Walking With Dante10 Mar 2021

Straight On, Then Right For The Burning Tombs Of The Heretics: INFERNO, Canto IX, Lines 107 - 133

Finally, we're done with the fifth circle of hell, with the wrathful (and the sullen) and all that happens before the gates of Dis.

Curiously, we're also done with the seven deadly sins as a structuring device for INFERNO. We now follow our pilgrim and Virgil into the sixth circle, not of envy, pride, or sloth, but of heresy.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we walk with Dante through the infernal underworlds on our way to the known universe. We've come to a circle of hell that proves a bit hard to figure out. Why heresy? And why here?

Consider underwriting some of the many fees associated with hosting, licensing, streaming, and editing this work by using this PayPal link right here.

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

[01:00] My English translation of INFERNO, Canto IX, lines 107 - 133. If you'd like to read along, continue the conversation with me via a comment, or find a deeper study guide for this episode, please look for its entry on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[03:48] Five general observations on the sixth circle of hell, the ring of the heretics. 1) They're in tombs INSIDE a city's walls. 2) There is no formal descent (or even a step down) to this circle. 3) The sin punished is not self-evident until Virgil explains it. 4) The sin itself--heresy--is a strange one in the poem's schematics where every sin seems to be about the will. And 5) Maybe heresy itself allows for writerly insecurity, as our poet steps beyond Virgil's imaginative landscape.

[11:38] Six glosses (or notes) on this passage. 1) These are ROMAN tombs. 2) There's a curious reference to art (or craft) in the passage. 3) The tombs' lids are "suspended"--as Virgil is in Limbo. 4) The tombs are described as chests or arks--you know, like Noah's. 5) With heresy, the classical world has been left behind. And 6) Virgil leads Dante to the right, not the usual left.

[24:26] Rereading the passage: INFERNO, Canto IX, lines 107 - 133.

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(498)

Go Home: PARADISO, Canto II, Lines 1 - 18

Our poet steps out of the shadows with an important message: "Go home."Because PARADISO is hard. Because we might get lost. Because we're not prepared.The stark address to all readers--or perhaps to a...

16 Aug 25min

Of Natural Instincts and Their Natural Ends: PARADISO, Canto I, Lines 115 - 142

Beatrice continues in her discourse about our natural instincts, making the bold claim that they can lead us to our natural ends . . . which are the good, not the catastrophic bad.Her Scholastic theol...

12 Aug 23min

Sailing Across the Great Sea of "To Be": PARADISO, Canto I, Lines 94 - 114

Beatrice has answered Dante's first doubt, but he has another. He can't quite understand how he, maybe in his body, can make his way across the universe.She doesn't have a quick answer. Instead, she h...

9 Aug 25min

Returning Home Through the Music of the Spheres: PARADISO, Canto I, Lines 61 - 93

Our pilgrim finds everything doubled in brightness . . . because he's begun to fly up to the heavens, although he doesn't know it at first.He's too busy figuring out all that light . . . and listening...

5 Aug 37min

Staring at the Sun: PARADISO, Canto I, Lines 37 - 60

The plot gets underway in PARADISO.Our pilgrim Dante turns to Beatrice . . . who is paying him no attention. She's staring at the sun.So he does the same! He hasn't even left earth, yet the miraculous...

2 Aug 36min

A Polyvocal Passage With All Its Dissonances: PARADISO, Canto I, Lines 13 - 36

Our poet moves from his scholastic and even (medieval) scientific opening of PARADISO into his invocation . . . to Apollo?This passage has often embarrassed Dante scholars who feel the need to excuse ...

29 Jul 41min

Welcome to a Renegotiated Poem: PARADISO, Canto I, Lines 1 - 12

From its opening lines, it's clear that PARADISO is not like what has come before in COMEDY. Dante seems to be renegotiating the terms of his poem, establishing a new voice, a new model, and a new met...

26 Jul 37min

Final Thoughts On PURGATORIO

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 p...

26 Apr 19min