DANTE'S INFERNO CORE EXAMS SET 2026/2027
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS RATED A+
✔✔To enter Hell; be careful and don't be fooled, not everything is how it seems; the
warning echoes the biblical warning that the path to hell is wide and easy - ✔✔On line
20 (Canto V), what is Dante literally preparing to do? What warning does Minos give
him? What is the allegorical meaning of this warning?
✔✔"Wracked by a war of winds"; the w sound mimicked the sound of the wind - ✔✔On
lines 29-30 (Canto V), what example of alliteration here suggests the sound of roaring
mentioned? How is this effect achieved?
✔✔To make it more relatable to us because we know those people and their sins. -
✔✔Why do you think Dante includes historical and literary characters from antiquity in
his description of Hell?
✔✔Like a wound, as mating doves, as the wings of wintering starlings, as cranes, as
seas wracked by a war of winds; the souls are being compared to birds because they're
flying right now - ✔✔Find 5 examples of similes on 902-903. What is being compared in
most cases?
✔✔Bloom, doom, and soonest; the double O sound; the double O sound suggests the
swooning of lovers, which is what the whole circle is about. - ✔✔Find an example of
assonance in lines 97-99. How is the sound appropriate to the content of the
stanza/circle?
✔✔She claims that Lancelot's story tempted/inspired her; ironic because she ignored
the moral of the story - ✔✔What excuse does Francesca offer for her transgressions?
What is ironic about her excuse?
✔✔He swoons, meaning he fainted - ✔✔Reread the last sentence of Canto V. What
happens to the poet? What does that means?
✔✔Dehydration, emotion, low blood sugar; Francesca because she tells her story and it
overwhelmed him with emotion - ✔✔What usually causes a person to faint? What
causes the poet to here?
✔✔As swooning as death; as a corpse might fall; fainting - ✔✔Look for similes on the
last page in Canto V. What is being compared in these?
✔✔People violent against nature and art - ✔✔What is the sin committed by the sinners
in the Third Zone of the Third Ring of the Seventh circle?
, ✔✔3 headed monster, serpent with a human head and appealing face, hairy claws,
serpent's body, scorpion tail - ✔✔How is Geryon described in mythology?
✔✔Arachne (Like the word arachnid); she hung herself after Athena destroyed her work
and Athena then turned her into a spider - ✔✔Who challenges Pallas Athena to a
weaving contest in Greek mythology?
✔✔The Italians don't like Germans; they thought they were drunk, unsophisticated and
dumb - ✔✔What does the phrase "greedy German boor" indicate?
✔✔Strength to get further down - ✔✔Why do Dante and Virgil need Geryon's help?
✔✔Their earthly possessions and wealth - ✔✔What do the sinners in the Third Zone of
the Third Ring of the Seventh Circle value above all things?
✔✔The symbols on their pouched which tell which money-lending family they represent
- ✔✔How does Dante identify the usurers in the underworld?
✔✔White with a blue pregnant sow - the Scrovegni family; associated with the Becchi
family (Vitaliano del Dente and Giovanni Buimonte will go to hell soon) - ✔✔Identify one
of the usurers and their associated money-lending family mentioned in the passage.
✔✔Reginaldo Scrovegni - ✔✔Who predicts the arrival for two usurers still alive during
Dante's visit?
✔✔Blue - ✔✔What color are Geryon's nails?
✔✔So they don't fall off - ✔✔Why does Virgil request Geryon to fly in wide circles?
✔✔Apollo's son; brought the sun too close to the earth and Zeus had to save everyone
by throwing a lightning bolt at him and killing him - ✔✔Who is Phaeton and what
happens to him?
✔✔To the dread that Phaeton felt when he fell to earth - ✔✔How Dante compare his
own dread while riding on Geryon's back?
✔✔They made wings out of feathers and wax; Icarus went too close to the sun and his
wings melted and he died in the ocean below - ✔✔How did Daedalus and Icarus
escape from King Minos?
✔✔Creating the semblance of reality; using the allusions and said that the wind was
rushing in his face (sensory language) - ✔✔What is verisimilitude and how does Dante
use it in his description of the flight?
