Podcasts about Purgatorio

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 rhyme by any penitent on the mountain--and these words sum up the action of poetry.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the final words from any penitent in PURGATORIO.Support this work by using this PayPal link.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:32] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, lines 136 - 148. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me by dropping a comment on this episode, please find its entry on my website, markscarbrough.com.[02:56] Lines in Provençal--that is, French poetry, the very thing that was a catalyst for Francesca's fatal choice.[04:51] Ornate rhetoric that leads to one of the most renowned troubadour poets of the Middle Ages.[09:02] The possibility of complex irony in Arnaut's speech.[11:07] The final triplicate rhyme from any penitent in PURGATORIO: folly, power, sorrow.[14:42] Refining: the action of penance.[16:46] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, lines 136 - 148.

My very dear friend Lisa Beerman joins me for this episode, and we talk all things Purgatory. Since we share a deep love for this book of the Divine Comedy she's our perfect companion for this part of the journey.We have a wide ranging conversation about translations, "ways in" to the Comedy, and the usefulness of Dante in everyday life. I hope you enjoy this conversation! Links to a few of the resources we discussed are below.We left Dante and Virgil climbing down Lucifer's frozen body—and suddenly what was down is now up. They emerge at the base of Mt. Purgatory and climb past shades until reaching its gates in Canto 9, just a quarter of the way into the book. From there, the journey ascends through purgation, penance, and eventual joy. At the summit, Virgil departs, and Beatrice steps in as Dante's new guide, leading him into the spheres of Paradise and toward the Highest Heaven.Reading Purgatory quickly has given me a fresh perspective. Unlike Hell's hostility, the shades here are eager to talk with Dante, sometimes asking for prayers, sometimes simply glad to meet him. Light is everywhere—Dante's shadow a reminder of the sun, not the flames of Hell. Each sin is purged through fitting penance: the proud bowed low under heavy stones, the slothful running ceaselessly, each step of the mountain carved with examples of virtue--carvings that move!One highlight: the poet Statius meeting Virgil through Dante's introduction. One heartbreak: Virgil's final farewell.If you missed the first episode about the Divine Comedy, check out "Week 24" for a discussion of Inferno and Dante's Nuovo Vitae. Next week we finish in Paradise with another guest and Crack-the-Book frequent flyer, my son Jack!This is a year-long reading list from Ted Gioia and his Honest Broker Substack. This is Part 1 of Week 25.LINKTed Gioia/The Honest Broker's 12-Month Immersive Humanities Course (paywalled!)My Amazon Book List (NOT an affiliate link)Robin Fitzpatrick's Divine Comedy translation100 Days of DanteCONNECTThe complete list of Crack the Book Episodes: https://cheryldrury.substack.com/p/crack-the-book-start-here?r=u3t2rTo read more of my writing, visit my Substack - https://www.cheryldrury.substack.com.Follow me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cldrury/ LISTENSpotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5GpySInw1e8IqNQvXow7Lv?si=9ebd5508daa245bdApple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crack-the-book/id1749793321 Captivate - https://crackthebook.captivate.fm

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, which our poet Dante picks up and uses to conclude this fascinating conversation.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through this second and final conversation about the nature of the new poetry and Dante's synthesis of traditions into COMEDY.Please support this work with a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:28] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, lines 115 - 135. 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.[05:00] Corporeal and airy manifestations of the body.[07:55] Girard de Borneil, having been praised, now dismissed.[10:25] High and low poetry v. Dante's synthesis.[12:29] Unpacking too-tight lines about poetry.[15:00] The sweet morphed into the truth.[19:44] Dante's possible hesitation over his own poetic fame and his wild invocation to the truth of it.[23:53] Guinizzelli's validation and expansion into metaphoric space.[28:01] The ending of the conversation: a great example of the sweet new style.[29:50] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, lines 115 - 135.

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 Mount Purgatory among the lustful penitents.Support this podcast by offering a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend through this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:22] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, lines 94 - 114. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment to continue the conversation, please find this episode's entry on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:21] Guido Guinizzelli substituted a philosophical ideal for feudal love.[07:06] A ridiculously complex simile in the midst of a discussion of the sweet new style.[11:18] Dante finds a father, perhaps one of the goals of COMEDY.[13:06] The pilgrim backs off from homoeroticism with feudal pledges.[15:50] Guinizzelli gets Dante's footprint that even Lethe won't wash away.[17:24] Poetry may ironically offer a hint of its immortality in its materiality.[21:47] Rereading PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, lines 94 - 114.

This week it's Dante, and it will be amazing. Full stop. Of all the classics you could read, The Divine Comedy may be one of the most intimidating, but it's also one of the most necessary. In this episode I'll break it down and share how to make the journey approachable. You can do this.We begin with Dante's early autobiographical work, the Nuovo Vitae (“New Life”), a short book of prose and poetry reflecting on his youth and his great love, Beatrice. It's tender, romantic, and surprisingly fun, especially because Dante explains his own poems. For me, it echoed Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy with its mix of prose and verse, but here the focus is entirely on poetry itself.From there, we step into The Divine Comedy, starting with Inferno. This vast poem of 100 cantos (divided among Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso) is written in tercets, here translated by Mark Musa into smooth iambic pentameter. His translation is highly readable and captures the poem's rhythm without forcing rhyme.The journey begins when Dante the Pilgrim finds himself lost “halfway through the journey of our life.” Guided by Virgil, he descends through the nine circles of Hell, encountering mythological figures, historical personages, and unforgettable imagery. The punishments fit the crimes (the doctrine of *contrapasso*): the lustful are blown by winds, fortune tellers walk with twisted heads, flatterers choke forever on filth.I'll share tips for reading Dante without getting bogged down: read quickly, jot a one-line summary of each canto, sketch a map of Hell, and above all, focus on Dante's evolving relationship with Virgil. More than an epic, Inferno is a story of finding yourself in darkness and but not staying there—and having a friend to help you. Next to the Odyssey and the Bible, this is one of the books that merits your effort.This is a year-long challenge! Join me next week for Purgatorio.LINKSTed Gioia/The Honest Broker's 12-Month Immersive Humanities Course (paywalled!)My Amazon Book List (NOT an affiliate link)CONNECTThe complete list of Crack the Book Episodes: https://cheryldrury.substack.com/p/crack-the-book-start-here?r=u3t2rTo read more of my writing, visit my Substack - https://www.cheryldrury.substack.com.Follow me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cldrury/ LISTENSpotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5GpySInw1e8IqNQvXow7Lv?si=9ebd5508daa245bdApple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crack-the-book/id1749793321 Captivate - https://crackthebook.captivate.fm

