Walking With Dante7 Okt 2020

Virgil The Poet Becomes Virgil The Prophet: INFERNO, Canto I, Lines 97 - 136

In a previous episode, I talked about how Dante defines Virgil as a poet, not a philosopher, and why that was important in Dante's medieval context.

But there's more to Virgil than poetry. There's prophecy. Because as we'll discover, perhaps the most important part of being a poet is being a prophet, too.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we now find out why and how being a prophet is so crucial to a poet's role. We'll hear Virgil predict not only Dante's future but the future of the Italian peninsula itself.

This is a tough passage, made tougher because of centuries of commentary. I'll lead you through four interpretations, then offer my own, a fifth possibility.

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

[01:56] My English translation of the passage: INFERNO, Canto I, Lines 97 - 136. If you'd like to read along or (better yet) find a more intense study guide for this episode, please find this episode under the header for INFERNO, Cantos I - IV on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[04:23] Virgil's true role: a poet-prophet.

[05:37] What is a prophet in the Biblical tradition? What does Virgil predict? What's up with a greyhound?

[10:25] I'll offer you five interpretations of Virgil's opaque prophecy, four from the commentary tradition and one under my own steam.

[19:02] Virgil simplifies things by telling the pilgrim's future (that is, not the future for the Italian peninsula but just the road ahead). But in telling about the journey ahead, Virgil reveals his misunderstanding (or maybe his limited understanding) about what's ahead.

[21:02] My own journey is not Dante's. But the pilgrim is off under his own steam, even without me in tow. But he seems to forget that Paradise is ahead.

Det här avsnittet är hämtat från ett öppet RSS-flöde och publiceras inte av Podme. Det kan innehålla reklam.

Avsnitt(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 Juli 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 Juli 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