Of Eels And Wine: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, Lines 16 - 33
Forese Donati continues to answer Dante the pilgrim's questions by naming five penitent gluttons surrounding them on the sixth terrace of Mount Purgatory.As he points them out, Forese (and Dante the p...
2 Juli 202525min
Virgil's Silence And A First Glimpse Of Paradise: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, Lines 1 - 15
PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, is set as a direct continuation from Canto XXIII. The poet Dante cues us to the continuation but there nevertheless are a couple of subtle disruptions.For one thing, Virgil has...
29 Juni 202523min
Renegotiating COMEDY As PURGATORIO Nears Its Climax: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, Lines 112 - 133
Forese Donati has finished his diatribe about Florentine women and is now ready to hear Dante the pilgrim's story. Who did the pilgrim get here in the flesh?The pilgrim retells the journey, renegotiat...
25 Juni 202525min
From Lofty To Lyrical In The Prophetic Voice: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, Lines 91 - 111
Having praised his wife, Nella, Forese Donati launches into the prophetic voice, the new "high style" that Dante has developed, a screed with a lyrical undertow.This complicated poetic act can only be...
22 Juni 202528min
The Heroic Nella Donati: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, Lines 76 - 90
Dante the pilgrim and his rival/friend/fellow poet Forese Donati continue to talk about their concerns: suffering, placement on the mountain, and the role of the living in the service of the dead.Alo...
18 Juni 202526min
Pain, Solace, And Being Human: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, Lines 49 - 75
Having met his poetic rival, Forese Donati, Dante the pilgrim must make sense of the clear and present pain he sees in friend's face.This passage is a curious example of felix culpa, the fortunate fal...
15 Juni 202529min
Gluttons For Poetry: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, Lines 28 - 48
Dante now walks with the skeletal gluttons who have God's writing on their faces.Along the way, there are increasingly complex and almost gaming literary references that litter the text until Dante th...
11 Juni 202533min
Starved For Affection: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, Lines 1 - 27
Our pilgrim must move beyond the mystical tree on the sixth terrace of Mount Purgatory. So he sets off behind Virgil and Statius, only to overtaken by a group of cadaverous, skeletal penitents, whose ...
8 Juni 202527min