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS RATED A+
✔✔To enter Hell; be careful and don't be fooled, not everything is how it seems; the
warning echoes the biblical warning that the path to hell is wide and easy - ✔✔On line
20 (Canto V), what is Dante literally preparing to do? What warning does Minos give
him? What is the allegorical meaning of this warning?
✔✔"Wracked by a war of winds"; the w sound mimicked the sound of the wind - ✔✔On
lines 29-30 (Canto V), what example of alliteration here suggests the sound of roaring
mentioned? How is this effect achieved?
✔✔To make it more relatable to us because we know those people and their sins. -
✔✔Why do you think Dante includes historical and literary characters from antiquity in
his description of Hell?
✔✔Like a wound, as mating doves, as the wings of wintering starlings, as cranes, as
seas wracked by a war of winds; the souls are being compared to birds because they're
flying right now - ✔✔Find 5 examples of similes on 902-903. What is being compared in
most cases?
✔✔Bloom, doom, and soonest; the double O sound; the double O sound suggests the
swooning of lovers, which is what the whole circle is about. - ✔✔Find an example of
assonance in lines 97-99. How is the sound appropriate to the content of the
stanza/circle?
✔✔She claims that Lancelot's story tempted/inspired her; ironic because she ignored
the moral of the story - ✔✔What excuse does Francesca offer for her transgressions?
What is ironic about her excuse?
✔✔He swoons, meaning he fainted - ✔✔Reread the last sentence of Canto V. What
happens to the poet? What does that means?
✔✔Dehydration, emotion, low blood sugar; Francesca because she tells her story and it
overwhelmed him with emotion - ✔✔What usually causes a person to faint? What
causes the poet to here?
✔✔As swooning as death; as a corpse might fall; fainting - ✔✔Look for similes on the
last page in Canto V. What is being compared in these?
✔✔People violent against nature and art - ✔✔What is the sin committed by the sinners
in the Third Zone of the Third Ring of the Seventh circle?
, ✔✔3 headed monster, serpent with a human head and appealing face, hairy claws,
serpent's body, scorpion tail - ✔✔How is Geryon described in mythology?
✔✔Arachne (Like the word arachnid); she hung herself after Athena destroyed her work
and Athena then turned her into a spider - ✔✔Who challenges Pallas Athena to a
weaving contest in Greek mythology?
✔✔The Italians don't like Germans; they thought they were drunk, unsophisticated and
dumb - ✔✔What does the phrase "greedy German boor" indicate?
✔✔Strength to get further down - ✔✔Why do Dante and Virgil need Geryon's help?
✔✔Their earthly possessions and wealth - ✔✔What do the sinners in the Third Zone of
the Third Ring of the Seventh Circle value above all things?
✔✔The symbols on their pouched which tell which money-lending family they represent
- ✔✔How does Dante identify the usurers in the underworld?
✔✔White with a blue pregnant sow - the Scrovegni family; associated with the Becchi
family (Vitaliano del Dente and Giovanni Buimonte will go to hell soon) - ✔✔Identify one
of the usurers and their associated money-lending family mentioned in the passage.
✔✔Reginaldo Scrovegni - ✔✔Who predicts the arrival for two usurers still alive during
Dante's visit?
✔✔Blue - ✔✔What color are Geryon's nails?
✔✔So they don't fall off - ✔✔Why does Virgil request Geryon to fly in wide circles?
✔✔Apollo's son; brought the sun too close to the earth and Zeus had to save everyone
by throwing a lightning bolt at him and killing him - ✔✔Who is Phaeton and what
happens to him?
✔✔To the dread that Phaeton felt when he fell to earth - ✔✔How Dante compare his
own dread while riding on Geryon's back?
✔✔They made wings out of feathers and wax; Icarus went too close to the sun and his
wings melted and he died in the ocean below - ✔✔How did Daedalus and Icarus
escape from King Minos?
✔✔Creating the semblance of reality; using the allusions and said that the wind was
rushing in his face (sensory language) - ✔✔What is verisimilitude and how does Dante
use it in his description of the flight?