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 changing notion of homosexuality. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through its rather high, ornate rhetoric to discover that in fact there's more fusion that just marriage, than two become one. In fact, our poet is fusing his poetry with Guinizzelli's.Consider underwriting the many fees for this podcast with a one-time donation or a very small monthly stipend by using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:52] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, lines 67 - 93. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the comment section for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:10] Why are the mountaineer penitents gawking? What makes them feel rough and rugged?[07:28] The pilgrim Dante receives a beatitude from another poet in the borderland that is Purgatory itself.[09:14] Julius Caesar is slurred as "Queen."[13:20] Heterosexuality is the fusion of male and female: "And the two shall become one."[17:04] Guido Guinizzelli identifies himself, although he's been in the words of this passage all along.[21:26] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, lines 67 - 93.

Digital Purgatory—Neo-noir-ish but chill purgatory ambience, I was thinking of a (techy) modern island of Purgatorio mashed with elements from the Heavenly Kid and “Neo Bowser City.” Take a break on one of the rings as folks move about you, working out the flaws of their souls. I imagine mass transit and people movers nearby, working their way up to the next ring amongst stationary kiosks and sidewalk vendors.But why purgatory? Global calamities have had me thinking more about the Inferno, and as summer loosens its grasp upon us and the morning chills of fall hint at the spooky season… It's hard not to watch the television and be like, “I hope you go to hell.” (Preferably the one with her gate in Philadelphia).Which is off-the-chain talk for a podcast meant to be chill.How about purgatory? Talking purgatory won't raise as many hackles (right?). So—I attended a religious military boarding school. My first course on Wednesday was Bible; during lights-out, a night guard would check to make sure I was in bed (and not setting fire to anything) and occasionally hand over a rapture comic book. All this is to say, even the underground thinking at school was, “there has to be an enchanted place to hold the so-so souls.”So purgatory is accepted—just unloved, and underrepresented in popular culture. Aside from Purgatorio or Beetlejuice, there aren't many mega-hits that focus on limbo. (And we covered Beetlejuice last year.)I am an afterlife aficionado, and of the big three soul deposit locations, purgatory is represented the least in popular culture. (And I mean big three in the way that Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin could be counted as a big three of something. And purgatory would be Litecoin... also, I'm not equating the other two.)There are notable purgatories to be found in pop culture. One deep-cut purgatory construction I'm fond of is from the 1985 movie The Heavenly Kid. The film's afterlife layout is a mall hallway that leads to escalators carrying people into a blinding light, presumably heaven. It's guarded by a couple of bouncers dressed like Vegas clergy, standing in front of an Applebee's-looking “please wait to be seated” lectern.Down a dark tunnel motorcycle ride is "Midtown" where an unhinged bar entertains unclaimed souls. The bar feels like a smokers-welcome 80s airport bar was smashed with Oscar's restaurant selection in Follow That Bird. In the Heavenly Kid, a grizzled angel with probably an alcohol problem (portrayed by Richard Mulligan) drags the film's hero into that unhinged bar. There's a classic 80s “food is gross” buffet scene followed by a mission briefing. You, Heavenly Kid, are not quite good enough for paradise (because your a greaser). But if you can rescue this other downcast 80s kid—and turn him into a cool 80s greaser (take that almighty)—you will be cleared for the escalator.The movie is garbage but contains one of my favorite purgatory moments in film. Have you ever feared an awful bar mirrorverse where every exit is the entrance so when you try to escape you just keep ending up in the same ***** bar. (BTW the angel character is charming—I would describe his vibe as Doc Brown from Back to the Future but played by Gary Busey).The film's purgatory mission begins on an afterlife subway train taking our likable bumbling dummy, the heavenly kid, back to Earth. I should mention that he originally dies a cliff-chicken loser. Who is offered the chance to be the hero, to "rescue" a kid from making his exact same mistakes. And rescue kid makes the exact same cliff-chicken mistake with the heavenly kid in the car. The heavenly kid drives off two cliffs in this movie... And then is let into heaven. We didn't have much else going on in the 80s so we watched it. WOLVERIIIINES!!!PS: to the purgatory heads (hello!)_drop a popular fiction purgatory below!

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 one form.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at this small passage on the seventh terrace, sandwiched between the two big revelations and before the last major discussion of poetry on Mount Purgatory.Please help underwrite the many fees of this podcast with a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE: [01:51] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, lines 49 - 66. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me by dropping a comment on this episode, please find its entry on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:34] Reading and interpreting through the passage for its metaphoric, rhetorical, and thematic knots.[14:58] One question from the passage: Why is the body so crucial to this discussion?[17:03] A second question: What about this passage brings up the mechanics of writing?[19:29] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, lines 49 - 66.

Benvenuti nel nostro canale, amici di YouTube! Oggi siamo entusiasti di presentarvi il terzo atto epico della Divina Commedia di Dante Alighieri: il Paradiso! Ma non temete, non saremo guide noiose e altezzose, bensì tre amici divertenti e un po' dissacranti che vi condurranno attraverso questo viaggio di penitenza e redenzione.Preparatevi a immergervi in un'avventura letteraria senza precedenti, mentre ci imbarcheremo in un viaggio nel mondo intermedio tra Inferno e Paradiso. Qui, le anime dei peccatori pentiti cercano la purificazione e l'assoluzione dai loro trascorsi peccaminosi, con la speranza di ascendere verso la beatitudine celestiale.Ma non abbiate timore, perché il nostro approccio sarà un mix di verità storica e momenti di leggera irriverenza. In fondo, il Purgatorio di Dante è così ricco di dettagli e simbolismi che ci sentiamo in dovere di intrattenerci a modo nostro, con qualche scherzetto lungo la strada!Esploreremo le molteplici cornici narrative, incontrando personaggi affascinanti, impareremo da episodi di vita vissuta e affronteremo i tormenti e le sfide delle diverse cornici dell'Antipurgatorio, del Purgatorio stesso e della vetta del monte del Paradiso Terrestre. Non mancheranno momenti esilaranti mentre ci scherniamo reciprocamente sulla nostra condizione umana e sulle bizze delle anime in penitenza!Tuttavia, ci prenderemo anche il tempo di apprezzare l'arte e la grandezza poetica di Dante, esplorando i temi eterni della redenzione, della fede e dell'amore, che rendono la Divina Commedia un capolavoro senza tempo.Siamo certi che vi divertirete, riderete e imparerete un sacco di curiosità sulla vita dell'epoca di Dante e sulle sue visioni del Purgatorio! Non vediamo l'ora di condividere questa avventura con voi, e se siete fan del nostro modo unico di raccontare le storie, assicuratevi di cliccare il pulsante "Iscriviti" e di attivare le notifiche!Ricordate, amici, che mentre viaggiamo tra le cornici dell'aldilà, l'importante è godersi il viaggio e trovare il giusto equilibrio tra il serio e il divertente! Allora, cosa state aspettando? Iniziamo questo entusiasmante viaggio nel Purgatorio di Dante Alighieri insieme! Ci vediamo sul nostro canale!se hai voglia di farti quattro risate con amici, parlare di attualità, ascoltare cicli interessanti, farci domande e passare un po di tempo in modo spensierato seguici. siamo anche su podcast seguici suhttps://www.youtube.com/@ioluielaltro www.ioluielaltro.it telegramhttps://t.me/ioluielaltro #ioluielaltro #umorismo #risate

