Walking With Dante

We follow our pilgrim and his guide, Virgil, on their first steps into hell. Let's pause with these two at the gate of hell with its famous inscription ("Abandon hope!").You enter hell through an act of reading. The words on the gate, yes. But also perhaps these words in the text.And if we read the words right, we can get a most unusual thing: a cheerful look from Virgil.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I walk with Dante the pilgrim passage by passage across the known universe. If you'd like to help support this podcast, please consider a one-time donation or a very small monthly stipend at this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:11] My English translation of INFERNO, Canto III, lines 1 - 21. If you want to see my translation, find a larger study guide, or continue the conversation with me, please go to my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:05] The words over hell's gate, perhaps one of the most iconic passage in COMEDY. The gate speaks truth autobiographically.[05:21] We're entering a civic vision of the afterlife.[08:28] A bit about justice and the definitely non-Thomistic (and non-Aristotelian) words written over the gate. Justice moved God? How is that possible?[12:54] Dante-the-pilgrim is a reader! He has to enter hell through an act of reading.[14:43] Virgil is what every reader needs: a great writer who can move the text out of its space and into the reader's space.[19:00] Virgil is cheerful at a very desperate spot.

Beatrice has bested Virgil. Virgil has bested Dante, our pilgrim.Dante can do nothing else except set off across the universe.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we finish Canto II of INFERNO and get ready to descend into the mouth of hell.Here are the segments to this episode:[02:14] My English translation of INFERNO, Canto II, Lines 115 - 141. If you want to read my translation, find a more in-depth study guide with lots of interpretive questions, or just continue the conversation with me through a comment, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[05:49] Why did we have to have this rhetorical battle?[07:19] Beatrice's final salvo: She wins with tears.[08:32] Virgil confirms that the she-wolf was Dante's primary antagonist.[09:53] Virgil states his final case--and maybe overstates it, putting himself on a par with the blessed ladies in heaven. This may be a moment of the so-called anxiety of influence (à la Harold Bloom, the U. S. provocateur/literary critic).[14:53] Desire is the foundation of the universe in Dante's scheme.[15:24] The pilgrim offers a unified will: He is no longer split in parts.[16:08] The pilgrim Dante speaks in a plain, straightforward way, indicating that he gets it, that he has what it takes to start the journey (both across the universe and on the page).[17:54] An backward glance at Canto II and some points about its structure. A canto highly concerned with rhetoric is itself rhetorically structured. And more about rhetoric and the will, as well as the way they must align to get you what you want.

Where's Dante, our pilgrim? Not in this passage! He's fallen out of his own poem as Virgil and Beatrice engage in their rhetorical battle.And where's hell, the promised blaze with its tortured sinners? Instead, we're headed to the heights of heaven with Beatrice . . . who talks about those flames!What ultimately wins the day? Beatrice's story of her quest to save Dante. To set him on the road to heaven? Maybe. But more importantly, to set him on the road to writing COMEDY.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we fly to the heights of heaven, then come right back to Virgil and Beatrice in of WALKING WITH DANTE.If you'd like to help underwrite this podcast, consider a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend through this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments of this episode:[02:11] My English translation of INFERNO, Canto II, Lines 76 -114. If you want to read along or continue the conversation with me, check it out under the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[06:36] A bit about dissonances in the poem and reminder that we live in a more linear world than Dante.[08:57] Virgil's response to Beatrice involves flattery (maybe flattery that's too high, even blasphemous) and--curious!--it involves his doubting her.[12:05] Virgil then recasts his obedience away from theology and into chivalry . . . as well as his own discomfort wherever he is (in hell).[14:42] Beatrice begins to answer Virgil . . . with some strange interpretive issues right up front in her speech.[16:14] Beatrice mentions flames in hell. But Virgil is not in any flames![18:20] Beatrice's story includes two other women: presumably the Virgin Mary and Saint Lucy.[22:20] A few words about the incredibly complex structure of this passage.[23:48] A few thoughts about what it means to have left the "common crowd" or the "vulgar horde."[25:22] What flood? How has Dante left a flood when he seemed to be lost in a dark wood?[26:48] Words have a direct effect . . . even on Beatrice, who then asks Virgil to use his words to have a direct effect on our pilgrim.Mentioned in this episode:A brief introduction to the walk ahead

