Walking With Dante

Help underwrite the costs associated with this free podcast! Licensing fees, hosting fees, streaming fees, music and sound royalties: it all adds up. You can donate to WALKING WITH DANTE at <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=36M8739SMC896">this PayPal link here</a>.Still standing on the cusp of the valley of the negligent rulers, not yet among them, Dante witnesses two angels descend from heaven, the first we've seen come from the blessed realms. (The first angel of PURGATORIO is apparently a boatman between a spot in Italy and Mount Purgatory.)Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for an exploration of this curious passage about angels--as guardians, yes; but also as performers in a bit of nightly street theater.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:21] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto VIII, lines 19 - 45. If you'd like to read along or continue the discussion with me, please go to my website: <a href="https://markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[03:38] The first of seven direct addresses to the reader in PURGATORIO.[07:26] A courteous (or noble) army: a key interpretive crux for Canto VIII.[09:10] Two angels from above, reminiscent of the Cherubim put on guard at the Garden of Eden after the expulsion of Adam and Eve.[13:28] Green angels and liturgical colors.[16:47] The irony of sight in the face of angelic brightness.[19:27] A reference to Mary that plays into the meaning of Canto VIII.[21:16] Freezing in Purgatory.[24:06] Deflating the drama in this passage.[26:35] Rereading PURGATORIO, Canto VIII, lines 19 - 45.

Help me keep WALKING WITH DANTE sponsor-free. You can donate to support the podcast at <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=36M8739SMC896">this PayPal link here</a>.We move closer to the negligent rulers on the slope of Mount Purgatory, seated or standing about in a dale on the slope before the main gate.Among them, we encounter longing, yearning, dreaming, sadness, all at the moment of the end of the day, its death, even as someone is already anticipating sunrise (and resurrection?).Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore one of the most beautiful passages in Dante's COMEDY: human, intimate, and cosmic, all the crisscrossing we expect of this great poet.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[02:19] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto VIII, lines 1 - 18. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please go to my website: <a href="https://markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[04:47] The opening pseudo-simile about sailors and pilgrims.[08:27] Out of canonical time and into common time, with a yearning for what was.[11:32] The irony of sight in a darkening landscape.[12:43] An unknown soul and the importance of the east.[15:58] The hymn "Te Lucis Ante" . . .[19:02] Which is the third hymn of PURGATORIO.[20:58] The divided self and the ecstatic experience.[24:53] A glimpse of the journey ahead.[26:29] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto VIII, lines 1 - 18.

In the last episode of this podcast, we glossed (or explained) the long list of rulers who are in the darkening dale ahead of us, as well as Dante, Virgil, and Sordello.In this episode, let's ask interpretive questions of this long, difficult passage at the end of PURGATORIO, Canto VII. Some of these questions have answers; some, tentative answers; and some, mere speculation. But that's the intellectual fun of the walk with Dante!Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I ask ten questions of this tough passage in PURGATORIO.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[02:06] My English translation of the passage: Purgatorio, Canto VII, lines 82 - 136. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment to continue the conversation, please go to my website: <a href="https://markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[06:28] The ten questions: First, How do we know these are all "negligent rulers"?[09:45] How is the antiphon "Salve Regina" significant for this passage (and maybe for PURGATORIO as a whole)?[13:21] Is there an allegorical (or symbolic) significance to the "not steep" approach to this dale?[14:33] Does the passage verge toward nihilism?[16:15] Is Dante a proto-democratic thinker?[18:13] How is political power bestowed in Dante's day?[19:40] Is there humor in this passage?[22:16] How does Dante believe political power should be bestowed?[25:02] How are PURGATORIO Cantos VI and VII connected?[27:21] Who is the intended audience of this passage?