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 the passage that was the inception of this entire podcast and is the best illustration of my thesis that love remakes the world.To support this podcast and underwrite its many fees, please consider a one-time donation or small monthly stipend using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:38] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, lines 25 - 48. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment to continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:32] The passage is an interruption of people (à la Cavalcante with Farinata) and of tenses: It moves consistently into the narrative present tense.[05:22] The passage begins with an emphasis on identification and novelty.[06:34] Moving to the left, rather than the right, the new penitents reenact a moment of Christian fellowship and of Francesca's downfall. [09:48] The first revolutionary simile: ants who nuzzle each other.[12:25] The penitents cry out to explain who they are.[15:34] The second revolutionary simile: cranes who migrate in opposite directions.[18:08] Dante may rewrite Jeremiah's prophecy.[20:04] Dante definitely reclassifies homosexuality--which may offer even more explosive implications than he intends.[25:28] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, lines 25 - 48.

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 this podcast with a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend, please use this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[02:26] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, lines 1 - 24. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment on this passage to continue the conversation with me, please find its entry on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:17] Three comments on PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI as a whole: It provides the poet open space for much discussion, it is part of a larger mirroring with the three upper circles of INFERNO, and it is in direct conversation with both INFERNO, Canto XXVI, and INFERNO, Canto V.[07:34] Virgil's offers only one line in this canto just before a bit of time-telling in the passage.[11:50] The pilgrim doesn't have a "sham" or "fictitious" body on the terrace of lust.[16:46] Near the flames of lust, we get a hint of the poet's expansive geographical knowledge.[22:30] The passage may already be about the craft of poetry.[25:24] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, lines 1 - 24.

Benvenuti nel nostro canale, amici di YouTube! Oggi siamo entusiasti di presentarvi il terzo atto epico della Divina Commedia di Dante Alighieri: il Paradiso! Ma non temete, non saremo guide noiose e altezzose, bensì tre amici divertenti e un po' dissacranti che vi condurranno attraverso questo viaggio di penitenza e redenzione.Preparatevi a immergervi in un'avventura letteraria senza precedenti, mentre ci imbarcheremo in un viaggio nel mondo intermedio tra Inferno e Paradiso. Qui, le anime dei peccatori pentiti cercano la purificazione e l'assoluzione dai loro trascorsi peccaminosi, con la speranza di ascendere verso la beatitudine celestiale.Ma non abbiate timore, perché il nostro approccio sarà un mix di verità storica e momenti di leggera irriverenza. In fondo, il Purgatorio di Dante è così ricco di dettagli e simbolismi che ci sentiamo in dovere di intrattenerci a modo nostro, con qualche scherzetto lungo la strada!Esploreremo le molteplici cornici narrative, incontrando personaggi affascinanti, impareremo da episodi di vita vissuta e affronteremo i tormenti e le sfide delle diverse cornici dell'Antipurgatorio, del Purgatorio stesso e della vetta del monte del Paradiso Terrestre. Non mancheranno momenti esilaranti mentre ci scherniamo reciprocamente sulla nostra condizione umana e sulle bizze delle anime in penitenza!Tuttavia, ci prenderemo anche il tempo di apprezzare l'arte e la grandezza poetica di Dante, esplorando i temi eterni della redenzione, della fede e dell'amore, che rendono la Divina Commedia un capolavoro senza tempo.Siamo certi che vi divertirete, riderete e imparerete un sacco di curiosità sulla vita dell'epoca di Dante e sulle sue visioni del Purgatorio! Non vediamo l'ora di condividere questa avventura con voi, e se siete fan del nostro modo unico di raccontare le storie, assicuratevi di cliccare il pulsante "Iscriviti" e di attivare le notifiche!Ricordate, amici, che mentre viaggiamo tra le cornici dell'aldilà, l'importante è godersi il viaggio e trovare il giusto equilibrio tra il serio e il divertente! Allora, cosa state aspettando? Iniziamo questo entusiasmante viaggio nel Purgatorio di Dante Alighieri insieme! Ci vediamo sul nostro canale!se hai voglia di farti quattro risate con amici, parlare di attualità, ascoltare cicli interessanti, farci domande e passare un po di tempo in modo spensierato seguici. siamo anche su podcast seguici suhttps://www.youtube.com/@ioluielaltro www.ioluielaltro.it telegramhttps://t.me/ioluielaltro #ioluielaltro #umorismo #risate

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 fully.Please support this podcast with a one-time donation or a very small monthly stipend using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:23] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXV, lines 109 - 139. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me by dropping a comment on this episode, please find its entry on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:55] Three curiosities: a double meaning at line 109, the flaming geography, and the parallels in INFERNO, Canto XXV.[08:13] Three surprising moments in the passage: a bit of humor, a glancing reference to an Aristotelean mean, and a direction connection with our poet.[12:21] A hymn for chastity and a reference to Shadrach, Mishach, and Abednego from Daniel 3.[16:56] Three examples of chastity . . . except the third seems smudged or inaccurate.[23:08] Penance as a medieval medical remedy.[24:19] PURGATORIO, the most human canto, about human development and art, all connected to nature.[26:21] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXV, lines 109 - 139.

