Walking With Dante
A guided journey through Dante's Divine Comedy, offering a passage-by-passage reading with rough English translations, interpretive insights, and connections to modern life. Host Mark Scarbrough explores the literary and historical context of the epic poem, making it accessible to newcomers. New episodes are released every Sunday and Wednesday.
Episodes
An Update About Starting PARADISO soon
Here's just a brief episode about where I am and how the podcast will start again in about six weeks. Hang tight and we'll be walking . . . no, actually flying through the spheres of PARADISO in a few weeks.Until then, gird up your loins. PARADISO is not for those weak in spirit . . . or leggings.
Final Thoughts On PURGATORIO
We've reached the end of our time on the great mountain of Purgatory . . . and in the great second canticle of COMEDY.Here are some final thoughts, an attempt to bring our time with this part of the poem to a close.Dante has worked hard to make PURGATORIO the hinge of his entire poem. Let's explore some ways it reflects back on INFERNO and looks ahead to PARADISO.Here are the segments for this epi
The Seven Addresses To The Reader In PURGATORIO
Dante, the poet, steps out of the story seven times in PURGATORIO to address his reader directly--sometimes to spur the reader on to action, sometimes to put a bridle on the reader's intentions or thoughts.If we trace these seven addresses, can we find a developmental pattern? Or uncover Dante's changing attitude toward his work? Or toward his reader? Can we see a growing frustration or even fear
Dante's Theories Of Writing Across INFERNO and PURGATORIO
As one of three sum-up episode to conclude our time on Mount Purgatory, this one’s about Dante’s conception of what he’s doing when he’s writing, outlined in nine selected passages from INFERNO and PURGATORIO.We’ve moved far enough into the poem that we can see the ways the poet has changed, hedged, and developed his theories of how and why he’s writing COMEDY. Given that one of my theses is that
All The Hopeful Ambiguity Of The Second Canticle: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXIII, Lines 124 - 145
We come to the end of the second canticle, of PURGATORIO . . . and it includes all the ambiguity and humanness we've come to expect, plus hopeful notes for the journey ahead into Paradise.Dante complicates his ending of PURGATORIO with notes about his own dark mind and the incomplete work of this second part of his masterpiece COMEDY.At the same time, we're ready for the stars.Join me, Mark Scarbr
At Long Last, Matelda: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXIII, Lines 103 - 123
The procession continues away from Lethe and farther into the Garden of Eden until they come to a dark, frigid spot that stops them . . . a curious moment in this innocent landscape.And it gets more curious as we discover rivers named and then renamed before we come to the most difficult naming of them all: Matelda, the fair lady who has been with us since PURGATORIO, Canto XXVIII.We'll talk cosmo
Images, Schools, Obscurities, And The Promise Of Clarity: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXIII, Lines 79 - 102
After her final discourse in PURGATORIO, Beatrice and Dante enter into a brief conversation in which he admits he already has images stamped into his brain but he doesn't know what many of them mean, particularly those from her.She, on the other hand, launches into her final condemnation: the school he followed was too debased to capture the truths she has in hand.But she doesn't end there. She al
In Which Pilgrimage Becomes Crusade: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXIII, Lines 61 - 78
Beatrice concludes her monologue at the end of PURGATORIO with some dazzling metaphoric pyrotechnics, a slam on Dante's intellect, and a redefinition of this journey across the known universe. It's not just any old pilgrimage. It's a crusade.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at the final images of her speech and discover its larger, structural details . . . which point us directly ahead to PARA
Take Notes, Dante: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXIII, Lines 46 - 60
Beatrice continues her discourse at the end of PURGATORIO by offering Dante classical examples of her own obscurity, Christian resonances for the very hope of writing, and a challenge for him to become her scribe, to take notes on her lectures.This passage falls in the middle of her long monologue in the last canto of PURGATORIO and it forms the fulcrum that turns us from the apocalyptic vision to
Beatrice And Her Cryptic "Five Hundred Ten And Five": PURGATORIO, Canto XXXIII, Lines 25 - 45
