air have come to visit
our souls that stained the world with blood, if He
who rules the universe were friend to us,
then we should pray to Him to give you peace,
for you have pitied our atrocious state.
Whatever pleases you to hear and speak
,will please us, too, to hear and speak with you,
now while the wind is silent, in this place.
The land where I was born lies on that shore
to which the Po together with the waters
that follow it descends to final rest..." - ✔✔Inferno 5
(Second Circle)
✔✔"Love, that can quickly seize the gentle heart,
took hold of him because of the fair body
taken from me—how that was done still wounds me.
Love, that releases no beloved from loving,
took hold of me so strongly through his beauty
that, as you see, it has not left me yet.
Love led the two of us unto one death.
Caïna waits for him who took our life." - ✔✔Inferno 5
(Second Circle)
✔✔"One day, to pass the time away, we read
of Lancelot—how love had overcome him.
We were alone, and we suspected nothing.
And time and time again that reading led
our eyes to meet, and made our faces pale,
and yet one point alone defeated us.
When we had read how the desired smile
was kissed by one who was so true a lover,
this one, who never shall be parted from me,
while all his body trembled, kissed my mouth.
A Gallehault indeed, that book and he
who wrote it, too; that day we read no more." - ✔✔Inferno 5
(Second Circle)
✔✔And while one spirit said these words to me,
the other wept, so that—because of pity—
I fainted, as if I had met my death.
And then I fell as a dead body falls. - ✔✔Inferno 5
(Second Circle)
✔✔Canto VI - ✔✔Dante's awakening to the Third Circle where the Gluttonous, supine
are flailed by cold and filthy rain and tormented by Cerberus. Ciacco and his prophecy
concerning Florence. That state of the damned after Resurrection
✔✔Francesca and Paollo - ✔✔Sin of lust; Gueniviere and Lancelot; damned to be
attached all eternity
✔✔And he to me: "After long controversy,
, they'll come to blood; the party of the woods
will chase the other out with much offense.
But then, within three suns, they too must fall;
at which the other party will prevail,
using the power of one who tacks his sails.
This party will hold high its head for long
and heap great weights upon its enemies..." - ✔✔Inferno 6
(Third Circle)
✔✔Ciacco - ✔✔Glutton, greedy; prophecy of war between White and Black Gwelphs;
speaks of Bonafice VIII exile of White Gwelphs
✔✔Cerberus - ✔✔Guardian of Third Circle; gluttony; three heads = bigger appetite
✔✔Canto VII - ✔✔The demon Plutus. The Fourth Circle, where the Avaricious and the
Prodigal, in opposite directions, roll weights in semicircles. Fortune and her ways.
Descent into the Fifth Circle: the Wrathful and the Sullen, the former besmirched by the
muddy Styx the latter immersed in it.
✔✔Canto IX - ✔✔The gate of Dis. Dante's fear. The three Furies, invoking Medusa.
Virgil's warning to Dante lest he look at Gorgon, Medusa's head. A heavenly
messenger. The flight of the demons. Entry into Dis, where Virgil and Dante reach the
Sixth Circle and its Arch-Heretics, entombed in red-hot sepulchers.
✔✔Canto VIII - ✔✔Still the Fifth Circle: the Wrathful and the Sullen. The tall tower.
Phlegyas and the crossing of the Styx. Filippo Argenti and Dante's fury. Approach to
Dis, the lower part of Hell: its moat, its walls, its gate. The demons, fallen angels, and
their obstruction of the poet's entry into Dis.
✔✔...he himself turned me
around and, not content with just my hands,
used his as well to cover up my eyes.
O you possessed of sturdy intellects,
observe the teaching that is hidden here
beneath the veil of verses so obscure. - ✔✔Inferno 9
(Fifth Circle)
✔✔Allegory of Poets - ✔✔Literal meaning is fiction; hidden meaning; moral lesson
✔✔Allegory of Theologians - ✔✔Literal meaning is historically true; still contains hidden
meaning; Bible, scripture
✔✔Four Levels of Allegory of Theologians - ✔✔1. Literal
2. Allegorical
3. Tropological