Please help support this podcast. I have a great many hosting, streaming, licensing, journal, and royalty fees associated with this work. Anything you can give helps! Use <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=36M8739SMC896">this PayPal link here </a>to make a contribution.We finally get to see who is down in that beautiful dale in front of us on the lower slopes of Mount Purgatory--and it turns out to be a roster of rulers from the mid- to late-1200s.These kings have mucked up the European landscape and left it in the mess that Dante finds it. They appear to be repenting their actions. But they were also excessively action-oriented figures, going to war with each other for dynastic and territorial control.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for the first of two parts on the end of PURGATORIO, Canto VII. This passage is tough--so this first time through it, we'll just fill in the historical details before we turn to questions of interpretation in the next episode of WALKING WITH DANTE.Here are the segments for this episode:[01:46] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto VII, lines 82 - 136. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or continue the conversation with me, please go to my website: <a href="https://markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[06:00] The passage again, this time glossed with all of its historical detail, a crash course in central and southern European politics of the mid- to late-1200s.[23:44] The initial interpretive questions we should explore as we try to think through the problems this passage causes COMEDY as a whole and the ways it refocuses the poem Dante's growing political stance.

Help keep WALKING WITH DANTE sponsor-free by donating to help me cover its licensing, hosting, streaming, and royalty fees. You can use <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=36M8739SMC896">this PayPal link here</a> to make a contribution.Sordello leads Virgil (and Dante the pilgrim, whom Sordello has hardly noticed) on to the beautiful dale on the lower slopes of Mount Purgatory.This passage is one of the first where the poet has to write about beauty. And in doing so, he has to renegotiate his position toward Virgil's great poem, THE AENEID.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at the steps up to the ridge that overlooks what will become the beautiful valley of the kings.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:13] My English translation of this passage: PURGATORIO, Canto VII, lines 64 - 81. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or drop a comment, please go to my website, <a href="https://markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[03:37] With minimal effort, Sordello, Virgil, and Dante the pilgrim come to what seems to be the Elysian Fields of THE AENEID's afterlife.[07:23] Dante's poetry may not yet be astute enough to handle beauty, rather than terror.[13:05] If this spot in PURGATORIO is indeed an allusion to the Elysian Fields, then what of Limbo back in INFERNO?[18:42] Rereading all of PURGATORIO, Canto VII, through this moment: lines 1 - 81.

Help keep WALKING WITH DANTE sponsor-free. Your donation at <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=36M8739SMC896">this PayPal link</a> helps cover streaming, hosting, website, and licensing fees for this podcast. Donate <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=36M8739SMC896">here</a>.Virgil has turned the journey into his own--but now confronts not only his limits but perhaps everyone's as Sordello warns him (and Dante the pilgrim) that night is falling on Mount Purgatory.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore this very strange passage from PURGATORIO in which we find out for the first time that the Elysian Fields lies in front of us but that we'd better get there while we still can.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[02:09] My English translation of this passage: PURGATORIO, Canto VII, lines 37 - 63. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or continue the conversation, please go to my website, <a href="https://markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[04:33] The passage seems to call back to Belacqua in PURGATORIO, Canto IV, and to show us that PURGATORIO is starting to wrap into itself.[08:07] Sordello "uses" a passage from THE AENEID to explain their movement on Mount Purgatory.[12:53] Sordello is only talking to Virgil, despite Dante standing right there.[15:35] Virgil asks questions about ability and the will--and the allegory gets very intense.[18:41] Sordello makes a gesture similar to the one Jesus makes in John 8 when the woman is caught in adultery.[21:12] When there's no light, stay where you are--or else you might have to move down.[23:16] Delight is the central motivation of PURGATORIO and even COMEDY as a whole. Too bad knowing that does Virgil no good.[24:48] Delight directs the will.[26:40] Love may move the fence but that movement is always costly.

