How Much Classical Imagery Can One Poem Take? INFERNO, Canto IX, Lines 34 - 63

This passage is surely the densest thicket of classical allegory we've yet encountered in INFERNO. The references are so heavy and quickly applied that the poet even steps out from behind the curtain to ask us to notice it all as a giant allegorical scheme in COMEDY.

But a scheme of what? Which part of all this time among the wrathful is allegorical? All of it? Even Phlegyas' boat? Or just the Furies? Or just the threat of Medusa's arrival? Or even just Virgil's hands, which get placed over the pilgrim's eyes?

To make matters worse, this passage starts with a distinct problem: Memory fails in a poem that promises memory won't. This passage is surely one of the most complicated ones we've yet encountered.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I explore this passage from INFERNO and get a bit lost in the weeds of classical literature--because Dante asks us to.

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

[02:06] My English translation of INFERNO, Canto IX, lines 34 - 63. If you'd like to read along, continue the conversation with me, or find a deeper study guide for this episode, please find its entry on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[04:17] Memory fails! Understandable, sure, because the walls of Dis are terrifying. Problem is, our poet prayed for "unerring memory" back in INFERNO, Canto II.

[05:50] The Furies arrive in their full horror--and maybe in their full allegory, too. We strike at the heart of this complicated passage in which we're asked to Christianize classical literature and "classicize" a Christian poem.

[12:16] The pilgrim Dante presses close to Virgil. But maybe the poet does, too. Maybe the way out of too much classical imagery is to engage more deeply with . . . classical literature. Or maybe engage more humanly?

[15:11] The threat of Medusa! She'll turn Dante to stone. But which him? The pilgrim or the poet? Maybe both. In any event, Virgil saves the pilgrim by blocking his vision. (Ahem!)

[19:45] In the final tercet (three lines), the poet steps out and asks us to look behind the veil of his poetry. I've got four points to make sense of this complex request.

Mentioned in this episode:

A brief introduction to the walk ahead