As Beatrice and Dante continue to walk through Eden, she begins the final discourse that will end PURGATORIO: a cryptic, apocalyptic vision of the world (or maybe just the church?) set right. But by whom? Or when? And is the church destroyed? Or is it going to be rehabilitated?Beatrice's vision is the capstone of PURGATORIO and prepares us for the elliptical and stylized poetry to come in PARADISO
Walking With Beatrice In Eden: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXIII, Lines 1 - 24
From tragedy to comedy, the apocalyptic vision in Canto XXXII has come to an end and Beatrice accepts Dante as her walking companion in Eden.A relatively easy passage begins the final canto of PURGATORIO, perhaps a breather before the much more difficult material that will make up the bulk of the last canto of PURGATORIO.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we walk with Beatrice, Dante, the seven ladies,
Apocalypse Even In Eden, Part Two: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, Lines 109 - 160
In the last episode, we talked through some of the "superficial" factors in the grand apocalyptic vision in Eden: its structure, some diction cues, even a few rifts or cracks in its flow.In this episode, let's turn to the much thornier issue of what it all means. A consensus has developed over the seven hundred years of commentary. That reading (or interpretation) now dominates the Anglo-American,
Apocalypse Even In Eden, Part One: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, Lines 109 - 160
Dante is now ready for the final apocalyptic vision of PURGATORIO . . . and in the last place we might expect it: in that bastion of innocence and purity, the Garden of Eden.In seven vignettes, Dante witnesses some chaotic and catastrophic collapse of the chariot and even one of the original trees of Eden.But all is not lost. Beatrice is on the scene. And Dante himself participates in this vision,
A Brief Introduction To Women In The High Middle Ages
Before we continue with Beatrice (and even the young woman who tends the Garden of Eden), let's stop and talk all too briefly about the roles and available places for women in Dante's day, the high middle ages.Although we can't hope to cover this subject in depth, we might be able to see some of its reflections in COMEDY so far, as well as in the complex and even contradictory characterization of
Beatrice, Changed; Dante, Panicked; And The Reader, De-centered: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, Lines 70 - 108
Dante wakes back up from his unexpected sleep to find that the grand parade is heading off into the forest (or maybe the skies). He's in a panic that Beatrice has left, too, although the young woman of Eden comforts him and shows her now humble place under the renewed tree.Meanwhile, we readers are equally panicked . . . or at least de-centered, as we try to make sense of complicated similes and o
Asleep In Eden: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, Lines 49 - 69
The griffin pulls the chariot or cart up to the denuded tree--the "widowed" tree--and the tree regenerates into a color reminiscent of other moments in PURGATORIO. But which one exactly?We're descending into the murk of mystery with new songs that can't be defined, with allegories that are becoming increasingly opaque, and even with classical references that seem somehow out of place in the overal
Games Of Interpretation In Eden: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, Lines 28 - 48
The griffin rolls his chariot up to the foot of a denuded tree as Beatrice descends out of her ride. The symbolism (the allegories, in fact) become increasingly murky, difficult to parse, especially when the griffin says his one and only line in COMEDY.Dante's Garden of Eden is a place where the games of interpretation kick into high gear. Nothing is what it seems . . . yet what it is is a matter
Sound The Retreat In Eden: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, Lines 1 - 27
Face to face with Beatrice, the pilgrim Dante is ready for more revelation. Problem is, even after Lethe he's still doing things wrong and must be corrected by the women around the griffin's chariot.But what is he doing wrong? And why does the entire parade of revelation go into retreat? What indeed does that griffin symbolize? And how did we get from the intensely personal experience of Dante's c
A Read-Through Of PURGATORIO, Cantos XXXII - XXXIII
As we've done across the second canticle of Dante's masterpiece, COMEDY, we're taking some time to read through the final two cantos of PURGATORIO, XXXII and XXXIII.I'll read my rough English translation of the cantos. I'll finesse these more when we take the cantos apart passage by passage.For now, just sit back and listen to the narrative sweep of the final two cantos of PURGATORIO, truly the cl
