Walking With Dante

Hey there. We're going to pause our slow-walk for a couple of months as I get out from under chemotherapy. We've come to the end of PURGATORIO and it also seems natural that we rest a little before the big ascent ahead in PARADISO. Look for more announcements here, but let's plan on being back on our walk (or what will become our flight) in mid-summer. See you then!

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 episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:
[01:01] PURGATORIO is an inversion of INFERNO.
[02:54] PURGATORIO is most human part of COMEDY.
[04:34] PURGATORIO is a rehearsal of the structure of the New Testament.
[07:29] PURGATORIO is a meta-commentary on the writing of INFERNO.
[09:45] PURGATORIO is the end of one sort of poem and the beginning of another.
[10:35] PURGATORIO ends with two unique creations by Dante.
[12:01] Where do the souls go when they are lifted out of Limbo?
[13:46] Why does PURGATORIO end with the virtue of purity?
[15:48] Is the will truly the necessary, sufficient, and final cause of a soul's purgation?

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 about what lies ahead in COMEDY?
Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work our way through these seven call-outs to find ways to summarize the greater work and ingenuity of PURGATORIO.
Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:
[01:31] PURGATORIO, Canto VIII, Lines 19 - 21.
[05:23] PURGATORIO, Canto IX, Lines 70 - 72.
[08:00] PURGATORIO, Canto X, Lines 106 - 111.
[11:55] PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, Lines 1 - 9.
[15:39] PURGATORIO, Canto XXIX, Lines 97 - 105.
[19:20] PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, Lines 124 - 126.
[22:22] PURGATORIO, Canto XXXIII, Lines 136 - 138.

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 COMEDY is a poem in process, we can then trace some sort of developmental curve in Dante’s thinking about what he’s doing as a poet.
Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through Dante's possible theories on his own craft.
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Here are the nine selected passages for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:
[01:21] INFERNO, Canto III, lines 1 - 12
[05:02] INFERNO, Canto XV, lines 88 - 96a.
[09:42] PURGATORIO, Canto II, lines 106 - 114.
[13:01] PURGATORIO, Canto VIII, lines 70 - 72.
[15:36] PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, lines 49 - 60.
[19:24] PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, lines 97 - 102.
[22:05] PURGATORIO, Canto XXXIII, lines 52 - 57.
[24:53] PURGATORIO, Canto XXXIII, lines 76 - 78.
[27:33] PURGATORIO, Canto XXXIII, lines 139 - 141.

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 Scarbrough, as we explore the final passage of PURGATORIO.
Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:
[01:22] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXXIII, Lines 124 - 145. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.
[03:26] Dante, ever the medieval poet, no matter how modern we try to make him.
[05:28] The final address to the reader in PURGATORIO and the tricky question of the "woven bridle."
[10:58] Matelda, apparently doing what she's always done . . . which only makes her character more complex.
[12:49] The threat to memory, the threat to COMEDY as a whole.
[15:23] Four hopeful notes that conclude PURGATORIO.
[17:55] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXIII, lines 124 - 145.