Literature: Dante's Paradiso Part 1 - With Dr Robert-Louis Abrahamson

Course aim

This course leads students through Dante's Paradiso, the final part of his Divine Comedy, which takes us up to heaven. We focus on the story, the characters, and the way they can illustrate what is going on in our life now.

Do I need any particular skills or experience?

• You will need your own personal email address so that you’re able to login to the WEA’s digital learning platform: WEA Canvas. You will need to be able to understand how to follow URL links to pages on the internet. If you want to understand more about Canvas please visit: http://bit.ly/WEAonline
• You will need to be able to follow links to join our WEA live video learning platform: WEA Zoom. If you’d like to understand more about our video learning platform, Zoom please visit: http://bit.ly/WEAonline and http://bit.ly/ZoomSpec
• This course is for a group of around 15 students studying in a live video-learning platform conference and an online digital learning environment platform from the comfort of your own home.

By the end of the course I should be able to:

• be acquainted with the story of Dante's ascent through heaven and the souls he meets on the way
• have a deeper understanding of the cultural, psychological and religious background of late-mediaeval Italy
• feel more comfortable reading and discussing great poetic literature
• gain a better appreciation of language through engaging attentively with the imagery and rhetoric of this poem

How will I be taught?

• The WEA’s digital learning platform, Canvas will be used to provide resources or to support lessons, enable assessment, provide learner feedback and for other activities for individuals away from the course. If you want to understand more about our digital learning platform please visit: http://bit.ly/WEAonline
• You will be expected to read two or three cantos of the poem before class each week. You will be encouraged to listen to the podcasts in preparation for the Zoom sessions.

What kind of feedback can I expect?

• The Zoom discussions offer constant feedback, and discussions can also be continued, with feedback, on the Canvas platform or through email.

What else do I need to know?

• What you need: You will need an internet connection, speakers, a microphone and a webcam so that you can use our video learning platform, Zoom. If you’d like to understand more Zoom please visit: http://bit.ly/ZoomSpec
• You will also need access to the internet outside of your sessions. You could do this using a smart phone, tablet, laptop or a desktop computer (at home or through a library etc.).
• You will need a personal email address to join the WEA’s digital learning platform, Canvas so that you can receive resources, record your progress and achievement and to work with others and share ideas. If you want to understand more about our digital learning platform please visit: http://bit.ly/WEAonline
• You will need a good translation of the Paradiso, preferably a modern translation (not one of the older translations available free online), in an edition with notes. Suggested editions will be provided.

Pre-course work, reading and information sources

• No pre reading is required but research on the subject on the internet or in the library may be helpful

What can I do next?

• Progress to another WEA course
• Access the WEA What Next? booklet here http://www.wea.org.uk/learn-wea/what-can-i-do-next