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 intellectual powers are on full display. It's easy to be lost in the details but there are wonders afoot, including the idea that there may be an allegorical reading of the passage that concerns the afterlife of a work of art.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we finish up Statius's discourse on the soul's material attributes in the afterlife before we ascend to the seventh and final terrace of Mount Purgatory.To support this podcast: use this PayPal link.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:49] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXV, lines 79 - 108. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me by dropping a comment on this episode, please find it on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:25] Statius fuses classical imagery (the fates) and Augustinian thought.[10:02] The soul miraculously but of its own accord falls into the afterlife. Wait, what? And only now knows its path in the underworld?[13:03] The formative power of the soul is intact after death.[14:57] The afterlife soul is a fabrication of the air.[16:52] Statius gently refines Virgil's unsatisfactory answers to the pilgrim Dante's question.[18:28] The souls in the afterlife can enact their desires, just as they do in the world of the living.[20:51] Statius also gently refines Virgil's discussion of souls in the afterlife in THE AENEID.[24:24] Is this passage about the afterlife of poetry (or art), too?[27:12] Rereading all of Statius's discourse: PURGATORIO, Canto XXV, lines 34 - 108.

Benvenuti nel nostro canale, amici di YouTube! Oggi siamo entusiasti di presentarvi il terzo atto epico della Divina Commedia di Dante Alighieri: il Paradiso! Ma non temete, non saremo guide noiose e altezzose, bensì tre amici divertenti e un po' dissacranti che vi condurranno attraverso questo viaggio di penitenza e redenzione.Preparatevi a immergervi in un'avventura letteraria senza precedenti, mentre ci imbarcheremo in un viaggio nel mondo intermedio tra Inferno e Paradiso. Qui, le anime dei peccatori pentiti cercano la purificazione e l'assoluzione dai loro trascorsi peccaminosi, con la speranza di ascendere verso la beatitudine celestiale.Ma non abbiate timore, perché il nostro approccio sarà un mix di verità storica e momenti di leggera irriverenza. In fondo, il Purgatorio di Dante è così ricco di dettagli e simbolismi che ci sentiamo in dovere di intrattenerci a modo nostro, con qualche scherzetto lungo la strada!Esploreremo le molteplici cornici narrative, incontrando personaggi affascinanti, impareremo da episodi di vita vissuta e affronteremo i tormenti e le sfide delle diverse cornici dell'Antipurgatorio, del Purgatorio stesso e della vetta del monte del Paradiso Terrestre. Non mancheranno momenti esilaranti mentre ci scherniamo reciprocamente sulla nostra condizione umana e sulle bizze delle anime in penitenza!Tuttavia, ci prenderemo anche il tempo di apprezzare l'arte e la grandezza poetica di Dante, esplorando i temi eterni della redenzione, della fede e dell'amore, che rendono la Divina Commedia un capolavoro senza tempo.Siamo certi che vi divertirete, riderete e imparerete un sacco di curiosità sulla vita dell'epoca di Dante e sulle sue visioni del Purgatorio! Non vediamo l'ora di condividere questa avventura con voi, e se siete fan del nostro modo unico di raccontare le storie, assicuratevi di cliccare il pulsante "Iscriviti" e di attivare le notifiche!Ricordate, amici, che mentre viaggiamo tra le cornici dell'aldilà, l'importante è godersi il viaggio e trovare il giusto equilibrio tra il serio e il divertente! Allora, cosa state aspettando? Iniziamo questo entusiasmante viaggio nel Purgatorio di Dante Alighieri insieme! Ci vediamo sul nostro canale!se hai voglia di farti quattro risate con amici, parlare di attualità, ascoltare cicli interessanti, farci domande e passare un po di tempo in modo spensierato seguici. siamo anche su podcast seguici suhttps://www.youtube.com/@ioluielaltro www.ioluielaltro.it telegramhttps://t.me/ioluielaltro #ioluielaltro #umorismo #risate

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 Aristotle but may also be a complex allegory for the creation of poetry.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work our way through the middle bits of Statius's discourse.If you'd like to help support this podcast, please consider a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend. You can donate via this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:35] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXV, lines 52 - 78. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me about this passage, please find the entry for this episode on my website: markscarbrough.com.[04:37] Following the logic of Statius's discourse on embryology.[19:46] Three conclusions about reproduction and human development via Statius (and the poet Dante).[23:15] Embryology as an allegory for the craft of poetry.[25:53] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXV, lines 52 - 78.

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.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for the opening stanzas of Statius's remarkable and poetic description of human embryology. Dante is nothing if not surprising at every turn.If you'd like to help support this podcast by underwriting its many fees, please consider a one-time donation or a very small monthly stipend, using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[02:04] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXV, lines 34 - 51. 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.[04:13] Statius begins with two important words that signal the poetics of his lecture: "lume" ("light") at line 36 and "bello" ("beautiful") at line 43.[07:48] Dante the poet cribs his understanding of digestion from several sources and sees digestion itself as the foundation of human reproduction.[16:51] Reproduction begins as the mingling of female blood with purified, male blood.[19:26] It then continues through coagulation and vivification.[22:43] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXV, lines 34 - 51.

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 Statius's coming discourse on embryology. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through the emotional vibe established before we get to the intellectual and doctrinal answer ahead.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[02:42] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXV, lines 22 - 33. 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.[04:19] Curiosities in the medieval Florentine in lines 22 - 27.[06:33] Virgil's two inadequate answers to the pilgrim's question.[13:11] The wound of the intellect and their relation to poetry.[17:35] Statius and the limitations of Virgil.[20:04] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXV, lines 22 - 33.

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 treated as a scientific treatise in the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance but that is now too often dismissed as a medieval curiosity: Statius's wild discussion of embryology.If you'd like to support this work, please consider a one-time donation or a very small monthly stipend to underwrite the many hosting, licensing, editing, streaming, and royalty fees by using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:29] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXV, lines 1 - 21. 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.[03:33] PURGATORIO's Canto XXV is a bridge between gluttony and lust, as well as a bridge between two important discussions of poetry.[07:04] We get a brief glimpse of Jerusalem as we hurry up the stairs.[09:42] Is there symbolism or even allegory in the notion that the narrow stairs "unpairs" the travelers?[11:48] The pilgrim is a baby stork--he wants to fly but still needs parental protection.[15:30] The pilgrim Dante finally asks the central problem of corporeality that has troubled COMEDY almost since its beginning.[18:43] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXV, lines 1 - 21.

