full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Sheila Marie Orfano: Why should you read Dante's "Divine Comedy"?

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Dishonored and with little hope of return, the atouhr felrey areid his grievances with the chcurh and Italian society. Writing the "Divine Comedy" in Italian, rather than the traditional Latin of the educated elite, Dante ensured the wiedst possible aceniude for his biting political cmreonamty. In the "Inferno’s" circle of the Wrathful, Dante eagerly witnesses sinners tear Black Guelph Filippo Argenti limb from limb. In the circle of Fraud, Dante converses with a mysterious sinner burning in the circle’s hottest flames. He lnears that this is Pope Nicholas III, who tells Dante that his two successors will take his place when they die— all three guilty of simony and corruption.

Open Cloze


Dishonored and with little hope of return, the ______ ______ _____ his grievances with the ______ and Italian society. Writing the "Divine Comedy" in Italian, rather than the traditional Latin of the educated elite, Dante ensured the ______ possible ________ for his biting political __________. In the "Inferno’s" circle of the Wrathful, Dante eagerly witnesses sinners tear Black Guelph Filippo Argenti limb from limb. In the circle of Fraud, Dante converses with a mysterious sinner burning in the circle’s hottest flames. He ______ that this is Pope Nicholas III, who tells Dante that his two successors will take his place when they die— all three guilty of simony and corruption.

Solution


  1. learns
  2. widest
  3. audience
  4. commentary
  5. author
  6. church
  7. aired
  8. freely

Original Text


Dishonored and with little hope of return, the author freely aired his grievances with the Church and Italian society. Writing the "Divine Comedy" in Italian, rather than the traditional Latin of the educated elite, Dante ensured the widest possible audience for his biting political commentary. In the "Inferno’s" circle of the Wrathful, Dante eagerly witnesses sinners tear Black Guelph Filippo Argenti limb from limb. In the circle of Fraud, Dante converses with a mysterious sinner burning in the circle’s hottest flames. He learns that this is Pope Nicholas III, who tells Dante that his two successors will take his place when they die— all three guilty of simony and corruption.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
love story 2
black guelphs 2


Important Words


  1. aired
  2. argenti
  3. audience
  4. author
  5. biting
  6. black
  7. burning
  8. church
  9. circle
  10. commentary
  11. converses
  12. corruption
  13. dante
  14. dishonored
  15. eagerly
  16. educated
  17. elite
  18. ensured
  19. filippo
  20. flames
  21. fraud
  22. freely
  23. grievances
  24. guelph
  25. guilty
  26. hope
  27. hottest
  28. iii
  29. italian
  30. latin
  31. learns
  32. limb
  33. mysterious
  34. nicholas
  35. place
  36. political
  37. pope
  38. return
  39. simony
  40. sinner
  41. sinners
  42. society
  43. successors
  44. tear
  45. tells
  46. traditional
  47. widest
  48. witnesses
  49. wrathful
  50. writing