The Revelation Of Beatrice's Hidden, Second Beauty: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, Lines 127 - 145
We finally come to the face-to-face meeting of Beatrice and Dante. We've waited for this moment since INFERNO, Canto II, when Beatrice first stepped into COMEDY.Neither Dante nor Beatrice speak at their close meeting. Instead, the women around the chariot beg Beatrice to reveal her second, hidden beauty: her mouth.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the complex symbolism in this passage. We'll
Beatrice And The Griffin: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, Lines 112 - 126
Dante has now crossed Lethe and is ready to face Beatrice head on. She has moved to get ready for this eye-to-eye conversation. She's positioned nearer the griffin, a complicated symbol that may have more than one interpretation.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore both Beatrice (particularly her emerald eyes) and this dual-natured beast that seems to become more difficult to interpret with its
Washed Clean In Lethe: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, Lines 91 - 111
Dante wakes up in the arms of the young woman who first welcomed him to the Garden of Eden. She's dragging him through Lethe before she forcefully pushes him underwater.This scene is deeply symbolic and allegorical . . . although it raises many more questions than it answers. In fact, it seems to want to leave many things open-ended, a cue that Dante wants us in the poem, working on solutions to t
Dante Faints For The Third Time In COMEDY: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, Lines 64 - 90
Beatrice has finished her case against the pilgim Dante. All that's left is for him to find his way beyond confession and into confession . . . which he does with a major crack-up that leads him to faint for the third time in COMEDY.Before he collapses, the poem begins a series of inversions or reversals that both increase the ironic valences of the passage and give its reader an almost vertigo-in
Absence Becomes Elevated, High-Style Presence: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, Lines 49 - 63
Beatrice continues to lead Dante toward contrition, pointing out both the purposes of her body (or corpse) and the ways he has failed to followed her lofty beauty.She finishes her second salvo at the pilgrim with a rhetorical flourish, showing the reader (and Dante) that she is a master of rhetoric, someone who commands a high, elevated style of poetry--that is, a fusion of the literal and the met
At Long Last, Dante's Confession: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, Lines 22 - 48
Ever since INFERNO, Canto I, we've never fully understood why Dante woke up lost in that dark wood.Now, in the Garden of Eden, Beatrice brings him to the point where he can voice what he did wrong. He can finally offer his confession.It was all about her all along. And maybe about what he wrote. And maybe about another woman who caught his eye. Or maybe all of it at once.Join me, Mark Scarbrough,
The Poet Loses His Words: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, Lines 1 - 21
Wailing, Dante comes in for Beatrice's impatience. He hasn't responded yet to her charges, so she turns the spear point of her words on him.He cracks . . . and in doing so, loses language, words, the very things that are the heart of his craft.Canto XXXI opens with an intensely emotional scene, meant to bring the pilgrim right to the brink of his ability to handle things . . . about like what happ
Finding The Fit For Your Talent: PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, Lines 127 - 145
Beatrice finishes her first indictment of Dante by showing him the fit subject matter for his abundant talent: her and the damned.She accuses him of chasing after false images, then of discounting her own inspiration in dreams. She ends with her final hope: to descend to the doorway of the dead and get the pilgrim started across the known universe.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the final
When You Don't Get The Redemption You Want: PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, Lines 100 - 126
Beatrice is now fully in charge . . . so much so that she can even tell the angels in the chariot with her what they can't understand.She launches into her first indictment of the pilgrim, Dante. Here, she claims that he hasn't fulfilled his talent.He hasn't? With so much of COMEDY behind us?And what if then the point of this journey? Is it poetic craft or personal redemption?Join me, Mark Scarbro
The Ice Finally Melts: PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, Lines 79 - 99