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 types of lustful penitents, before our pilgrim and his two guides have to step into the fire.It's the first time our pilgrim has felt bodily pain over any of the terrors of hell or the penances of the mountain. He comes out on the other side and Virgil declares that our pilgrim is now his own guide, no longer in need of Virgil at all.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for this surprising read of the final terrace of PURGATORIO.If you'd like to help defray the many costs of this podcast, please consider a one-time donation or a very small monthly stipend using this PayPal link right here.[01:35] My rough English translation of the three cantos: PURGATORIO, Cantos XXV - XXVII.

About 20 years ago, Mary Jo Bang read a poem that inspired her to take on a translation of Dante's Divine Comedy. At first, she began with just three lines – but two decades later, she's completed all three parts: "Inferno," "Purgatorio" and "Paradiso." In today's episode, she joins NPR's Ari Shapiro for a conversation about translating Dante into contemporary language, why English is a "rhyme-poor" language, and the parallels between Dante's journey and her own.To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookofthedayLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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 many costs of this podcast, including, hosting, licensing, streaming, and research fees, please consider a one-time donation or even a very small monthly stipend at this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:31] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, lines 130 - 154. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation about this passage, please find its entry on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:48] The growing importance of the contemplative life.[07:46] The color in the holy glare (red) and the point of this journey (peace).[11:07] The "blind" simile of the May breeze at dawn.[16:11] The rewritten and tricky beatitude that ends Canto XXIV.[21:22] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, lines 130 - 154.

In his 2014 Dante's Inferno poet and provocateur Philip Terry moved the action to Essex University. His Purgatorio (Carcanet) transports us to nearby Mersea Island, where Ted Berrigan leads our author up an artificial mountain to meet with artists Grayson Perry, Rachel Whiteread and Damien Hirst, as well as Christopher Marlowe, Boris Johnson, Lady Diana, Jean Paul Getty, Hilary Clinton, Allen Ginsberg, Samuel Beckett, Martin McGuinness, Ciaran Carson and Anoushka Shankar. Philip Terry was joined in conversation with Marina Warner at the Bookshop. Find more events at the Bookshop: https://lrb.me/eventspod

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 the Garden of Eden.Dante and his companions appear a bit shook up as the tree offers them a classical and a Biblical example of gluttony.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we begin our exit from the sixth terrace of Purgatory and talk about the solace of ceremonial repetition.If you'd like to donate to help support the many hosting, licensing, streaming, and editing fees associated with this podcast, please consider giving a one-time contribution or a small monthly stipend using this PayPal link right here. Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:34] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, lines 100 - 129. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment about this episode, please find the entry for it on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:47] Unpacking the first four tercets (ll. 100 - 111) and asking five questions about the second tree on Purgatory's sixth terrace of gluttony.[12:30] The possible regression to childish desire as a form of penance on this terrace.[16:05] The second tree on the terrace, a seedling from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden.[24:29] The classical and Biblical examples of gluttony: centaurs and Gideon's army.[28:53] Ceremonial repetition as solace.[33:38] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, lines 100 - 129

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. Then we'll move on to a couple of small points, followed by some much larger implications of the construction and imaginative landscape of this interchange.If you'd like to help support this podcast, please consider giving a one-time donation or a very small monthly stipend using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[02:06] Reading the entire conversation between Forese Donati and the pilgrim Dante in PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, line 40, to Canto XXIV, line 99.[13:27] The conversation starts and ends with references to shores.[14:51] The pilgrim Dante is not cleansing his sins in this walk up Mount Purgatory.[17:08] There are three balanced prophecies in this conversation.[20:54] The conversation is constructed from friendship to poetic craft to chivalric exaltation.[24:55] This conversation may represent Dante's attempt at political and personal reconciliation.

P. Juan Manuel (Argentina)Celebramos con alegría a Nuestra Señora del Carmen, una de las advocaciones más queridas y difundidas de la Virgen María. Su imagen, su escapulario, su ternura de madre, han acompañado a generaciones de cristianos por siglos. En el año 1251, la Virgen se apareció a San Simón Stock, superior de los carmelitas, y le entregó el escapulario con una promesa: “Quien muera con este escapulario no sufrirá el fuego eterno”.[Ver Meditación Escrita] https://www.hablarconjesus.com/meditaciones-escritas/

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 we work through this apocalyptic prophecy about Corso's ruin, fit it into its historical context, and finally are left with the pilgrim, Virgil, and Statius on the terrace, all caught in a host of military images.If you'd like to help defray the many fees associated with this podcast, including hosting, editing, domain registrations, and my subscriptions to a host of academic journals, please consider offering a one-time donation or a very small monthly stipend using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:29] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, lines 76 - 99. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode of the podcast on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:43] A couple of problems with what the pilgrim Dante could know and the beginning of the military images in the passage.[08:53] Forese Donati's apocalyptic prophecy of the very near future.[13:28] The story of Corso Donati, Forese's brother and a key leader of the Black Guelphs in Florence.[19:25] The military imagery for Forese's triumph (which reminds us of Brunetto's exit in INFERNO XV), as well as that imagery for Virgil and Statius, standing near the pilgrim on the terrace.[23:56] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, lines 76 - 99.

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 throw some fuel on that fire, given his apparent satisfaction with himself. And Dante the poet may add some fuel, too, given his citation of classical sources, hardly breathed-in inspiration.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for this most daunting passage in all of PURGATORIO, striking near the heart of what Dante the poet believes he's doing . . . and what generations of critics and thinkers believe he's doing.If you'd like to help support this podcast, please consider a very small monthly stipend or a one-time donation through this PayPal link right here. Your contribution helps me pay the many fees associated with keeping this podcast going.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:48] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, lines 55 - 75. If you'd like to read along or to continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:02] Bonagiunta's imaginative landscape: brothers and knots.[07:17] Bonagiunta's peers (or perhaps his school?): Giacomo da Lentini and Giuttone d'Arezzo.[11:41] The "sweet new style" and the taproot of Italian literature.[16:27] Problems with the "sweet new style": its membership, its final relationship to Bonagiunta, and its meaning sewn into the text over generations.[24:55] Two similes that comment on or even challenge this "sweet new style."[30:00] Forese's poignant question and its link to INFERNO X.[31:56] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, lines 55 - 75.