After Dante confesses his unworthiness in the opening of Canto II of INFERNO, Virgil clarifies the matter. "You're not modest. You're a coward."Then Virgil does what humans do. He tells a story. One that's almost too good to be true: about the first time Virgil met Beatrice.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we ascend into heaven . . . at least in Virgil's telling of it.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[02:13] My English translation of this passage from INFERNO: Canto II, 43 - 75. If you'd like to read long, find a more detailed study guide, or continue the conversation with me through a comment, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[05:53] Rhetoric. What is it? Why's it so important?[07:03] Virgil's initial salvo at Dante: a sneer, followed by a redefinition of the problem.[11:51] Virgil, who has tweaked the pilgrim's rhetorical prowess, unexpectedly stumbles by saying something that's unintelligible to those who haven't read COMEDY.[13:46] In this war of words for who's up to telling this tale: Beatrice steps up to (the rhetorical) bat. Her speech is "gentle and soft."[14:41] There is an important difference between Beatrice's gentle, soft speech and Virgil's learned "polished" speech.[16:12] Beatrice's first speech (but in Virgil's mouth). She opens with flattery, then lays it on thick. So much so that she ends at a place that seems almost, well, irrational. Or at the very least impossible.[26:58] Rereading the passage: INFERNO, Canto II, lines 43 - 75.

We thought we were underway, but important things must happen first. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we start the Canto II of INFERNO to discover that the our pilgrim, Dante, is almost undone by his doubts. So he tries to play a rhetorical game with his poetic master, Virgil.To get famous, punch up! And Virgil is definitely up from this rather middling poet.If you'd like to help underwrite the many fees for licensing, streaming, editing, hosting, and more for this podcast, please consider a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend by using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments of this episode:[02:02] My English translation of the passage for this episode: INFERNO, Canto II, Lines 1 - 42.[04:14] A review of the plot so far--and an overview of what's ahead in Canto II of INFERNO.[06:08] The opening lines of Canto II, with particular attention to the questions of temporality. Or to put it another way, our pilgrim is out of sync with the world.[09:53] The first invocation of COMEDY. It's a prayer. Not to God. To the classical muses. And particularly to memory. (Bonus material: thereby further asserting the "realism" of COMEDY, affirming that Dante-the-pilgrim REALLY went on this walk.)[11:37] Our pilgrim's first big speech. Am I good enough as a poet to do this? And it raises religious issues. Who's good enough to see the afterlife?[18:01] More about periphrasis: the technique of walking around something without exactly naming it. For lots of reasons. Including flattery.[21:52] Who permits this? The biggest question of COMEDY! Who permits the poet (no less the pilgrim, too) to do this? What if Dante sets out on this walk (or starts writing this poem) and it all turns out to be mad folly.[25:00] Rereading INFERNO, Canto II, lines 1 - 42.Mentioned in this episode:A brief introduction to the walk ahead

Let's pause to look back over INFERNO, Canto I. I'll read it through for its scope and arc. Then we'll set about exploring this piece of architecture, not just the first canto, but the whole of Dante's COMEDY.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I give Inferno's first canto a backward glance, then look ahead to the glorious poetry across COMEDY.If you'd like to donate to this podcast, to help underwrite its many hosting, licensing, editing, streaming, and royalty fees, consider a one-time donation or a very small monthly stipend through this PayPal link right here. Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[00:59] The whole of INFERNO, Canto I. For a study guide to this first canto, complete with translation and interpretation questions, please find the various episodes listed under the header "INFERNO, Cantos I - IV" on my website, markscarbrough.com.[07:38] The overall structure of Dante's COMEDY.[11:23] The canto and stanza structure of COMEDY.[23:08] Even deeper in, the structure of the individual lines of COMEDY.[26:54] Everyone fences in the world to make their own pasture. Problem is, we often mistake our pasture for the world. So we must discover both Dante's fence and his pasture. But our poet goes beyond what most of us are willing to do. Again and again in COMEDY, he moves his fences to make his pasture bigger and bigger.

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.

We meet the pilgrim Dante's first and great guide, the Roman poet Virgil. He is the pilgrim's master, his "author." Except he's also Virgil, a guy who has a limited understanding of the universe.What happens when you meet your hero and he's not what you imagined? What happens when he's as fallible as you are?Easy. You set off across the universe together. How else do humans do it?Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we start the pilgrim's journey again, a do-over, all in the first canto, this time with a guide and not under the pilgrim's (or maybe the poet's) own steam.Here are the segments of this episode:[02:20] My English translation for this passage: INFERNO, Canto I, Lines 67 - 96. If you'd like to read along, find a study guide for deeper analysis, or even continue the conversation with me, please find this episode under the header INFERNO, Cantos I _ IV on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:45] Virgil! That apparition from the last episode is the great Roman poet.[06:59] The first shot at a much longer discussion of an important tool in Dante's kit: periphrasis, a rhetorical strategy whereby a writer "walks" around something or someone without naming it.[08:57] Virgil offers the pilgrim Dante his résumé. It's not all it seems. Or perhaps it's less than he tries to make it.[16:11] Virgil makes a big mistake, a theological mistake, which may tell us more about what our poet thinks of Virgil than Virgil intends to give away at this moment.[20:24] Even so, the pilgrim offers Virgil a little hero-worship.[21:45] A final bit about the internal landscape of this poem. There's a lot of talk about how medieval poetry shows no interiority, no inner life of its characters. But there may be a clue in this passage that COMEDY is very interested in the pilgrim's interiority.[23:19] A question about the pilgrim's guides in COMEDY.Mentioned in this episode:A brief introduction to the walk ahead

