I have mixed feelings about Andrea. I love him and I love his personality, but his style of teaching makes it difficult to do well even if you really do know the material. This is because on the 5 quizzes, he asks you to identify quotes by the person who said it, which canto (like chapter) it is in, and the context of the quote. I knew the material VERY well I mean like I spent a lot of time studying and I knew everything BUT when it came to identifying which canto it is from, it was difficult for me and for other students too. We did not see the relevance of understanding which canto it is from and we felt like we're not really learning the material or the bigger picture of everything Dante teaches us but we're actually just memorizing and cramming material.

Other than that, Andrea also grades pretty harshly on his essays. You really should work on them weeks in advance and ask for help in his office. He grades on things like style of your essay as well. The essays are only 4 pages but actually I would rather have a larger limit because I felt like I could not articulate my thoughts enough in only 4 pages.

i felt like the class was a memorization. It got interesting at times but it just stressed me out way more than I expected it to. It is not a lot of reading, as each canto is like 5 pages and he usually asks you to read 3 or 4 cantos for each class, but I feel like for what I learned in the class, I could not write a thorough essay. A lot of times he went over little things in the text in class but we never fully reached a point where it was like the meaning of all of these little things. I felt like we were going over all these things in the text but never reached a deeper understanding of theme in Dante. Only at the very last 2 weeks of the class did I feel I was understanding the theme.

Overall, Andrea is a tougher grader, but he is a really nice guy OH and he is extremely good looking lol (the italian accent and knowledge of everything adds). I would recommend this class to people, but only if they are willing to work hard. It is not insanely difficult, but it does require effort, especially for the essays and passage identifications. You do not have to really read the material thoroughly to do well in the class, this is because everything he goes over in class is on the quizzes only. He will not surprise you with something he never talked about. Anyway, I ended up with an A.

I absolutely loved this class. I love Dante and being familiar with The Divine Comedy is an advantage going into it because it is a major work of literature and there's a lot to learn. This was also a class that counts towards my major. If you are not familiar with Dante or classical literature this might be a lot for you. Get prepared to study like crazy for the final but when you finish this class you will know all the important cantos of Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. You will retain a ton of knowledge from it. Loved this professor, he's genius and very entertaining. Take advantage of his office hours.

I found this class super interesting and I would definitely recommend this course. I would just emphasize that the readings are incredibly important and it's easy to fall behind if you don't stick to the schedule. Also the lecture info is super important so TAKE GOOD NOTES.

Moudarres is a great professor and a really nice guy. He is very passionate about what he does. Every time I walk into his office he's working very hard. This class was really good, not too difficult but you definitely have to put in work. The reading can be tough for people who aren't English majors but it is very interesting. In terms of your grade, you get what you put in.

SELLING the three books for this class, which is the whole Divine Comedy Set, for VERY CHEAP. Text me **********

THIS COURSE FULFILLS THE LITERATURE IN TRANSLATION REQUIREMENT for majors who require that kind of thing.

Andrea is an excellent professor. His lectures are organized and efficient; he clearly communicates expectations for the quizzes (5), papers (2; 4 pages each), and final (1, obviously); he promptly replies to emails and holds reliable office hours; and he informs students about any relevant events or articles pertaining to the course.

Beyond that, Andrea is friendly, intelligent, and manages to have a sense of humor while lecturing on eternal damnation. He's a generous grader when it comes to the quizzes and final, and I didn't find his or the TA's paper-grading unreasonable.

As a non-major, I didn't expect to get much from this course. However, Andrea did a fantastic job of explicating the text, and I have a new love and appreciation for the Comedy because of him (and Dante, I guess).

Gonna start with the grading of this class first..

The grading is broken up into 5 reading quizzes worth 25% of your grade in total, 2 papers each worth 25% of your grade, and the final exam worth 25% of your grade. Grade distribution is fair, quizzes are straight forward but obviously require that you read the material and pay attention in class. However, I will say he's a pretty tough grader when it comes to the papers but that doesn't mean you can't get an A! He gives you the opportunity to ask him about your thesis/argument and he'll always point you in the right direction if he thinks you're going off track. So there's no reason you can't do well!

On that note, I just have to say that Professor Moudarres is amazing, SO brilliant and passionate about the subject he teaches. He's charming and has a good sense of humor which make the lectures enjoyable. He definitely needs to get more credit for how great he is!

But keep in mind that at the end of the day it's a LITERATURE course, so yes there will be reading that you have to pay close attention to, and yes, you will be expected to write well on your essays. But getting an A is totally doable.

Overall, I encourage everyone to take this class, you won't regret it! :)

As goes for any literature class, loads of reading and quizzes.
Take if you are interested in poems or what not.
despite the reading assignments and quizzes that can get annoying, class is okay.
wouldnt take it again, personally.