If you'd like to donate to WALKING WITH DANTE to keep it afloat without sponsors, you can give some a little in any currency using <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=36M8739SMC896">this PayPal link</a>.Sordello stands amazed in the presence of the great poet Virgil. The pilgrim Dante? Seemingly forgotten.Sordello wants to know how this classical poet got into Purgatory. So Virgil offers an explanation that reiterates what we know about Limbo but also redefines Limbo and perhaps causes Dante the poet to trip across the wires of his own thinking.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we watch Dante renegotiate the presence of Virgil in COMEDY once again, ever trying to come to terms with a pagan poet in a Christian poem.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:43] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto VII, lines 16 - 36. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or continue the conversation with me, please go to my website, <a href="https://markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[03:49] How is Virgil the "glory of the Latins" as Sordello claims? What does that mean to Sordello (and to Dante)?[06:02] There are at least two ways to handle Sordello's claim: 1) Latin was Virgil's vernacular or 2) Virgil showed the capabilities of language itself.[10:28] Apparently, Sordello isn't bothered by Virgil's eternal status.[11:14] Virgil offers an overview of his journey. His. Is it his? What of Dante the pilgrim?[15:22] Virgil seems both to reiterate and to redefine our understanding of Limbo.[19:07] Dante wants the human will to be the mechanism of salvation but that notion runs contrary to the Christian doctrine of original sin.[21:40] Dante is renovating Virgil because Virgil is the prime way Dante can renovate classical learning.

Please help support WALKING WITH DANTE to keep it sponsor-free. You can make a donation in any currency using <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=36M8739SMC896">this PayPal link</a>.We've come out of the invective against Italian strife and returned to the plot of COMEDY--and Dante the poet clearly wants to return Virgil to the center of the narrative's stage.But can he? How is Virgil's position negotiated and renegotiated as the damned Virgil walks on into the redeemed landscape.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I explore our return to storytelling in a passage in which Dante the pilgrim seems to fall through the cracks of Dante the poet's larger strategies.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:51] My English translation of this passage: PURGATORIO, Canto VII, lines 1 - 15. You can find it on my website, <a href="https://markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[03:24] The emotional space that opens PURGATORIO, Canto VII, and may re-establish Virgil's position in COMEDY.[09:04] Virgil names himself for the first time in COMEDY and offers a rationale (maybe!) for his damnation. But isn't Cato always in the offing?[15:59] Sordello suddenly becomes uncertain (no longer a crouching lion?) in the face of the great poet.[18:27] The redeemed Sordello abases himself in front of the damned Virgil.

Donate to help keep WALKING WITH DANTE on its path by using this <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=36M8739SMC896">PayPal link here</a>.Dante's invective against political strife reaches its height by turning its rhetoric toward Dante's own experience--and maybe even his experience in writing COMEDY.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we watch Dante's poetic craft fall apart a bit and then turn back to the poet's own experience, all to find his stance as the prophet-poet he wants to be.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[02:40] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto VI, lines 127 - 151. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment to continue the conversation, please go to my website, <a href="https://markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[05:05] The rage-filled sarcasm seems to go off the rails in a loss of good poetic craft.[09:26] The invective turns to the poet's personal experience and a call-back to a previous moment in PURGATORIO, Canto VI.[13:12] The invective ends with a terrific image of a feather bed and a sick woman as the summation of the political problems in Florence.[15:48] PURGATORIO, Canto VI, is directly related to INFERNO, Canto VI.[20:10] In PURGATORIO, Canto VI, Dante the poet may be learning how to become the prophet-poet he wants to be.

Rage knows no bounds--even in a poem as controlled as Dante's COMEDY. The poet has been offering up an invective about Italian strife and the war-torn landscape that has ruined his home. But in the middle passage of his invective, he may have finally lost all control and committed outright blasphemy.Or maybe really complex irony. It's hard to tell.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the middle of the invective in PURGATORIO, Canto VI. Here are the segments for this episode of the podcast WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:21] My English translation of the medieval Florentine for PURGATORIO, Canto VI, lines 106 - 126. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or drop a comment to continue the conversation, please go to my website, <a href="https://markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[03:23] Who are the various families in this passage: the Montecchi, the Cappelletti, the Monaldi, and the Filippeschi?[07:47] Who is the Marcellus who ends this middle section of the invective?[09:46] To whom is this middle passage of the invective addressed?[12:28] The poet turn to the (Justinian?) legality of questioning God's purposes.[13:50] Dante seems to taunt God.[15:58] Here are two possible answers to the tangled knot of blasphemy in this passage.