Beatrice has offered her first condemnation of Dante, just as his salve and mentor, Virgil, has left the scene. He's stuck across Lethe with the ice sheet encasing his heart. Even the angels surrounding Beatrice in the chariot seem dumbfounded by her vitriol and offer the pilgrim a psalm of consolation . . . which finally makes the ice that has surrounded his heart melt. He ends up wailing.Join me
The Admiral Comes Into Her Ship: PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, Lines 55 - 78
We finally hear the first words from Beatrice's mouth. (We've heard her before but as told by Virgil in INFERNO, Canto II.) She is certainly not person we expected. She's the admiral controlling her ship.She names the pilgrim, names herself, and gets very close to blasphemy in a passage that defies our expectations, about as revelation should.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for the moment that Beatrice
Farewell, Virgil: PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, Lines 22 - 54
The parade of revelation has stopped and everything holds its breath for what comes next.She's veiled, behind scattered flowers. But Beatrice arrives, in the place of Jesus Christ, her second coming, her advent in the victory chariot.And as she arrives, Virgil disappears from COMEDY. (Statius, too, even if he's still standing next to the pilgrim.) This moment is perhaps the climax of the poem as w
Brides, Grooms, And Virgil: PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, Lines 1 - 21
The grand parade of revelation has come to a stop across Lethe from our pilgrim, Virgil, and Statius. Everything seems to hold its breath: the constellations stop moving, the crowd goes quiet, one voice calls out for the bride, then a hundred angels appear, calling out for the groom . . . which is surely Jesus, right?We seem to be on the verge of a celestial marriage ceremony, the mystic union of
The Second Coming Of Beatrice: A Read-Through Of PURGATORIO, Cantos XXX - XXXI
As we have done throughout PURGATORIO, let's read through a chunk of the canticle to get the plot down so that we can then focus on the many moving parts that comprise it.Here are cantos XXX and XXXI, in many ways the climax of the first part of COMEDY: the arrival of Beatrice, long awaited since INFERNO, Canto II.Her arrival is like nothing we can expect. In fact, it's her second coming . . . lik
The Conclusion (For Now) Of The Timeless Parade Of Revelation: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIX, Lines 121 - 154
The pilgrim has found the perfect perch to see the full scope and length of the parade of allegories at the top of the Mount Purgatory in the garden of Eden.After the griffin and its chariot come seven merry women and seven more somber men. They are complex allegories that have inspired much debate.More than that, they are also an atemporal moment, something outside of chronological time, the way
The Shocking Emptiness Of Revelation: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIX, Lines 106 - 120
The parade goes on to include a Roman, two-wheeled, victory chariot between the four animals. It's a brilliant moment, a chariot better than even famous Roman conquerors got, pulled by a griffin, a legendary two-natured creature . . . yet with a curious moment of emptiness right in all of the victory.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we continue deeper into the allegory of the parade of revelation at t
No Time For Poetry: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIX, Lines 88 - 105
The parade goes on, now that the pilgrim, Dante, is in a good spot to see it.After the twenty-four lords in white come four animals with green fronds as crowns. They are like the Cherubim in both the prophecies of Ezekiel and in the Apocalypse of St. John (or the book of Revelation).Except not really. Or sort of. Well, the poet doesn't have time to explain. Go read the text yourself. And especiall
The Parade Of Revelation: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIX, Lines 58 - 87
The parade goes on! Our pilgrim, Dante, turns back from Virgil's amazement and finds more of the parade coming toward him . . . at least, he does so after he's reprimanded by the lady who stands across Lethe.In this passage, the poet's craft heightens to reveal gorgeous poetry that comes from the apocalyptic tradition but far exceeds its beauty with both the Easter eggs Dante puts in the text and
That Which Walks In The Forest: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIX, Lines 31 - 57
As the pilgrim, his poets, and the beautiful lady continue to stand beside Lethe, they see the approaching parade of the apocalypse, which is an example of emergent revelation, the truth coming in slowly and even deceptively.Our poet has set up a poetic space that leaves even Virgil speechless as we witness the first of the parade of multiple, open-ended meanings proliferate in the Garden of Eden.