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 this pilgrim is the same guy who wrote a poem found in the VITA NUOVA.Dante replies that he is indeed that poet . . . and goes on to claim that his poetry is inspired by love itself.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we take on the first half of the single most annotated passage in all of Dante's COMEDY. We are getting to the heart of what Dante thinks he's doing with his poetry . . . but what exactly that is remains something of a mystery, or at least a scholarly debate.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[02:00] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, Lines 34 - 54. 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.[05:08] The value of paying attention: the pilgrim to Bonagiunta and Bonagiunta to Dante's poetry.[08:54] Bonagiunta's shifty murmurs of "gentucca."[11:51] An opaque prophecy about Lucca from an older poet who should know how to be clear.[17:13] Bonagiunta's refernce to a canzone (or long poetic song) from Dante's VITA NUOVA.[20:37] The pilgrim's wild claims for direct inspiration from . . . love (or maybe God).[27:02] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, lines 34 - 54.

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 Scarbrough, as we pick through the historical and cultural details in the second part of Forese's answer to the pilgrim.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:52] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, lines 16 - 33. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this podcast episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:17] The deft use of culinary and gastronomic imagery in this passage.[06:40] Five penitent gluttons: Bonagiunta of Lucca, Pope Martin IV, Ubaldino della Pila, Boniface, and Master Marchese degli Orgogliosi.[17:12] A curiosity: It's not forbidden to name them?[19:16] Is this passage a false lead?[22:54] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, lines 16 - 33.

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-going conversation with Forese Donati, we get our first glimpse of Paradise, after curiously understanding that the human will is strong enough to slow down its progress even to that place, its ultimate goal.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through the opening lines of our on-going time among the gluttons on the sixth terrace of Mount Purgatory.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:49] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, lines 1 - 15. 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.[03:12] Canto XXIV is a continuation of Canto XXIII--and Virgil remains silent.[06:33] The "redead" is a reference to Jude 12 in the New Testament.[10:49] Does Ulysses enter into this passage?[11:50] The human will can even slow down its ultimate desire, the central motivation of the universe.[14:15] Mentioning Piccarda Donati gives us a fuller glimpse of Paradise ahead . . . and a classical glimpse.[16:48] Pain and solace are the core of the prophetic voice.[21:39] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, lines 1 - 15.

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 in Canto XXIII.If you'd like to help support this podcast and underwrite its many fees, please consider a small stipend or a one-time donation at this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:27] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, lines 112 - 133. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with a comment, please find this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:09] A V-shaped structure reinforced for Canto XXIII.[06:17] A question of what Forese should remember and how the opening of COMEDY should be understood.[10:20] Further negotiations about the plot of COMEDY.[14:22] The first time the pilgrim Dante names Beatrice and the first time he acknowledges the loss of Virgil.[16:09] A curious moment: Virgil named and Statius unnamed.[18:29] Two larger questions. One, COMEDY is a poem in process.[20:03] Two, PURGATORIO replicates the structure of the New Testament.[23:16] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, lines 112 - 133.

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 lyrical, prophetic voice.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore Forese Donati's condemnation of Florentine women and his wild launch into Isaiah's prophetic vision.If you'd like to help support this podcast, consider a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:40] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, lines 91 - 111. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation via a comment on this episode, please find its entry on my website: markscarbrough.com.[03:50] As Forese launches into his misogynistic condemnation of Florentine women, he reaffirms his love for his wife, Nella, the "little widow."[08:42] Forese's prophetic discourse takes flight from a misogynistic and xenophobic platform.[11:29] Rising sumptuary laws indicate an increasingly fluid social structure, particularly for women.[15:02] Forese ends his screed at a high-style moment infused with Isaiah's prophecy (from Isaiah 7).[18:03] The prophetic discourse ends at a lyrical moment somehow still in this high style.[20:03] The vernacular is able to handle a greater emotional range than Latin in Dante's day.[23:40] Forese's prophecy never comes true--and incorporates a curious shadow of doubt.[26:23] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, lines 91 - 111.

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 us.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore these problems, plus talk about Forese's wife, Nella, and the role of the vernacular in exploring and explaining the deepest truths.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:37] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, Lines 76 - 90. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for the episode of the podcast on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:17] The changing notion of suffering--yes, in COMEDY, but even in this small passage.[07:20] Accounting for time, souls, and their ascents on Mount Purgatory.[13:32] Nella Donati and two interpretive stances toward her place in the poem: 1) correcting the record or 2) hoping for a full record of a poet's works.[17:36] Vernacular language and its uncomfortable relationship with "higher" truths.[24:03] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, lines 76 - 90.

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 experiential crux underneath our high-minded notions of ontology.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through this conversation between two poetic rivals on the sixth terrace of Mount Purgatory among the emaciated gluttons.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:42] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, lines 49 - 75. 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.[04:08] Best friends, still perhaps vain, still perhaps rivals.[10:39] A power in the water and the tree--and an intense interpretive knot.[14:56] The problem of hunger and thirst among disembodied souls.[18:50] The interpretation of suffering as the crux of being human.[26:15] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, lines 49 - 75.

Dante now walks with the skeletal gluttons who have God's writing on their faces.Along the way, there are increasingly complex and almost gaming literary references that litter the text until Dante the pilgrim suddenly is recognized by a fellow, contemporary, vernacular poet who is not known for any high style but is instead a champion of a low, vulgar poetry in this hip, new form of the sonnet.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look into the mirror of an increasingly complex meta reality in COMEDY as Dante the pilgrim meets his friend and rival Forese Donati on the sixth terrace of Mount Purgatory.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:22] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, lines 28 - 48. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me in the comment section at the bottom of the page, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:23] Internal thoughts--less revelatory than just rehearsed--about the siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE.[09:27] The potential blasphemy of the pelican in her piety.[12:50] Three references to other texts in increasing opacity: from Dante's VITA NUOVA, from Ovid's METAMORPHOSES, and from Josephus' history (sort of).[15:30] Starved enough to see God's writing in the human face: a felix culpa?[21:31] A misplaced tercet in COMEDY?[22:52] Forese Donati and Dante v. Statius and Virgil.[31:18] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, lines 28 - 48.