We've danced around the notion of Dante as the pilgrim and Dante as the poet and their competing voices in COMEDY for so many episodes--quite literally, years now. But does this split in Dante hold up? Why do we allow something to occur in interpretation which never occurs in the poem?Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for this interpolated episode of WALKING WITH DANTE. I want to engage in some rather high-level narrative theory to talk about why we need to make the split between pilgrim and poet, a split that COMEDY itself never makes.Here are the segments of this podcast episode:[01:15] My thesis: the pilgrim/poet split is a convenient fiction to allow us to come to terms with a polyvalent or multivocal work.[04:10] Nowhere in COMEDY is there a distinct moment when we see Dante the pilgrim and Dante the poet differentiated.[07:38] Sordello's lack of categorization (which sort of penitent is he?) gives Dante the narrative space to break the sequence of events (the "walk") and offer his invective.[11:39] There are wildly contradictory moments in COMEDY that break our neat pilgrim/poet split.[13:50] What are other examples of polyvalent or multivocal works? And why do we so value them?

Please consider supporting this work in WALKING WITH DANTE by donating to help me cover hosting, streaming, website, and licensing fees for this podcast by visiting <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=36M8739SMC896">this Paypal link here</a>.The story (or narrative) of PURGATORIO comes to a halt in Canto VI and the poem turns into a political invective. There are interesting problems here: with metaphors, with history, with poetics, and with (perhaps) our own expectations. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I have to face my own expectations about COMEDY in this difficult canto of PURGATORIO.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[02:16] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto VI, lines 76 - 105. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or continue the conversation with me, please go to my website, <a href="https://markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[05:48] Who was Justinian and why was he important to Dante?[09:58] Who was "German Albert," as well as his successors? And why were they important to Dante?[15:12] The opening third of the invective moves from a messy jumble of metaphors to a single, controlling metaphor. Is this movement enacting Dante's own political hopes?[19:47] Dante's politics are deeply troubling, as are our own: chaos calls for an iron fist.[21:52] Sordello is a crouching lion, a threat, because he represents the sort of poet Dante could have become.

Help support WALKING WITH DANTE by donating to cover hosting, licensing, streaming, and podcast fees at the PayPal link <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=36M8739SMC896">here</a>.Virgil has come in for a bit of a whipping. But no worries! All is forgiven. Dante still sees Virgil as his liege in a feudal context, his ultimate guide.And together, they find a solitary soul on the slopes of Mount Purgatory: Sordello, a troubadour poet and Dante's second guide across the known universe.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore this intriguing figure who sits by himself, isolated and uncategorized in COMEDY's schematics.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:52] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto VI, lines 49 - 75. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or drop a comment to continue the conversation, please go to my website, <a href="https://markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[04:27] How does Virgil know what he knows?[09:47] The poet Dante strangely interrupts the narrative sequence in this passage.[12:38] A busking break![13:36] The soul ahead is not only solitary physically, but also emotionally.[16:50] Who is Sordello? Dante's second guide across the known universe, a figure deeply connected to others across COMEDY, and a distinguished, late troubadour poet from Italy.[25:07] A read-through of the narrative section of PURGATORIO, Canto VI: lines 1 - 75.

Help support WALKING WITH DANTE by covering the hosting, editing, and licensing fees. You can donate through PayPal <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=36M8739SMC896">here</a>.The pilgrim Dante and Virgil pass on from the crowd. And now Virgil really becomes the loser.Dante inquires about a passage in THE AENEID. And Virgil answers like a prof who is caught with a question he can't answer.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the second time in COMEDY that Virgil is forced to correct his masterpiece in front of Dante.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:19] My English translation of this passage: PURGATORIO, Canto VI, lines 25 - 48. If you'd like to read along or print it off to make notes, please go to my website: <a href="https://markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[03:36] Dante quizzes Virgil about the theology of the master's tragedy. What text is Dante the pilgrim referencing? THE AENEID, Book VI, around lines 373 - 376.[05:44] Virgil replies with garbled logic, if not utter sophistry.[11:21] The three most common medieval responses to classical texts like Virgil's.[15:55] My personal theory: the poet Dante may still be in a bit of an infernal state of mind, seeing souls as "placed" rather than "in transit."