Let The Apocalypse Roll: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIX, Lines 1 - 30
Our pilgrim, Dante, and the beautiful lady across Lethe walk on for a bit before the stream bends and the pilgrim ends up facing the right way to see the first flash of light that will signal the great apocalyptic parade in Eden.The opening of PURGATORIO, Canto XXIX, brings us back to the pastoral world of Guido Cavalcanti's poem before launching us into allegory, theology, morality, and even miso
The Essential Fulcrum Of COMEDY: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVIII, Lines 134 - 148
The beautiful lady winds up her discourse with a corollary that combines both revelation and reason to offer a fulcrum to COMEDY as a whole: The classical world dreamed of Eden.Redemption is a cul-de-sac, returning us to our primal state while also offering us a way to remain readers of the classical world's poetry.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the end of the lady's discourse, the longes
The Abundance Of The Poet's Imagination In Eden: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVIII, Lines 109 - 133
The lady across the stream continues her answer to the pilgrim Dante's question about the breeze and the water. In this case, she explains the ecology of Eden, offers an understanding of global botany, and finally layers the meaning thick over the rivers of Eden, one of which is the poet's utter invention.The landscape itself is becoming allegorical, moral, theological, even anagogical, all while
The Breeze Of The Poem's Faith: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVIII, Lines 85 - 108
The lady in Eden says she's come to answer the pilgrim's questions. And he's got one. It just might not be the first question on our minds.But it's one that reveals the hall of mirrors that the poet has created in COMEDY, in which the poem itself justifies its own fictional if scientific answers to questions that lead the fictional pilgrim (and the very real reader) to a position of faith, based o
The Many Contraditions In Eden: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVIII, Lines 67 - 84
The lady in the forest has come to face the pilgrim and his poets across the stream in the forest.The pilgrim clearly feels a sexual attraction toward her, one that might even make us think of his reactions to Beatrice.She, however, has other ideas, like answering their many questions. Except in so doing, she raises even more questions than she has time to answer.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we wo
The Darkening Poetry Around The Solitary Lady: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVIII, Lines 43 - 66
Our pilgrim, Dante, calls the solitary lady over to him. She can't cross the stream that divides them, but she can dance in place before coming closer to him.All the while, the poet keeps darkening the poetry around her with threatening references in the pilgrim's mouth--that is, classical examples of profane love that end up in tragic circumstances.And all this, despite our poet quoting repeatedl
Of Brooks, Solitary Ladies, and Layered Meanings: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVIII, Lines 22 - 42
Our pilgrim continues walking through the old-growth forest, so dark that very little light can get into its cooling shade.He is eventually blocked by two seemingly small things: a little brook flowing to the left and a solitary lady across the way, singing and picking flowers.But the poet Dante gives us hints that all is already not what it seems.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we continue our journ
Our Pilgrim Let Loose (Again) In A Dark Wood: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVIII, Lines 1 - 21
Our pilgrim has been set free--crowned and mitered, in fact--and can wander at will through the dense, thick wood that tops Mount Purgatory.The opening lines of Canto XXVIII are fully from the pilgrim's point of view. They offer us a wealth of naturalistic detail that looks simple on first blush but that will get layered with sedimentary meaning over the next five and a half cantos.This place is u
The Top Of The Mount (Part One): A Read-Through Of PURGATORIO, CANTOS XXVIII - XXIX
We've come to the top of Mount Purgatory, on the other side of the globe from Jerusalem and the closest earth ever comes to the heavens above.Our pilgrim, Dante, begins to wander around in this new place, almost unprecedented in the poem (except for perhaps that hill and those three beasts back in INFERNO, Canto I). This episode of WALKING WITH DANTE is a read-through of the first two cantos (of s
The Climax Of Virgil In COMEDY: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVII, Lines 124 - 142
We have come to the climax of Virgil's in COMEDY: the apex of his character, the moment when he is what he should have been all along, a poignant and fitting summit for this most difficult figure in the poem.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we stand at the top of the final staircase on Mount Purgatory and take our first steps into the Garden of Eden with the pilgrim who is ready to continue on his own
To Refocus Virgil And COMEDY: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVII, Lines 109 - 123
