Dr. Norman Prinsky

Humanities 2001: Ancient through Seventeenth-Century Culture

Test on Dante's Inferno, Cantos 12-22 (Mark Musa translation)

1. In Canto 12 (The Violent Against Neighbors), the manner of the immersion of the blood-spillers in a river of blood suggests mainly Dante's (and the Middle Age’s): (a) hierarchicalism (b) egalitarianism (c) militarism (d) nationalism

2. The particular infernal guards in Canto 12 are appropriate in helping to symbolize the nature of the sinners' crimes as: (a) reason's degradation by the bestial (b) arrogant (c) selfish rather than community-oriented (d) ultimately monetary

3. The particular infernal guards in Canto 12 are yet another instance in the Inferno of the: (a) aggrandizing the flora and fauna of Italy (b) apotheosizing of the works of Aristotle (c) authorizing reference to French literature within Italian literature (d) allegorizing of Classical material

4. In Canto 12, when Dante looks to Vergil for instruction, what Vergil says (lines 113-114) symbolizes: (a) Dante’s medieval respect for university education (b) the holy spirit infusing Vergil with knowledge (c) the lessening of the power of Vergil (and what Vergil symbolizes) the further into the journey (d) instruction proceeding through the classical method in Plato’s dialogues about Socrates

5. In Canto 13 (The Violent Against Themselves), the kind of tree that the suicides become, with appropriate symbolism, is: (a) deciduous (b) unproductive (c) short-lived (d) expensive

6. With reference to Canto 13, the medieval impulse toward encyclopedism and fine discrimination is suggested by the exclusion from the circle (and placement elsewhere in the Inferno) of: (a) Jocasta (b) Ajax (c) Dido (d) Narcissus

7. In Canto 13, the method by which Dante-pilgrim communicates with the suicides symbolically suggests their earthly: (a) vociferousness (b) insatiableness (c) voraciousness (d) inarticulatelessness

8. In Canto 13, the attitudes of both Vergil and Dante (lines 44-54 and 79-84) toward the suicides suggest: (a) Humanism (b) Nominalism (c) Platonism (d) Scholasticism

9. In Canto 13, the medieval impulse toward encyclopedism and fine or precise discrimination is suggested by the differentiation between the sinners in Circle 7, Round 2 (lines 116-121; the violent squanderers) and the sinners, with a rather similar sin (except perhaps in intensity) in: (a) Canto 3 (b) Canto 5 (c) Canto 7 (d) Canto 9

10. In Canto 14, the main topographical feature of the Circle (lines 8-9, 13-15) symbolically suggests: (a) unproductiveness (b) leisure (c) assiduity (d) plenitude

11. In Canto 14 (The Violent Against God, Nature, and Art), the placement and description of Capaneus in the canto suggests: (a) Reformation displeasure with Church abuses (b) Dante's knowledge of the Asian and Indian epic traditions (c) medieval allegorizing of the Classical tradition (d) the influence of Thomism

12. In Canto 14 (The Violent Against God, Nature, and Art), the lengthy description of the statue of the Old Man of Crete (made of gold, silver, brass, iron, and terra cotta) suggests Dante's: (a) veneration of rich people (b) mistrust of Nature (c) confidence in Progress (d) view of history as deterioration

13. With reference to the symbolic statue of the Old Man of Crete in Canto 14, the view of human history overall in Genesis 1-11 of the Bible, as well as in the Classical tradition, suggests: (a) veneration of powerful people (b) mistrust of Nature (c) confidence in Progress (d) presumption of deterioration

14. In Canto 15 (The Violent Against Nature), the term of address (or metaphor) used by Brunetto Latini to refer to Dante the Pilgrim (lines 31, 37; cf. line 83) symbolically connects this relationship to that of: (a) Brunetto and Farinata (b) Dante and Vergil (c) Paolo and Francesca (d) Dante and Beatrice

15. In Canto 15, the symbolism of the term of address (or metaphor) used by Brunetto Latini to refer to Dante the Pilgrim (lines 31, 37; cf. line 83) also has a symbolism referring to their relationship in: (a) reforming Florentine politics (b) studying theology (c) venerating Aristotle (d) writing literature

16. In Canto 15, the simile describing Brunetto Latini’s departure (lines 121-126; “Then he turned”) has the negative implication of: (a) the effect of aging on athletic ability (b) country manners being superior to urban manners (c) humiliating speed required by the punishment for the sin (d) Italian overfondness of sports betting

