Walking With Dante31 Jan 2021

Hell's Biggest Crack Is In The Poetry, Not The Landscape: INFERNO, Canto VIII, Lines 1 - 6

With the wrathful, COMEDY seems to back up and start over. Although Boccaccio had a story to explain this break, its rationale may be more in terms of the the poet's coming to terms with the expanding nature of his work.

He needs to give himself time to slow down. And he needs to figure out his relationship with Virgil, his poetic master. Mostly, he needs to break with Virgil ("I got the beautiful style from you") to find a more powerful and deliberate poetry in the vernacular.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I talk about some of the theories of this break in INFERNO, right in the middle of the fifth circle of hell, right among the wrathful. It's here that the poet seems to slow down, to settle in, to find a stronger voice, and not to find himself hurried across the universe. Yes, Virgil will goad him on in future passages. But that's Virgil. Dante-the-poet will take the time he needs.

Here are the segments of this episode:

[00:31] My English translation of INFERNO: Canto VIII, lines 1 - 6 and a quick overview of where we've been. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment about this episode, please find its entry on my website: markscarbrough.com.

[02:40] Boccaccio's (suspect?) answer to why the poem seems to shift gears: Dante left his manuscript behind.

[03:33] Some proposed answers for what I see as a shift in narrative strategy in the poem. For one thing, our poet must come to terms with his own poetic father, Virgil. THE AENEID has been taking over the poem. This emphasis needs to shift for COMEDY to find its voice.

[13:33] The poet must also become more committed to the vernacular for the poem to find its voice.

[15:41] From here on out, the notion of "sin" will change.

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