Chelsea Pomponio

I graduated from high school in New Jersey, and moved to Montréal in 2004 to pursue the study of French and Italian.  After writing a senior thesis on the relationship between fire and rhetoric in the twenty-sixth canto of Dante’s Inferno, I received a BA from McGill University with an Honors in Italian literature and a minor in French.  My primary interests include Dante, the medieval conception of language, and the portrayal of Ulysses in Western literature.  I was initially attracted to Penn for its emphasis on interdisciplinary study and the development of pedagogical techniques.  However it is the personalized nature of the Department of Romance Languages, having afforded me the opportunity to form strong bonds with professors and fellow graduate students, that has truly allowed my passion for Italian literature to flourish.  This welcoming environment, combined with the University’s strong ties to Philadelphia’s vibrant Italian community, made choosing Penn an easy decision.

• E-mail: chelseap@sas.upenn.edu