I like to take ownership for following Hozier’s music since his first album. And I proudly stand behind the brilliance of Dante’s Inferno. So when Hozier released Unreal Unearth in 2023, it was a match made in Heaven. Or maybe Hell.
Here’s what I mean.
Dante's Inferno: An Overview
Dante’s Inferno is the first installment in his trilogy, The Divine Comedy, a fourteenth century masterpiece. It follows Dante on his spiritual and, at times, terrifying quest through the Christian afterlife.
Dante begins with Virgil in Hell. Together, they progressively descend into the uttermost depths of Satan’s realm. The Italian poet envisioned nine circles in all, each intensifying in both sin and punishment the deeper one descends.
Loosely, Dante’s Inferno aligns with the seven cardinal sins. Of course, he takes some creative liberties in there given the real and fictional characters he damned to Hell.
Teaching Dante's Inferno
I consider myself deeply blessed to be able to teach portions of Dante’s Inferno with my sophomores. Specifically, we read all of circles two (lust, lucky us) and nine (betrayal). But it’s just too good not to at least touch on the other seven circles.
We begin with a brief overview of Inferno, discussing and animating its structure before diving into the more enjoyable aspects of the sin, punishment, and sinners in each circle. Depending on my class and the time we have, we will split into small groups and prepare miniature presentations dedicated to each circle. Then we share out and revel in the details. It’s great and very captivating for students who are unfamiliar with the concepts Dante practically trademarked.
But this year, I ran the best activity I could possibly think of when it comes to Dante’s Inferno.
Dante's Inferno and Hozier's Unreal Unearth: What a Pair
The first year I taught Dante’s Inferno was 2023 – February, to be exact. Around March or April of that year, one of my students (a fellow Hozier “stan”) couldn’t wait to tell me about his new album, set to drop in August.
His latest album, she told me, was all about Dante’s Inferno!
Man, I had missed it by just a few months!
But my plans stayed in the back of my mind for almost a year. I could hardly wait to put them into action.
All it took was one listen to Unreal Unearth and I knew I was in love. It’s pure genius. If you haven’t yet checked it out, you must do so.
While in lockdown in 2020, Hozier read Dante’s Inferno and was profoundly impacted by the parallels. What he came up with was the most beautiful, creative, and poignant album that, almost song-for-song, tracks a modern day listener through the circles of Hell.
For example, his track “Francesca,” obviously goes with the second circle of Hell, where a sympathetic Dante speaks with a woman named Francesca. “Butchered Tongue” is an interpretive take on violence in the Wexford Rebellion in Ireland.
The more I dug, the more amazed I was at what Hozier did on his album. I couldn’t find a more perfect pair than Dante’s Inferno and Hozier’s album.
Putting My Plans Into Action
Generally, I knew I wanted students to learn about and appreciate the same parallels I saw between this centuries-old text and this brand-new album.
But how?
Assign the Circles
First, I had students work in groups of two or three. I then assigned each group a particular circle of Hell and the corresponding song off the album.
There are definitely some songs that are “easier” than others. Specifically, it’s more obvious how Hozier was inspired by Dante’s Inferno. “Francesca” was already mentioned. “First Light” is another that comes to mind. It is the final song and mirrors Dante’s emergence from the depths of Hell.
Read Excerpts from the Original Text
Because I’m a Literature teacher the literature is, well, kind of important. You know? I was very procedural with my students, explaining that following each of these steps was the best way for them to understand the whole project.
Once circles were assigned, students would see me for a copy of excerpts from their circle of Hell. To do this, I used one of my precious snow days to re-read the entirety of Dante’s Inferno. Yes, all of it!
I required students to annotate the text and answer comprehension questions along the way. Their goal was to pull out patterns and particular word choices. Knowing the song before them, I devised the questions to help them find the most meaningful patterns and word choices.
Listen to the Song and Analyze the Lyrics
With an understanding of the text under their belts, students then listened to the song (several times, I encouraged) and annotated the song lyrics. Again, they answered questions and searched for patterns. And again, I structured the worksheet to help them get their more directly.
Compare and Contrast Dante's Inferno and Hozier's Unreal Unearth
As students gained confidence and momentum, they next compared and contrasted the text and the song. They did this thanks to individualized worksheets per song and circle. Not only did students look for visual similarities (i.e. in the words) but I also challenged them to listen for the similarities, too.
Or the differences …
In “Butchered Tongue,” for example, you might expect a heavy, stressful beat given that it’s about the violent. But it’s a quiet, soft tune. I assigned this as one of the more challenging circles and really coached my students on how to listen for those differences. And then how to make sense of them.
Prepare the Presentation
The culminating stage of this process was a digital presentation to share in front of the class. I graded each of the aforementioned steps along the way. In our department, we weigh grades, so the final presentation held more weight being graded as an assessment. Grading the individual steps helped balance that for those who were not keen on presenting.
Let me tell you, the Dante’s Inferno and Hozier presentations absolutely blew me out of the water.
I do not exaggerate when I say I’ve listened to Unreal Unearth straight through hundreds of times.
And my students still taught me things I never noticed before. Students not only tackled the lyrical and textual similarities, but they zeroed in on all the subtle and creative sounds Hozier so clearly wanted us to hear. From instruments to tempo to style, my students had the most creative, complex, and sophisticated insights I could have ever hoped for.
ELL, ESL, and ELD Accommodations
If you follow some of my other blog posts, you know I take a lot of pride in being the Literature teacher responsible for most of our Spanish-speaking students. This year, they account for a growing portion of my classroom population, so I know I have to up my game when preparing material for them.
For my Inferno and Hozier project, I accommodate in two majors ways. First, I assigned them one of the two circles we covered in depth in our class: Circle Two and Circle Nine. It just made sense given we read the entirety of those texts (with my language accommodations).
If you don’t teach those two circles specifically, “Francesca” and “Unknown/Nth” are two of the more approachable circles and songs.
The other major accommodation I provide is a translation of the text, song lyrics, and worksheets. Providing material in their native language can help them break down some of the initial barriers so they can really dive in deeply and make the most of this assignment.
I did not require my ELLs to present in front of the entire class. Instead, I had them present to me during our study hall period in front of a smaller group of fellow ELL students.
Check out another resource I use in my Dante’s Inferno instruction, regardless of our Hozier inclusion.
Dante's Inferno, Hozier, and YOU!
If you teach Dante’s Inferno, I cannot contain my enthusiastic recommendation that you incorporate at least some of Hozier’s Unreal Unearth into your lessons. Full disclosure: part of me hopes Hozier stumbles across this humble little blog so he can read how fully I’m geeking out over his music and his brilliance.
And if you are interested in any of the above-mentioned resources, I would love to share my entire lesson with you, ELL/ESL/ELD accommodations included!
One final thought: it will truly amaze you how much you’ll get out of this lesson based on the modern connections you can help your students see.
Even though Dante’s Inferno is hundreds of years old, it’s still relevant today. Within the last decade, a major motion picture featuring Tom Hanks was released (it was based on Dan Brown’s Inferno). And just a few weeks after we concluded our Inferno unit, one of my students emailed me over the weekend to share with me that Dante’s Inferno popped up in the podcast she listened to. She was so excited to understand deeply what the host was trying to say.
Let me know how it goes in your classroom by leaving a comment below!
