Beatrice, Changed; Dante, Panicked; And The Reader, De-centered: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, Lines 70 - 108

Dante wakes back up from his unexpected sleep to find that the grand parade is heading off into the forest (or maybe the skies). He's in a panic that Beatrice has left, too, although the young woman of Eden comforts him and shows her now humble place under the renewed tree.

Meanwhile, we readers are equally panicked . . . or at least de-centered, as we try to make sense of complicated similes and oblique symbolic meanings. COMEDY is getting more complex by the line. It's a game of interpretation we've been preparing to play since INFERNO, Canto I.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at the passage just before the giant apocalyptic vision of PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII.

To underwrite the many fees for this work, 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:

[01:21] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, Lines 70 - 108. 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.

[04:53] Four (or maybe five) interwoven Biblical references in the opening twelve lines of this passage (or the opening four tercets).

[13:25] The interweaving of textuality to de-center the reader by pushing meaning further into mystery.

[15:52] Dante's awakening to panic and then obeisance.

[19:43] The complex meaning of Beatrice's changed position under the tree.

[25:10] Dante's Roman hopes for heaven.

[26:47] A flourish of the medieval high rhetorical style at the end of the passage.

[28:53] Writing as awakening and return.

[31:23] Rereading this passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, lines 70 - 108.

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(511)

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