User:Ch106/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
Dis (Divine Comedy)

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
I chose to evaluate this article because when I checked it, it seemed very bare and could go into greater depth of the meaning of Dis and Dante's inspiration. Since it is classified as a Starter Class article, I decided to evaluate this article to hopefully elevate its status and quality.

Evaluate the article
Lead Section:

The article has a decent lead section, and gives a general overview of the Dis represented in the Divine Comedy. It also has a good outline of the article. However, the lead section does not include descriptions for the other sections, just an outline. The lead section is very short, and does not give a lot of detail to fully understand the role of Dis in Dante's Inferno.

Content:

The content of this article is relevant to the article, but could do with more elaboration about the meaning of Dis and its role in Hell. This article does not deal with Wikipedia's equity gaps. In describing Dis, the article fails to mention its symbolic depiction not only as a picture of Jerusalem in the Medieval Ages, but also Florence. Dis also serves as a memory of God's power, showing evidence of the Harrowing of Hell, and when, in Christian tradition, Jesus came down to defeat death. Furthermore, Dis serves to show the hierarchy of power, as Virgil, or Human Wisdom, could not convince the Fallen Angels to let them pass, but a Heavenly Angel could defeat them and provide access to Lower Hell for Dante and Virgil. Dis can also be referred to as "the ruddy city", as called by Farinata. Dis encloses the circles punishing the sins of the Lion, or violence, and incontinence, sins of the she-wolf.

Tone and Balance:

The tone of this passage is very factual and neutral. This article does not try to influence the reader, and instead conveys information found in Dante's Inferno. However, minority viewpoints or underrepresented viewpoints are not discussed. The article does have a misleading quote about the Islamic religion that is not given context in the passage that could lead to prejudice against the Muslim religion, calling it "the most dangerous enemies of medieval Christendom".

Sources and References:

The sources in this article seem reliable, with the article drawing directly from Dante's works and scholarly articles regarding Hell and Dante's depiction. In the references, the article explains why Islam could be called "the most dangerous enemy of medieval Christendom" at the time, however, it may have been better to explain within the text, not in the footnotes to avoid confusion. Most of the sources draw from Dante's works, but the article also references the works Dante drew upon, and works which relate to Dante's during the time period and after that can be called reliable.

Organization and Writing Quality:

The article is structured well, and in a way that draws upon the previous sections. However, the sections are small, so it is hard to fully evaluate the writing quality. However, the writing is unbiased and factual, following Wikipedia guidelines.

Images and Media:

The only image in the article is by Stradanus, depicting his interpretation of Dis. This article could be improved by adding more pictures of Dis both before and after Dante's work to see the effects his work had on modern images of Hell. The image is well captioned, and provides background information to fully understand the picture.

Talk Page Discussion:

In the talk page, there are discussions about the depiction of Muslims and Jews in an unflattering way that I mentioned before. This article is part of Wiki Religion, and the article is rated as a Start Class in quality. This article is also rated as Low Importance. This article is not focused on what was discussed in class, as it only provides a basic description of Dis, and not the symbolism in its depiction to represent the pride of Florence, and its host of Fallen Angels in relation to Virgil and the Angel sent from Heaven. Furthermore, it is not discussed how the city has been changed since the Harrowing of Hell.

Overall Impressions:

This article is off to a good start, with basic information added that is accurate but could be improved to highlight the importance of Dis within the Divine Comedy. This article is underdeveloped and could do with a more in-depth depiction of Dis and its role in Hell.