Help support WALKING WITH DANTE to keep it sponsor-free. Click <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=36M8739SMC896">here</a> for a PayPal link to donate and help me cover licensing, hosting, streaming, and research fees.Having heard three stories of those who died violent deaths unshriven, Dante the pilgrim is besieged by requests from others. A crowd forms around him, all begging for prayer, including six individuals singled out from the crowd.But something's amiss. Someone has won at a game of dice--and someone has lost. Who's the winner and who's the loser?Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore this final episode to those who died violent deaths yet are among the souls slowly (!) ascending to heaven.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:26] My English translation of this passage: PURGATORIO, Canto VI, lines 1 - 24. If you'd like to read along or print it off to make notes, please go to my website: <a href="https://markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[04:09] PURGATORIO, Canto VI as a whole: an introduction to its structure.[06:19] The six souls who accost the pilgrim Dante: three named and three unnamed (or, better, named periphrastically).[15:49] Why does Dante the poet feel the need to obscure three of these pressing souls?[19:08] An Arabic game of dice opens Canto VI--and may be a meta-statement about COMEDY as a whole.[24:18] Who is the winner of this game? Dante the pilgrim, of course. But who is the loser? Probably Virgil!

In this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE, we'll read the three cantos that lead us up to the gate of Purgatory itself.These are tough cantos! It's important to hear them before we break them apart to study them. Many a reader has been daunted by what's happening here before we finally get into Purgatory proper. Don't despair. We'll get down the flow (or lack thereof!) in these cantos before we start to study them more in depth.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[03:24] Reading Purgatorio Cantos VI - VIII. This is my English translation which you'll be able to find on my website, <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>, in smaller chunks when we start to break it down and study it in more depth.[26:53] Initial questions that arise from Purgatorio, Cantos VI - VIII.

Dante the pilgrim has heard two dramatic speeches from characters whose deaths were full of Sturm und Drang. Now, a quiet, lone voice comes forward to tell an elliptical, enigmatic tale of her violent death in only seven lines (one of which is a dialogue marker).Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we listen to "la Pia" and attempt to come to terms with her devastating speech which has befuddled commentators for over 700 years.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:32] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto V, lines 130 - 136. If you'd like to read along, print it off to make notes, or continue the conversation with me, please go to my website, <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[06:28] Who is "la Pia"? An enduring mystery.[12:16] Distinct interpretive knots in Pia's short speech.[20:23] Pia's speech happens after the first moment of the veneration of the Virgin Mary in COMEDY. That placement can't be my mistake.[22:17] Two ways to interpret Pia's speech.[26:00] What can we make of the poetics of Pia's speech?

We come to the second monologue in PURGATORIO, Canto V. This time, we're on the other side of the battle of Campeldino with one of Dante's enemies. And we're on the other side of INFERNO, with a son whose father we saw damned with Ulysses and Diomedes.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore this most surprising speech and continue to discuss the ways PURGATORIO is changing the game for Dante's masterpiece, COMEDY.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:19] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto V, lines 85 - 129. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or drop a comment on this episode, please go to my website: <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[04:38] Who was Buonconte da Montefeltro?[08:36] A positive and a negative node in the passage: a sense of humility and a growing misogyny in PURGATORIO.[13:11] Dante the poet offers a ham-handed narrative tercet while also forgiving his enemy, Buonconte--in other words, bad form but good ethics.[14:25] Buonconte's speech is the first true node of the veneration of the Virgin Mary in COMEDY. But there's also a problem here. What or whom is Buonconte actually forgiving?[18:05] Buonconte brings up the problem of veracity in COMEDY by foregrounding the credulity (or incredulity) of his story.[22:01] There are demonic voices in PURGATORIO![23:26] There are more bits of Virgil's GEORGICS in this passage. Even more important, Buonconte's speech shows that COMEDY is becoming more and more encyclopedic.[27:35] Two shocking bits. Apparently, one needn't be buried in sacred ground. And Dante the poet gives the more learned speech to his former enemy.[29:49] Four ways Buonconte's speech ties back to Jacopo del Cassero's: 1) Campeldino, 2) bloody deaths, 3) a tour of Italian geography, and 4) distinct references back to INFERNO.

