This page walks through the workbench one surface at a time.
MAIN ENTRY
Start here after choosing a canto. Each row is a line of Dante, and the bar immediately shows where commentary density is lighter or denser.
How to use it
Scan the canto vertically, find a line worth opening, then click once to move into line-first reading.
ANALYSIS LAYER
The Line Snapshot appears as soon as a line is selected. It gives the local contour before you begin reading commentary cards in detail.
Line 1 Snapshot
This panel is the fast orientation layer between the chosen line and the deeper reading surfaces below.
CLOSE READING
This is the top of the commentary-reading zone. It keeps the selected line visible and prepares the card stack that follows.
How to use it
Sort the reading stream here, keep the line context in view, and decide whether you want cards, word routes, or comparison next.
COMMENTARY
This is the commentary body itself: the cards you sort, expand, pin, and compare.
How to use it
Read card by card, expand the text when needed, and pin records whenever a line of interpretation needs to stay visible.
DANTE WORD LOCUS LAYER
This route opens when you click a selectable content word in the chosen line.
How to use it
Click one word, then read the word-centered panels in order rather than jumping straight back to cards.
Occurrence Explorer
This panel shows where the chosen word comes back elsewhere in the poem.
How to use it
Start with recurrence: where else does this word appear, and how does that change what the current line is doing?
Weighted Micro-Context Concurrence
This panel asks what other words tend to gather near the chosen word in local contexts.
How to use it
Use it when you want to know what tends to cluster beside the chosen word in nearby poetic space.
Exact Local Phrase Expansions
This panel tests whether the chosen word grows into a short phrase that reappears elsewhere.
How to use it
Look here when the interpretive pressure seems to come from a short repeating expression rather than one isolated word.
Contrastive Interpretive Vocabulary
This panel highlights interpretive vocabulary around the selected lexical focus and its nearby alternatives.
How to use it
Read this when you want a word-centered interpretive contrast, not just recurrence counts.
INTERPRETIVE FIELDS
The semantic panel groups the current line’s commentary into local semantic fields.
Local Semantic Fields for Line
This is still line-local. It does not replace the cards; it gives you another way to enter them.
CROSS-CANTO ECHOES
This panel follows the current line outward across the poem when echoes begin to matter.
Cross-Canto Echoes for Line
Read this after the local line is already clear; it is the widening move, not the opening move.
COMPARE
Compare becomes useful after you pin commentary cards and need them to stay visible side by side.
How to use it
This is the place for parallel reading: several records, one workspace, and less dependence on memory alone.
AUTHORITY
Authority is the separate desk for author-, work-, and figure-centered reading.
How to use it
Move here when you want personaggi, works, and cited authorities to become the main path through the material.