We come to the climax of Virgil's character in the poem, the end of PURGATORIO, Canto XXVII. Let's take this dramatic and chilling scene in two episodes, starting with the moment our pilgrim, Dante, wakes up from his third dream on the mountain.Virgil steps forward to offer a grand and perhaps new hope. The journey is not about the need for justice. It's now about the search for peace.Join me, Mar
The Third And Final Dream On Mount Purgatory: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVII, Lines 91 - 108
Our pilgrim has lain down on a step of the final staircase of Mount Purgatory, positioned between Statius below and Virgil above him.As he watches the large and bright stars, he suddenly falls asleep to dream of Leah (and her sister Rachel) in an Edenic garden, the hope for self-reflection bound up in the promise of the contemplative life.This dream may well begin to sum up Dante's notion of how a
The Flames Don't Burn Up Irony: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVII, Lines 49 - 90
Our pilgrim has entered the flames of lust. For the first time, he is not a voyeur of the torments. He experiences them on the last terrace of lust.He then hears a call to enter Paradise . . . before he falls asleep on the mountain's rocky staircase.Problem is, those flames don't burn up irony. It's thick in this passage. A goat even gets into Paradise!Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through
Of Fraud, Flames, And Love: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVII, Lines 19 - 48
Our pilgrim stands on the brink of the flames. Virgil has to use every rhetorical trick in his bag to get Dante to move . . . and the only thing that works in Beatrice.In so doing, our poet Dante attempts his first run at defining this desire that is driving him up into the heavens. But he does so in a most curious way: by bringing up Geryon, the monster of fraud.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we st
The Whole World Is On Fire: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVII, Lines 1 - 18
Our pilgrim has come to an impasse: the flames of lust. There's no way forward except to step into them. He must finally feel the sufferings that he has witnessed over the course of COMEDY to this point.This suffering comes after a discussion of the craft of poetry, after a unifying vision of the world, and after Dante's own memories of both seeing people be burned alive as capital punishment and
Final Thoughts About Poetry, Lust, And Meaning On The Last Terrace Of Mount Purgatory
As we pass Arnaut Daniel, the last penitent soul of Mount Purgatory, let's look back over the discussions of poetry and lust in the seventh (and even sixth) terrace of the mountain.Dante has laid out a fairly straightforward theory of poetry through his encounters with three poets. Are these in a logical progression? Are they causally linked, not just sequentially?Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for som
French Poetry Doesn't Have To Condemn You: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, Lines 136 - 148
Guido Guinizzelli has pointed to another figure in the purifying flames of Purgatory's seventh terrace. And now he steps forward, one of the greatest troubadour poets, a model of high-brow poetry and a writer of the sort of lusty verses that led to Francesca's downfall.Arnaut Daniel breaks COMEDY in some ways. He speaks in (a version of) medieval Provençal. But he also gives the final triplicate r
Sweet Becomes Truthful Becomes Poetic: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, Lines 115 - 135
Dante has found his poetic father, Guido Guinizzelli, burning in the fires of lust on the final terrace of Mount Purgatory. Our pilgrim-poet has praised his poetic father for the sweet art that will last.Then Guinizzelli takes the discussion further, morphing that sweetness into truth, offering a metaphysical meaning to a physical sensation. He then proceeds to speak exactly in this sort of poetry
The Love That Dares To Speak Its Name: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, Lines 94 - 114
Guido Guinizzelli has named himself and our pilgrim, Dante, is aghast.He gets lost in a classical simile that almost loses its sense, only to finally find his love for this poetic father and express himself in the straightfoward, new style from which his own poetry was born.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through another complicated but ultimately satisfying passage on the seventh terrace of
Queenly Embeasting: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, Lines 67 - 93
We finally come to know who has been our spokesperson for the lustful penitents: Guido Guinizzelli, perhaps the most important Italian poet working before Dante.Guinizzelli explains who the penitents are by using two classical allusions and even making up words to describe their sin, in the ways that poets always manipulate and even invent language.This passage is a shocking example of Dante's cha
The Pilgrim Writes His Way Into Revelation: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, Lines 49 - 66
We've seen the two crowds of the lustful on the seventh terrace of Mount Purgatory and we clearly identified them in the last passage (and on the last episode of this podcast).But Dante the pilgrim didn't know who they were. He's stuck, confused. He then seeks to break out his manuscript and rule his paper to find his way into the shocking revelation that love in the body can exist in more than on