The frenzied souls had spoken in unison, in monophony. Now they begin to differentiate, to enter into polyphony with each other.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we hang out on the first minor ledge of Purgatory with Dante the pilgrim and Virgil, his guide. They've been confronted by a mad battalion charge of souls who want to know how the pilgrim is in his body and what he can do for them when he returns to the land of the living.One of them steps out and tells the story of his death, the first of three stories that end PURGATORIO, Canto V. Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:32] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto V, Lines 64 - 84. If you'd like to read along, print it off, make notes, or continue the discussion with me, please go to my website, <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[03:43] This soul is Iacopo or Jacopo del Cassero (c. 1260 CE - 1298 CE). Here are the important facts about his life.[10:14] A line-by-line reading of the first half of Jacopo's story of his death.[18:53] A line-by-line reading of the second half of Jacopo's story of his death.[23:55] Why is this passage so associated with Italian geography? What has so much of PURGATORIO so far been about Italian geography and politics? Is Dante making a comment about his homeland as a sort of Ante-Purgatory?[26:47] Jacopo's speech shows Dante the poet's attempt to "reconcile" the fraudulent nature of language while upholding its poetic possibilities. It's a task destined to fail--and spectacularly.

The pilgrim Dante and his guide, Virgil, have passed beyond the lazy souls and on to a group that's in a frenzy: running, calling out, speaking in one voice. The change is marked and important to understand how PURGATORIO works.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore this passage from the fifth canto of PURGATORIO. These souls have died violent deaths. And they want something from the pilgrim Dante. He wants something, too. And his wants are somehow tied with Virgil.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[02:16] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto V, lines 37 - 63. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or drop a comment about this episode, please go to my website, <a href="markscarbrough.com.">markscarbrough.com.</a>[04:33] A concise but double simile, so compact it's a little garbled in the medieval Florentine--and perhaps comes from Virgil's GEORGICS (Book I, lines 365 - 367).[08:27] Virgil doesn't seem to fully know what these frenzied souls want from the pilgrim Dante. If Virgil doesn't understand Christian theology, what then is his purpose in PURGATORIO?[13:17] The souls speak in one voice (to Dante the pilgrim, NOT to Virgil!). The narrative movement of PURGATORIO is monophony (or unison) to polyphony.[16:27] The souls want a transactional relationship with Dante the pilgrim. And maybe with Dante the poet, too.[18:32] Dante seems to clarify the initial metaphor's implications.[20:38] Two fundamental keys to PURGATORIO's thematics in this passage.[25:30] Five interpretive problems in this passage.

We come to a second scene, certainly sequential, almost contemporaneous with the previous scene among Belacqua's cohorts.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we come to one of the great contrasting moments in PURGATORIO: the lazy souls with Belacqua vs. these souls, traversing the slope, singing, running, shouting, and making an all-around ruckus.The key here, as always (so far), is Virgil. His response seems the opposite in this scene to his response just a few lines earlier. What gives?Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:16] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto V, lines 22 - 36. If you'd like to read along, print it off to make notes, or drop a comment to continue the conversation, please go to my website: <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[03:03] We hear the second song in PURGATORIO--and the second "miserere" of COMEDY.[04:51] The pilgrim's body stops not only the sunlight but also the "miserere." Surely there's a moral point afoot here![07:54] Why is Virgil's attitude so different from just a few lines back? Three possible answers.[13:20] Where are we? In Ante-Purgatory, according to the commentators, although Dante's been pretty quiet about the specifics of our geography. What is this place if it's not Purgatory itself? And who are these souls, the prisoners of hope?

