Walking With Dante23 Nov 2025

The Darkening Poetry Around The Solitary Lady: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVIII, Lines 43 - 66

Our pilgrim, Dante, calls the solitary lady over to him. She can't cross the stream that divides them, but she can dance in place before coming closer to him.

All the while, the poet keeps darkening the poetry around her with threatening references in the pilgrim's mouth--that is, classical examples of profane love that end up in tragic circumstances.

And all this, despite our poet quoting repeatedly from his rival poet's poem.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we watch meaning get thicker and thicker at the top of Mount Purgatory.

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

[01:30] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXVIII, lines 43 - 66. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment about this episode to continue the conversation, please find its spot on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[03:53] What if wandering is the start of some of the most significant journeys?

[08:22] My interpretive thesis: The solitary lady is the only fully fictional character in COMEDY.

[12:30] The poet Dante is cribbing a pastoral poem by his literary rival, Guido Cavalcanti.

[18:14] Two reasons Dante may have cribbed Cavalcanti's pastoral poem: 1) to assuage Dante's own guilt in Cavalcanti's death or 2) to show the limits of Cavalcanti's (and others') poetry.

[22:59] Two classical exemplars from Ovid--Proserpina and Venus--darken the passage considerably.

[27:48] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVIII, lines 43 - 66.

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