The Flames Don't Burn Up Irony: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVII, Lines 49 - 90
Our pilgrim has entered the flames of lust. For the first time, he is not a voyeur of the torments. He experiences them on the last terrace of lust.He then hears a call to enter Paradise . . . before ...
24 Sep 202534min
Of Fraud, Flames, And Love: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVII, Lines 19 - 48
Our pilgrim stands on the brink of the flames. Virgil has to use every rhetorical trick in his bag to get Dante to move . . . and the only thing that works in Beatrice.In so doing, our poet Dante atte...
21 Sep 202528min
The Whole World Is On Fire: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVII, Lines 1 - 18
Our pilgrim has come to an impasse: the flames of lust. There's no way forward except to step into them. He must finally feel the sufferings that he has witnessed over the course of COMEDY to this poi...
17 Sep 202530min
Final Thoughts About Poetry, Lust, And Meaning On The Last Terrace Of Mount Purgatory
As we pass Arnaut Daniel, the last penitent soul of Mount Purgatory, let's look back over the discussions of poetry and lust in the seventh (and even sixth) terrace of the mountain.Dante has laid out ...
14 Sep 202519min
French Poetry Doesn't Have To Condemn You: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, Lines 136 - 148
Guido Guinizzelli has pointed to another figure in the purifying flames of Purgatory's seventh terrace. And now he steps forward, one of the greatest troubadour poets, a model of high-brow poetry and ...
10 Sep 202518min
Sweet Becomes Truthful Becomes Poetic: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, Lines 115 - 135
Dante has found his poetic father, Guido Guinizzelli, burning in the fires of lust on the final terrace of Mount Purgatory. Our pilgrim-poet has praised his poetic father for the sweet art that will l...
7 Sep 202532min
The Love That Dares To Speak Its Name: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, Lines 94 - 114
Guido Guinizzelli has named himself and our pilgrim, Dante, is aghast.He gets lost in a classical simile that almost loses its sense, only to finally find his love for this poetic father and express h...
3 Sep 202523min
Queenly Embeasting: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, Lines 67 - 93
We finally come to know who has been our spokesperson for the lustful penitents: Guido Guinizzelli, perhaps the most important Italian poet working before Dante.Guinizzelli explains who the penitents ...
31 Aug 202523min