Dante Alighieri (1265 - 1321)Translated by Bartolomé Mitre (1821 - 1906)La Divina Comedia (también conocida como La Comedia) es un poema teológico escrito por Dante Alighieri. Se desconoce la fecha exacta en que fue escrito aunque las opiniones más reconocidas aseguran que el Infierno pudo ser compuesto entre 1304 y 1307–1308, el Purgatorio de 1307–1308 a 1313–1314 y por último, el Paraíso de 1313–1314 a 1321 (fecha esta última, de la muerte de Dante). La primera parte narra el descenso del autor al Infierno, acompañado por el poeta latino Virgilio, autor de la Eneida, a quien Dante admiraba. Acompañado por su maestro y guía, describe los nueve círculos en los que son sometidos a castigo los condenados, según la gravedad de los pecados cometidos en vida. Dante encuentra en el Infierno a muchos personajes antiguos, pero también de su época, y cada uno de ellos narra su historia brevemente a cambio de que Dante prometa mantener vivo su recuerdo en el mundo; cada castigo se ajusta a la naturaleza de su falta y se repite eternamente. Es particularmente recordada la historia de Paolo y Francesca, amantes adúlteros que se conocieron al leer en el libro de Lanzarote los amores de la reina Ginebra y este caballero, que fue motivo de inspiración y homenaje por poetas románticos y contemporáneos, así como la historia del conde Ugolino da Pisa, el último viaje de Ulises, el tránsito por el bosque de los suicidas, la travesía del desierto donde llueve el fuego y la llanura de hielo de los traidores, estos últimos, considerados los peores pecadores entre todos. (Resúmen de Arturo)

Our pilgrim must move beyond the mystical tree on the sixth terrace of Mount Purgatory. So he sets off behind Virgil and Statius, only to overtaken by a group of cadaverous, skeletal penitents, whose hollow eyes watch the pilgrim's slower journey.This passage is an interesting set of problems: low stylists which end up with Ovidian references, all tied up in the very real medieval problem of starvation.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through this passage of camaraderie, mentorship, and growing affection on the terrace of gluttony.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:13] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, lines 1 - 27. If you'd like to read along or start a conversation with me and others about this passage, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:19] Camaraderie and mentorship in a lower style with a final salvo at avarice.[11:34] A psalm fragment in Latin and a possible quibble about Virgil's character.[16:26] Pensive pilgrims, right out of the VITA NUOVA, Dante's earlier work.[20:05] Ovid's METAMORPHOSES as a source for hunger: cited thoroughly and then overwritten beyond its ending.[25:04] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, lines 1 - 27.

© Copyright. Estos audios están protegidos por las leyes de Derechos de Autor.Para permisos, contactarme en:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.semperfiat.com

This week on The New Mason Jar, Dr. Jason Baxter returns to the podcast to talk with Cindy and Dawn about Dante as part of a new series of Mothers Education Course episodes When Dr. Baxter was first introduced to Dante's Divine Comedy Why Dr. Baxter thinks Dante wrote this work in the form of epic poetry? How this translation is different than other modern English translations Does the language and mood of Inferno feel different from that in the Purgatorio? Why Jason chose the artwork he did for the covers of his translations Jason's encouragement for the busy homeschool mom in approaching Dante Hear more from Dr. Baxter in Cindy's summer discipleship which you can still register for here: Morning Time for Moms 2025 Summer Discipleship: Life Together You can also sign up for Jason's summer class at TheHouseofHumaneLetters.com To view the full show notes for this episode, including quotes and book links, please visit our website at https://thenewmasonjar.com/113. 

© Copyright. Estos audios están protegidos por las leyes de Derechos de Autor.Para permisos, contactarme en:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.semperfiat.com

Virgil and Statius begin to trek around the sixth terrace of Mount Purgatory but are stopped by an upside-down tree . . . that causes more questions than it provides answers.A voice in the tree warns them off and offers examples of temperance, of moderate appetites, all of which are strange interpretations of Biblical stories that don't necessarily have to do with gluttony.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at some of the final misreadings and misinterpretations in PURGATORIO, Canto XXII. It's a wild end to one of the most profound cantos of the second canticle of COMEDY.If you'd like to help underwrite this podcast, either with a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend, you can do so at this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:31] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXII, lines 130 - 145. If you'd like to read along or if you'd like to talk more about this passage or this episode, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:02] The first temptation among the penances: ripe, tasty fruit.[05:41] Questions about this upside-down tree: how does it grow, what does the dripping liquid do for it, and what does it all mean?[11:47] This tree and the two trees in the Garden of Eden.[14:25] Three examplars against gluttony: the Virgin Mary, Roman women, and the prophet Daniel.[19:00] The classical age in the Christian age, with its precursor, John the Baptist (or perhaps Virgil).[25:03] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXII, lines 130 - 145.

Our pilgrim, Virgil, and Statius arrive on the otherwise empty sixth terrace of Mount Purgatory. Virgil seems more hesitant. And our pilgrim, Dante, more passive, as he listens to the two older, wiser poets discuss the craft of poetry.This passage represents the paradox of circularity and linearity, of stasis and advancement, that is the major structural (and thematic!) tension in COMEDY.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through a seemingy easy passage while the pilgrim learns the craft of poetry.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[02:01] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXII, lines 115 - 129. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, find this episode on my website and drop down the page to see the translation and a place to start a conversation with a comment: markscarbrough.com.[03:23] Circularity and linearity: the crux paradox of COMEDY.[08:37] Marking the temporal as a reality claim in COMEDY.[13:25] A possible change in Virgil's characterization.[16:25] Learning the craft of poetry (to engage the play of quotation and interpretation).[21:12] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXII, lines 115 - 129.

At the end of their first conversation, Virgil and Statius reconstruct limbo. They transform it into a neighborhood where all the lost, classical writers live.They also transfer limbo's sighs from the damned to the poet Dante and potentially to his reader. Where have these great authors gone?And if their texts are one way to God, how many ways to redemption have then been lost with them?Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for the ironic and complex conclusion to Virgil and Statius' conversation in PURGATORIO, Canto XXII. We end at a place of the final misreading and misquotation: that of COMEDY itself.If you'd like to help underwrite the many fees and costs of this podcast, please consider making a one-time contribution or setting up a very small monthly stipend with this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[02:25] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXII, lines 94 - 114. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the comment section for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:31] The reconception of limbo over the course of COMEDY.[09:56] The Roman authors in the list of those lost.[17:48] The Greek authors in the list of those lost;.[21:02] The characters from Statius' poems who are apparently in limbo.[24:55] The displacement of Manto in COMEDY: the final misreading and misquotation in a canto full of them.[27:57] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXII, lines 94 - 114.