17. In Canto 15, the simile describing Brunetto Latini’s departure (lines 121-126) has the positive implication of: (a) surprising athletic ability in the middle aged (b) humanistic triumph through admirable literary activity (c) Italian courtesy no matter what the circumstances (d) Italian shrewdness in sports betting

18. In Canto 16 (The Violent Against Nature), Vergil’s instructions to Dante about how to talk to the sinners calling Dante (lines 14-18; “and then he turned”) suggests: (a) the conflict between Florence and Bologna (b) humanistic respect (c) necessary courtesy between the genders (d) appropriate Christian scorn

19. In Canto 16, the geometrical shape of the motion of the sinners (repeatedly referred to; lines 21, 25, 35, 86) connects them with those in Canto 5, with the underlying symbolism pointing to: (a) clever rationalization (b) the importance of mathematics in education (c) illicit eroticism (d) new knowledge in astronomy

20. In Canto 16, the similes describing the departure of the three Florentines (lines 86-89), implies Dante's attitude toward these men is: (a) admiring (b) neutral (c) critical (d) admiring and critical

21. In Canto 16, the summoning of Vergil’s and Dante’s transportation from the sins of the lion to the sins of the leopard is done with the heavily symbolic and much commentator-analyzed: (a) belt (b) hat (c) scarf (d) glove

22. In Canto 16, Dante himself refers to his own title of the literary work (lines 127-128): (a) Divine Comedy (b) Inferno (c) Allegory (d) Comedy (e) Pilgrim’s Progress

23. In Cantos 16-17, the combination ferryman-and-ferry, Geryon, is repeatedly associated with ship or nautical imagery (Canto 16, lines 130-136; Canto 17, lines 19-27 and 100-101) this symbolism referring (inversely or ironically) to a church, specifically its: (a) transept (b) nave (c) apse (d) narthex

24. In Canto 17, the main elements built into Geryon’s body from end to end (lines 10-12) is to symbolically incorporate all of the following except which one: (a) kindness (b) ugliness (c) symmetry (d) fraud (e) Genesis 2-3

25. In Canto 17, the symbolic overtones in the description of Geryon's body as having arabesques and the comparison to something woven by a Tartar or Turk (lines 14-17) is mainly to suggest: (a) commercialism (b) skill (c) apostasy (d) expertise (e) graft

26. In Canto 17, the simile describing the usurers (lines 49-51; “They were, in fact”) suggests that the sin derives, at least in part, from: (a) greed (b) letting animal triumph over human (c) a & b (d) the heretical religion of Judaism or Islam

27. In Canto 17, the references to Phaeton and Icarus (lines 106-111) suggest: (a) lack of knowledge about Classicism in the Middle Ages (b) rejection of the Classical tradition as pagan (c) allegorizing of the Classical tradition (d) higher rating of Lucan than Ovid in ancient Roman literature

28. In Canto 18, the word that the Bolognese sinner identifies himself with (lines 58-61; “I’m not the only”) suggests that these damned are engaged in a sin involving a version of a/an: (a) murderer (b) chef (c) forger (d) ”yes-man (e) poet

29. In Canto 18, the material about Jason (lines 83-99; “Look at that”) suggests an attitude that is: (a) critical (b) admiring (c) both critical and admiring (d) neutral

30. In Canto 18, in the material about Jason, the translator, Musa, works in a pun in English on the word: (a) “single” (line 84) (b) “fleeced” (line 87) (c) “journeyed” (line 88) (d) “slaughtered” (line 90) (e) “deceiving” (line 92)

31. In Cantos 18, 21, and 22, following the precedent of the New Testament (Mt. 15.17; Mk. 7.1-23) and anticipating Chaucer [in NAWLS2] in the The Miller’s Tale (lines 143-144; “Yet his speech”; lines 491-525; and lines 568-593) and The Pardoner’s Tale (lines 435-466), as well as the films of Mel Brooks (e.g., the campfire scene in Blazing Saddles or the flight of the psychiatrist from birds in High Anxiety), Dante engages in what kind of imagery, with reference to the flatterers: (a) floral (b) mineralogical (c) nautical (d) scatological

32. The underlying joke (apparently a very old joke) in the imagery referred to in the immediately preceding question is that flatterers on earth have been very adept in: (a) bs (b) pdq (c) qt (d) sop

33. In Canto 19 (The Simoniacs or Simonists), Dante the Poet’s address of “O Highest Wisdom” (line 10) represents the figure(s) of speech: (a) antonomasia (b) aposiopesis (c) apostrophe (d) antonomasia and apostrophe

