2015 HUMANITIES FREE-RESPONSE QUESTIONS

 Source B Eng.

Davis, Charles T. “Education in Dante’s Florence.” Journal  40.3
(1965): 415. JSTOR. Web. 21 May 2015.

SUMMARY: The following is an article by Charles Davis, which writes on the lack of reading materials in Florence. Quotes provided could be of particular use in establishing bias within the Italian society.

The availability of classical literature, as distinct from textbooks of grammar or ars dictaminis, is an even obscurer matter. That widespread interest in the classics came late to Florence is indicated by the testimony of the Dominican Giovanni Dominici (ca. 1356-1419), a zealous opponent of the humanistic views of Coluccio Salutati. Dominici complained that the youth of the city were being corrupted by the reading of Ovid and Virgil, and contrasted this sad state of affairs with the good customs of the antichi.  “Education in Dante’s Florence” by Charles Davis from Speculum, 1965