Statius finally tells Virgil what we all want to know: the story of his conversion. How did this Latin poet who dedicated his great epic to a Roman emperor become a Christian.Through a long process and by subterfuge. Statius was a closeted or hidden (or to use the medieval Florentine term, "closed") Christian.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look through this passage in which Dante the poet attempts to justify putting this pagan Roman poet in Purgatory and on his way to Paradise.If you'd like to help out with the costs of this podcast, please consider a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend, using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:20] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXII, lines 76 - 93. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:27] Two minor issues: Who converted Statius? And was Dante the poet rethinking his position toward the neutrals in INFERNO?[08:08] Statius' journey in the afterlife to the fourth circle of Mount Purgatory . . . and where else?[08:40] Statius' improvised backstory and the inclusion of a historical figure: Emperor Domitian.[13:13] Dante's concept of conversion (v. modern conceptions).[16:36] Statius' words and the problem of the "above" text.[20:01] Texts in texts and the inevitable overlay of irony.[24:50] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXII, lines 76 - 93.

Given that Statius claims a passage from The Aeneid made him see the error of his ways, Virgil wants to know how this poet of the Thebes could have ever become a Christian, particularly since his poetry shows little evidence of the faith.Statius replies with some of the most shocking lines in COMEDY: He became a Christian AND a poet because of the damned, pagan Virgil. Virgil's own poetry led Statius to his profession and his confession.To put it another way, Statius was redeemed, not by divine light, but a small human candle.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work our way through one of the most revelatory passages in all of PURGATORIO, lines that help us understand the framework of COMEDY.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:53] My English translation of the text: PURGATORIO, Canto XXII, lines 55 - 75. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment to start a conversation, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:39] Virgil's questions about Thebes, history, and faith.[15:02] Virgil's inspiration toward both poetry and God.[19:07] Statius' misquoting from Virgil's ECLOGUES.[27:31] Poetry and conversion founded in inspiration from a text.[30:01] Statius and Christianity in COMEDY.[32:00] Rereading the text: PURGATORIO, Canto XXII, lines 55 - 75.

Statius and Virgil continue their conversation as they climb to the sixth terrace with the pilgrim Dante.Statius explains that he discovered his error when he read two lines from Virgil's AENEID. The problem is that Statius misquotes these lines and misinterprets them, making them fit his personal situation while pushing them through Aristotle's ethics.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at this wild passage that has inspired over seven hundred years of commentary. What if the way you can get saved is by misinterpreting a classical text?Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:57] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXII, lines 25 - 54. 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.[05:08] The binary relationship becomes a triangulation, thereby elevating the pilgrim Dante.[08:30] Statius' changing status in Purgatory colors (or darkens) Aristotle's notions of accidents and substances.[16:06] Statius seems to have read Dante's INFERNO![21:19] Statius misquotes and misinterprets a passage from THE AENEID, which then leads to his salvation (or at least to the recognition of his errors).[29:16] Avarice and prodigality are apparently mostly connected to the clergy.[30:18] The whole discussion falls back to Aristotle's ethics, (mis)interpreted for the Christian reader.[32:58] To sum, a misquoted, misinterpreted passage from classical literature begins the journey toward redemption.[35:46] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXII, lines 25 - 54.

Blinded by the angel, Dante the pilgrim begins his climb to the sixth terrace of Mount Purgatory. But his plight is overshadowed by Virgil's desire to know more about Statius . . . in this strange passage of misquotings and misreadings.The angel cuts short a beatitude from the gospels. Virgil seems to misquote Francesca from INFERNO, Canto V. And Virgil himself seems to toss out Aristotle's Golden Mean to get what he wants from Statius.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through the start of many misquotations and misreadings that make up PURGATORIO, Canto XXII.If you'd like to help out with the many fees associated with this podcast, you can offer a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend of a couple of dollars, pounds, or Euros, using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:59] My English translation of the medieval Florentine. If you'd like to read along or add a comment to continue the discussion with me, please find the entry for this episode of the podcast on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:02] My opening remarks on PURGATORIO, Canto XXII.[06:57] The climb and the truncated beatitude.[12:23] Action off-stage . . . because of haste or because of blindness?[15:47] Virgil's quotation (or misquotation) of Francesca from INFERNO, Canto V.[20:55] Virgil's tragedy and Dante's hope.[25:43] The question on all of our minds (with a passing reference to Aristotle's Ethics).[29:29] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXII, lines 1 - 24.

We have been a long time on the terrace of the avaricious (without knowing there's another sin punished there as well). We're ready to climb on up to the sixth terrace of Mount Purgatory with Virgil and Statius as the pilgrim Dante's guide.On this episode, sit back for a read-through of these three cantos.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I read a rough translation of PURGATORIO, Cantos XXII, XXIII, and XXIV, exploring the climb up from the fifth terrace, the discussions between Virgil and Statius, and the poetic-prophetic space that makes up the arboretum of the sixth terrace, the one with the gluttons.If you'd like to help underwrite the many costs of this podcast, you can make a one-time contribution or set up a very small monthly stipend by visiting this PayPal link right here.[01:33] A read-through of Cantos XXII, XXIII, and XXIV of PURGATORIO. No translation available--just sit back and listen. A closer, better translation lies ahead when we break down these cantos into their respective parts.

Statius has sung his (first!) hymn of praise to Virgil without knowing that the old poet is right in front of him. Dante the pilgrim is caught between them in this most human episode with his master, Virgil, demanding silence and his new friend, Statius, wanting to know why the pilgrim is smiling.Which means Dante is also caught on his emotions which seem to be overriding his will . . . in a canto about the will's primacy.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for the very human ending to his surprising and comedic canto in PURGATORIO.If you'd like to help out with the many fees associated with this podcast, for streaming, hosting, editing, and more, please consider a one-time donation or a very small monthly stipend, using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[02:25] My English translation of the passage. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[05:33] The curious inelegance of the poetry in this passage.[08:31] The welling up of emotions into the eyes.[11:50] Virgil's curious reticence.[13:21] The will v. the emotions--ever the human dilemma.[17:43] The dramatization of the anxiety of influence--and of the divided will.[19:56] The revelation of Virgil on this road to Emmaus.[22:46] Polytheism in this monotheistic poem?[24:10] Statius' error and apology.[29:12] The imperfections of the perfected.[31:03] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXI, lines 103 - 136.