Walking With Dante30 Syys 2020

Wild Beasts On The Slope And The Slide Into Despair: INFERNO, Canto I, Lines 28 - 66

Dante begins his journey across the known universe--except not. The journey stops almost the moment it begins in COMEDY.

What happens when you set off in a new direction but have no clue where you're going? Apparently, you get blocked by the beasts of your imagination.

Or maybe by more than beasts. By symbols. Even allegories. Personal, political, and/or social.

This tough passage has eaten gallons of scholarly ink over the centuries. I'll give you different ideas for what these animals "mean." But the answers may ultimately be your own.

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Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:

[00:28] My English translation of INFERNO, Canto 1, Lines 28 - 66. If you'd like to read along, find a study guide for deeper analysis, or just drop a comment to continue the conversation with me, please go to my website and look for tab that directs you to INFERNO, Cantos I - IV: markscarbrough.com.

[03:18] Our first glimpse of the poem's complexity--that is, the question of the pilgrim's feet, sieved through St. Augustine and a commentary by Dante's own son, plus more.

[09:26] Three beasts! The terrors on the slope! I'll offer lots of interpretations for them. They've generated 700 years worth!

[20:50] The pilgrim slips back down the mountain, almost lost, until a figure appears out of the mist.

[24:29] A clue in the passage that helps us date the poem--that is, when it's taking place. It seems to be Easter weekend in 1300. Seems to be March 25. Problem is, March 25 didn't fall on Easter weekend in the year 1300.

[27:44] Rereading the passage: INFERNO, Canto I, lines 28 -66.

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Seeing Is (Almost) Believing: PARADISO, Canto IV, Lines 28 - 48

Beatrice begins to take apart the two questions (or doubts) that she has intuited the pilgrim Dante is holding in silence.She first takes on the one with more "poison" in this passage, in which she re...

4 Loka 28min

Paralyzed by Free Will: PARADISO, Canto IV, Lines 1 - 27

Piccarda may have vanished but questions remain. The pilgrim Dante is caught between them, unable to voice them.Beatrice to the rescue! She voices what he cannot say . . . or perhaps what he is afraid...

30 Syys 28min

The Expanding Community of Women in the Moon: PARADISO, Canto III, Lines 109 - 130

Piccarda Donati doesn’t stop her monologue with the cryptic line about her life after the convent. She turns to another figure in the lunar landscape: Constance I of Sicily, the Holy Roman Empress and...

23 Syys 23min

The Violent yet Elliptical End to Piccarda Donati's Story: PARADISO, Canto III, Lines 88 - 108

Piccarda Donati finally answers the question about who she is. She's given her name but not much else about her. In twelve lines (or four tercets) she brings her personal story to its violent yet elli...

20 Syys 27min

Piccarda Donati's Apotheosis of the Will: PARADISO, Canto III, Lines 58 - 87

Piccarda has confessed to her more humble place in the heavens. Our pilgrim Dante then wants to know if she wants more.Her answer leads her to an apotheosis of the will. Everything in the universe is ...

16 Syys 30min

The First Soul in Paradise, Piccarda Donati: PARADISO, Canto III, Lines 34 - 57

At long last, the first soul--or "shade"--steps forward in Paradise. She's Piccarda Donati, a figure we've already encountered once (maybe even twice) in COMEDY.Dante flatters her to speak and she beg...

13 Syys 29min

Catching Feelings in the Sensual Sphere of the Moon: PARADISO, Canto III, Lines 1 - 33

Dante is about to meet the first souls in Paradise, emerging from the liquid light of the moon.The poetry is lush and sensuous. The metaphors are complex and compounded. And Beatrice is a bit chilly, ...

9 Syys 28min

The Souls of the Universe: PARADISO, Canto II, Lines 127 - 148

Beatrice concludes her explanation for moon spots by veering away from them specifically to talk about the nature of the universe.Blessed movers turn the spheres. Or perhaps inhabit them. Or are bound...

6 Syys 27min