34. The figure(s) of speech referred to in the immediately preceding question, as in the Qur’an, mainly helps suggest: (a) the author’s demonstration of linguistic ability (b) the unique property of Arabic (c) a key attribute of the addressee (d) a connection between art and music

35. In Canto 19, the simile describing the punishment-holes for the sinners (lines 13-18; “I saw along”) relates to many of the sinners in this circle being: (a) politicians (b) clergy (c) architects (d) teachers

36. In Canto 19, Vergil's tender, literal carrying of Dante, described at length (lines 124-132; “Then he took”)), ironically symbolizes the lack of fatherly solicitude from which sinners in the canto: (a) politicians (b) Popes (c) poets (d) panderers

37. In Canto 19, the criticism of a certain group in this canto as well as earlier ones points to the historical period and movement: (a) the Gothic (b) Mannerism (c) the Baroque (d) the Reformation

38. In Canto 20 (The Fortune Tellers and Diviners), the figure of speech describing the rate of the walk of the sinners (lines 7-9; “And I saw”): (a) contrasts with their irreligiosity (b) suggests their verbal ability (c) parallels their religiosity (d) contrasts with their scientific ignorance

39. In Canto 20, a key element of the punishment of the sinners (lines 10-15; “And when my gaze”) is an anatomical modification: (a) suggesting the poor physique of bookish people (b) paralleling what they attempted to do in life (c) suggesting intellectuals’ dietary overindulgence (d) contrasting with what they attempted to do in life

40. In Canto 20, Dante-pilgrim's reaction to the anatomical modification referred to in the immediately preceding question (foreshadowing Leonardo da Vinci's famous drawing of the human body) suggests Dante’s: (a) unwavering Christian censure of sinners (b) encyclopedism (c) humanism (d) egalitarianism (e) newly developing scientific interest in anatomy and physiology

41. In Canto 20, Dante includes among the sinners a prophet who has earlier appeared in: (a) Homer’s Odyssey (b) Genesis 6-10 (c) Vergil’s Aeneid, Book 2 (d) a and c

42. In Canto 20, Dante includes among the sinners a prophet who has earlier appeared in: (a) the Bhagavad Gita (b) Sophocles’ Oedipus the King (c) Genesis 37 (d) the Qur’an

43. In Canto 21 (Grafters, Swindlers, Barrators), the ship-repair simile (lines 7-18; “”In the vast”) suggests all the following except which one: (a) concentration of the sinners within the Italian navy (b) the ship of state, which grafters endanger (c) mobile vehicle vs. grafters’ immobilized punishment (d) material used to repair a ship now used to punish the sinners

44. In Canto 21, the ship-repair simile (lines 7-18; “”In the vast”) suggests all the following except which one: (a) the same ship-of-state metaphor used in Sophocles’ Oedipus the King (b) the sinners’ involvement in fraudulent navy supply schemes (c) ironic typological symbolism of the ship (and church) (d) the proverbial saying “pitch defiles”

45. In Canto 21, what the sinners in general try to do, in relation to their infernal guards: (a) suggests their political conservatism in life (b) parallels their elaborate, refined con games in life (c) suggests their political liberalism in life (d) contrasts with their grasping in life

46. At the end of Canto 21, the leader of the guardian demons, Malacoda (literally, 'evil tail'), lives up to his name by a trumpet-calling attention, which is: (a) paradoxically beautiful, despite the surroundings (b) scatological (c) melismatic (d) newly emphatic of instruments over voice in medieval music

47. The sort of epic simile with which Canto 22 (Grafters, Swindlers, Barrators) begins (lines 1-12) makes clear that Malacoda’s living up to his name at the end of Canto 21 is : (a) part of the Inferno’s continued motif of allusion to the Gregorian chant (b) a parody of military decorum (c) a reference to predominance of instruments over voice in medieval music (d) a secret admiration of the angel Gabriel

48. In Canto 22, appropriately enough to the sin, one of the human sinners tries to: (a) attack Vergil and Dante (b) curse God (c) bribe Vergil, Dante, and the guardian demons (d) perform unnatural experiments in the chemistry of pitch

49. In Canto 22, the behavior of Calcabrina in regard to a fellow demon guard (lines 124-144; “The squad was”) suggests about the sin of their circle in hell that the sin: (a) leads to political or civil disorder (b) contributes to comradeship (c) may ironically smooth the workings of government (d) ironically leads to military preparedness