Dante the pilgrim has had his last words with Belacqua and begins his journey on up the mountain. Or at least, laterally along the mountain of Purgatory.But those negligent souls with Belacqua are not done with the pilgrim. They point him out and seem suddenly to leap into action . . . or at least, into words.Dante is . . . flattered? Proud? Distracted. Virgil is having none of it. He reprimands the pilgrim and may give us a clue into the changing poetics of PURGATORIO.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we walk through the opening lines of canto V of PURGATORIO.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:03] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto V, lines 1 - 21. If you'd like to read along, print it off for notes, or continue the conversation with me, please go to my website: <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[03:01] PURGATORIO, Canto IV and the unity of the soul vs. PURGATORIO, Canto V and the apparent stability/ultimate fragility of the body.[05:48] Canto V seems to open with more sardonic irony: a lot of activity from the negligent, lazy souls under the shadow of the rock with Belacqua.[08:20] Virgil's reprimand is one of his most strident in COMEDY. It also recapitulates the argument about the unity of the soul.[10:58] Dante the pilgrim may exhibit some hubris (or overreaching pride) in this passage. Or perhaps not. It's a tad unclear.[13:53] Dante the pilgrim certainly sees Virgil's remarks as a reprimand. But can there be error in the redeemed part of the afterlife?[17:15] Maybe Virgil is onto something about the writing of PURGATORIO. It cannot be "merely" about Dante the pilgrim's reactions.[19:44] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto V, lines 1 - 21.

We've reached the end of the first narrative arc of PURGATORIO. Dante the poet brings the first five cantos to a close with a very quiet, almost disturbing decrescendo: a small voice, a woman's voice, reduced the barest details.Join me as we read through PURGATORIO, Canto V, before we take it apart and start our slow-walk through it, passage by passage. My English translation is not found on my website. Instead, I just want you to sit back and take the canto in before we pull it into so many pieces.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:20] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto V. Again, it's not found on my website. Instead, please just listen for the narrative flow.[08:38] What initial questions do we have after we've read PURGATORIO, Canto V?

We've talked about Belcqua as a parodic, ironic, or comedic figure in PURGATORIO. But is there a way to interpret his character as more straightforward? What if Dante the poet intends him to be a warning about negligence, a truth-teller sitting on the first minor ledge of the great mountain of Purgatory?Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I read back through Belacqua's speeches in PURGATORIO, Canto IV, interpreting this time without the assumption of irony. What happens to the very words of the text when we change the interpretive lens?Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:27] Belacqua's opening "maybe" doesn't include any clues as to its irony based on its rhyme.[03:44] Belacqua's second speech mentions being "valiant," right after the very valiant Manfred. Belacqua's third line is perhaps merely a statement of fact--or perhaps a bit of characterization for Belacqua: a know-it-all who didn't hear Virgil's discussion of the sun's position.[06:48] Belacqua calls Dante "brother," a term of Christian affection.[08:08] The way up is indeed blocked for Belacqua.[09:34] Perhaps Belacqua's use of "martydom" for his purgation indicates his coming link with the church's founding legends. Maybe the punishments of Purgatory do indeed link the penitents to the martyrs.[11:36] Belacqua's final sighs are indeed "good."[12:25] Belacqua's last statement about efficacious prayer is orthodox theology.

Belacqua has been the subject of hundreds of commentaries over centuries as readers have grappled with who this figure is and what purpose he serves in Dante's poem.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I offer you multiple ways to interpret this most intriguing figure in PURGATORIO, a favorite character Samuel Beckett--and for me, too. I see him as a parody of the contemplative life. Which means I see Beatrice--or a parody of her--in this passage.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:25] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto IV, lines 115 - 139. If you'd like to print it off, read along, or continue the discussion with me about this episode, please go to my website: <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[03:49] Several points in the passage to suggest Belacqua is an ironic figure of some sort.[08:02] Who was Belacqua? The answer is surprisingly unclear.[10:15] Belacqua is a favorite character for Samuel Beckett.[11:18] How has Belacqua been interpreted over the centuries of commentary? And how do I read this most intriguing figure?[15:56] Pain has a temporal component in PURGATORIO--indicating that redemptive pain has a time value.[17:38] Beatrice may well be behind Belacqua's final words. Virgil certainly seems to hear an echo of her! And perhaps invokes Ulysses as a final stroke of irony.[20:40] The structure of PURGATORIO, Canto IV.[22:54] A vertical reading of INFERNO, Canto IV, and PURGATORIO, Canto IV.[24:48] A progression in PURGATORIO, Cantos II through IV: Casella, Manfred, Belacqua.[26:28] Rereading the entire Belacqua sequence: PURGATORIO, Canto IV, lines 97 - 139.