The Episode In Which My Voice Breaks: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, Lines 25 - 48
Our pilgrim, Dante, may have opened his mouth to answer how he got to where he is in his corporeal body, but he's interrupted by something completely unexpected: a group of people, moving the opposite direction of everyone else on Mount Purgatory. He's witnessing the moment when love moves the fence. These are the homosexuals on the doorstep of heaven.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I work through th
Poets Make The Flames Of Lust More Colorful: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, Lines 1 - 24
The pilgrim, Dante, Virgil, and Statius walk on the narrow ledge between the flames of lust and the drop into the abyss. The penitents in the flames notice that the pilgrim's body makes the flames of lust more colorful . . . the work of any medieval poet in the troubadour tradition when it comes to love!Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we encounter the first penitents in the flames of lust.To support
The Flames And Abyss Of Lust: PURGATORIO, Canto XXV, Lines 109 - 139
Dante, Statius, and Virgil arrive on the seventh terrace of Mount Purgatory filled with the flames of lust.The pilgrim must make his precarious way between those burning fires and the abyss just to his right, a narrow path that may give us a clue to the poet's own fears of lust.This passage is a grab-bag of ideas, hymns, references, and emotions. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore it more ful
The Corporeal Afterlife Of The Immaterial Soul: PURGATORIO, Canto XXV, Lines 79 - 108
Statius concludes his discourse on embryology by finally answering the pilgrim Dante's question about how souls can take on material attributes in the afterlife . . . and by gently correcting both Virgil's incomplete answer to the question in this canto and Virgil's larger explanation of the soul's journey after death in THE AENEID.This passage is justifiably complicated. Dante's imaginative and i
The Breath Of Life, The Breath Of Poetry: PURGATORIO, Canto XXV, Lines 52 - 78
Statius goes on to the second part of his discussion of human embryology by following the fetus through its developmental phases until it finally has a brain. At this point, the prime mover knows it's capable of reason and so breathes a new spirit into it . . . to make it capable of self-reflection.This passage is astounding discourse on developmental embryology as understood by medievals via Aris
The Natural Process Of Life: PURGATORIO, Canto XXV, Lines 34 - 51
Dante the pilgrim has asked the pressing question of how immaterial souls can take on material attributes like leanness.To answer that, Virgil has offered a couple of unsatisfying answers, then turned the lecture over to the redeemed Statius . . . who begins by discussing human digestion. As understood via Aristotle, Aquinas, and more, food is purified into blood which then coagulates into a fetus
Virgil's Inadequacy On Full Display: PURGATORIO, Canto XXV, Lines 22 - 33
Our pilgrim, Dante, has asked a very pressing question: How can shades grow thin? How does the immaterial act like the material in the afterlife?Virgil has given the pilgrim the confidence to ask this question. So Virgil takes the first crack at an answer. Problem is, he offers a whole unsatisfying answer and then turns the discussion over to Statius.This passage is a curious introduction to Stati
Hesitancy Is The Deadly Sin Of Art: PURGATORIO, Canto XXV, Lines 1 - 21
Dante the pilgrim, Virgil, and Statius begin the ever-quickening ascent to the final terrace of Mount Purgatory. As he climbs, the pilgrim has a question about the gluttons on the previous terrace . . . but it's really a question that's been brewing since almost the opening of COMEDY itself.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at the opening lines of PURGATORIO, Canto XXV, a canto that was often t
A Read-Through Of PURGATORIO, Cantos XXV - XXVII
Virgil, Statius, and our pilgrim, Dante, head up to the seventh and final terrace of Mount Purgatory.During the climb, Statius engages in a complicated and fascinating discourse on embryology (at least as understood in Dante's medieval learning).Then we find ourselves standing before a wall of flames with the lustful penitents walking, singing, and shouting as they burn. We discover there are two
The Compensations Of Contemplation: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, Lines 130 - 154
Virgil, Statius, and our pilgrim, Dante, walk along in contemplation, together but also alone with their thoughts.They're interrupted by the angel at the stairs who shows them the way up to the final terrace of Mount Purgatory.Our pilgrim loses his sight but gains precision in his other sense. And our poet gains the daring to rewrite one of Jesus's beatitudes.If you'd like to help underwrite the m
Of Mythic Trees, Human Desire, And Ceremonial Solace: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, Lines 100 - 129
Forese Donati has passed on ahead of our pilgrim Dante and his two guides, Virgil and Statius. They now need to walk on along the sixth terrace of Mount Purgatory to find the stairs up to the last level.They soon come across the second tree on the terrace (or perhaps just the second tree that they’ve seen!). This tree proclaims itself a seedling from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in t
