Walking With Dante24 Jul 2022

Bertran de Born, The Rationale For Inferno, & The Dangers Of Poetry: INFERNO, Canto XXVIII, Lines 112 - 142

We end the crowded ninth evil pouch of the schismatics with . . . a poet: Bertran de Born. A poet Dante had previously praised. A poet who wrote poetry that is a direct influence on Dante's earlier works. And a poet who has actually been with us throughout Inferno, Canto XXVIII, even if we didn't realize it.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the historical and meta-literary details in his complicated passage--and then turn to an exploration of Bertran's use of a word that has come to dominate Dante criticism: "contrapasso."

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

[02:40] My English translation of this passage: Inferno, Canto XXVIII, lines 112 - 142. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment on this episode, please go to my website, markscarbrough.com.

[06:09] Who was Bertran de Born?

[10:26] Who was "the young king" Bertran de Born speaks about?

[14:02] What was Bertran de Born's place in the English/French civil wars?

[15:55] The first Biblical citation in the passage: Ahitophel, Absalom, and David.

[17:36] The second Biblical citation in the passage: See if there is any sorrow like my sorrow.

[21:53] Dante has twice mentioned Bertran de Born in other works.

[23:11] Why does this passage begin with a veracity problem?

[25:43] Bertran de Born's poetry has been in Canto XXVIII all along.

[28:04] Why is Bertran de Born here?

[30:59] What is "contrapasso"? And what are the limits of its meaning?

[36:11] There may be two types of "contrapasso": actual and metaphorical.

[42:48] Muhammad may bookend Canto XXVIII.

[46:19] Rereading Inferno, Canto XXVIII, lines 112 - 142.

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