Leveled Readings / Boccaccio on the Black Death
Boccaccio on the Black Death
Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron (c. 1350)
These are adaptations, not the original. The original wording is always shown first. Each adapted version restates the same passage at about a grade 4, grade 7, or grade 10 reading level without adding or removing ideas. Quote the original in student writing.
Original wording
“Tedious were it to recount, how citizen avoided citizen, how among neighbors was scarce found any that shewed fellow-feeling for another, how kinsfolk held aloof, and never met, or but rarely…”
Adapted · about grade 4
People stayed away from each other. Neighbors did not help. Even family members stayed apart.
Adapted · about grade 7
It would take too long to tell how citizens avoided each other, how neighbors rarely showed kindness, and how relatives kept apart and seldom met.
Adapted · about grade 10
It would be tiresome to recount how citizen avoided citizen, how scarcely any neighbor showed fellow-feeling for another, and how relatives held aloof and rarely, if ever, met.
Used in: How did people explain and respond to the Black Death?