A Look Back Over The Entire Conversation With Forese Donati: PURGATORIO Canto XXIII, Line 40, to Canto XXIV, Line 99
We've finished the giant conversation between the pilgrim Dante and Forese Donati, complete with its interruption by the shade of the poet Bonagiunta of Lucca.Let's look back over the entire scope of the conversation to discover its construction, its architecture, and the way meaning is made and moves through the words.We'll start by reading the entire thing in my English language translation. The
Forese Donati's Parting Apocalypse: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, Lines 76 - 99
We've come to the end of the long conversation between Forese Donati and Dante (as well as others) on the sixth terrace of Mount Purgatory among the penance of the gluttons.Dante the pilgrim hedges the question of when he will die, then Forese leaps into an apocalyptic vision of the ruin of someone closely connected to Florence--that is, his own brother, Corso Donati.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as w
The Daunting Problem Of This Sweet New Style: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, Lines 55 - 75
Dante the pilgrim has claimed that indeed he is the one who is inspired by love, who writes what love breathes into him and then makes meaning from that.Bongiunta is not finished with that discussion. Instead, he goes on to name this inspiration the "sweet new style" (or the "dolce stil novo"), thereby igniting over seven hundred years of commentary and controversy.And Bonagiunta himself seems to
Dante's Wild Claim About Love's Inspiration: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, Lines 34 - 54
After Forese Donati has pointed out five of the gluttons on the sixth terrace of Mount Purgatory, one of them, the first mentioned and a poet of the previous generation, keeps muttering something almost unintelligible under his breath.Our pilgrim asks him for more information. He then offers the pilgrim an oblique prophecy that has troubled Dante scholars for hundreds of years. He also asks if thi
Of Eels And Wine: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, Lines 16 - 33
Forese Donati continues to answer Dante the pilgrim's questions by naming five penitent gluttons surrounding them on the sixth terrace of Mount Purgatory.As he points them out, Forese (and Dante the poet behind him) use culinary and gastronomical imagery to reinforce the themes of the terrace and perhaps to further fuel that long-standing feud between French and Italian cuisine.Join me, Mark Scarb
Virgil's Silence And A First Glimpse Of Paradise: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, Lines 1 - 15
PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, is set as a direct continuation from Canto XXIII. The poet Dante cues us to the continuation but there nevertheless are a couple of subtle disruptions.For one thing, Virgil has been silence for most of Canto XXIII and will indeed remain silent throughout Canto XXIV, his longest silence yet in COMEDY. We won’t hear anything from him until well into Canto XXV.And in this on-g
Renegotiating COMEDY As PURGATORIO Nears Its Climax: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, Lines 112 - 133
Forese Donati has finished his diatribe about Florentine women and is now ready to hear Dante the pilgrim's story. Who did the pilgrim get here in the flesh?The pilgrim retells the journey, renegotiating its opening and reconfiguring its theology, even this high up on the mountain, as we near the apocalyptic climax of PURGATORIO.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we walk slowly through this last passage
From Lofty To Lyrical In The Prophetic Voice: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, Lines 91 - 111
Having praised his wife, Nella, Forese Donati launches into the prophetic voice, the new "high style" that Dante has developed, a screed with a lyrical undertow.This complicated poetic act can only be accomplished with the vernacular, with medieval Florentine (in Dante's case).And although it fuses with misogyny and xenophobia, it nonetheless demonstrates the Dante's new style beyond love sonnets:
The Heroic Nella Donati: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, Lines 76 - 90
Dante the pilgrim and his rival/friend/fellow poet Forese Donati continue to talk about their concerns: suffering, placement on the mountain, and the role of the living in the service of the dead.Along the way, they seem to be coming closer and closer to the Christian idea of redemptive suffering, a complex stance in the face of the nihilism that almost overwhelms the suffering in INFERNO behind
Pain, Solace, And Being Human: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, Lines 49 - 75
Having met his poetic rival, Forese Donati, Dante the pilgrim must make sense of the clear and present pain he sees in friend's face.This passage is a curious example of felix culpa, the fortunate fall, in which suffering must be reinterpreted for the greater good. Except the pain doesn't stop being the pain. Suffering remains the central metaphysical question of the human condition, the experient
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