Dante begins his journey across the known universe--except not. The journey stops almost the moment it begins in COMEDY.What happens when you set off in a new direction but have no clue where you're going? Apparently, you get blocked by the beasts of your imagination.Or maybe by more than beasts. By symbols. Even allegories. Personal, political, and/or social.This tough passage has eaten gallons of scholarly ink over the centuries. I'll give you different ideas for what these animals "mean." But the answers may ultimately be your own.If you'd like to help underwrite the many fees associated with this podcast, please consider a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend using this PayPal right here.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[00:28] My English translation of INFERNO, Canto 1, Lines 28 - 66. If you'd like to read along, find a study guide for deeper analysis, or just drop a comment to continue the conversation with me, please go to my website and look for tab that directs you to INFERNO, Cantos I - IV: markscarbrough.com.[03:18] Our first glimpse of the poem's complexity--that is, the question of the pilgrim's feet, sieved through St. Augustine and a commentary by Dante's own son, plus more.[09:26] Three beasts! The terrors on the slope! I'll offer lots of interpretations for them. They've generated 700 years worth![20:50] The pilgrim slips back down the mountain, almost lost, until a figure appears out of the mist.[24:29] A clue in the passage that helps us date the poem--that is, when it's taking place. It seems to be Easter weekend in 1300. Seems to be March 25. Problem is, March 25 didn't fall on Easter weekend in the year 1300.[27:44] Rereading the passage: INFERNO, Canto I, lines 28 -66.

Our pilgrim, Dante, comes awake in a dark wood. Now what? He has to walk out. But to where? And how?This fourth episode of WALKING WITH DANTE is actually the second passage we cover from INFERNO. Intriguingly, this is one of the few moments in the poem in which our pilgrim, Dante, is all by himself.The first steps of a journey are rarely in the right direction. Particularly when you don't have a map.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we start the first steps of the journey and discover some of the lush poetry that has made COMEDY endure for over seven hundred years.If you'd like to help underwrite the many fees associated with this podcast, please use this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[02:13] My English translation of this passage: INFERNO, Canto 1, Lines 10 - 27. To find my translation, to see a larger study guide for this episode, or to drop a comment for you and me to go on talking, go to my website and look for the episodes of INFERNO, Cantos I - IV: markscarbrough.com.[03:55] The balance between the two central characters of the COMEDY: the poet who is writing the work and the pilgrim who is walking the journey.[07:46] Is this a dream poem?[09:52] The hill just ahead--for the pilgrim and for us.[12:12] The lake of the heart.[14:36] The poem's first simile: shipwreck.[17:13] More about what hill could mean.[20:40] Rereading INFERNO, Canto I, lines 1 - 27.Mentioned in this episode:A brief introduction to the walk ahead

Who was Dante? Actually, that's two questions in one. First, how did this hard-working if not formerly brilliant poet and would-be politician from a rather lackluster family end up writing COMEDY, arguably the greatest work of Western literature?Second, when was Dante? What was his historical moment like?Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I tell you a bit about the the poet's upbringing, his troubles, and the times he lived in, reaching back to the early 1200s to bring his story up to and just beyond his death in 1321.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[00:53] Dante is a nickname![01:56] Dante's birth.[04:10] Some historical context, starting in 1215 CE.[07:44] Medieval clan warfare on the Italian peninsula.[13:39] Dante's childhood and upbringing.[14:45] Beatrice, the love of Dante's life.[17:56] Dante's teacher (maybe): Brunetto Latini.[19:46] Dante's political career.[22:16] Dante on the run.[26:15] The Avignon papacy.[27:32] Dante's patrons and later life.

We take the first steps with our pilgrim, Dante, as he finds himself in a dark wood and starts his walk . . . through hell? No, across the known universe.He's also in a mid-life crisis. Curiously, not his. Instead, ours.It's a bad spot--so bad that he quakes even as he tries to write about it years later.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, to discover the opening lines of Dante's masterwork.If you'd like to read my English translation or dip deeper into this passage, there's a full study guide on my website, markscarbrough.com or walkingwithdante.com. Look for the header link to INFERNO, Cantos I - IV at the top of the site, then scroll or page down to the episode.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:39]  Why would you want to walk with Dante?[04:09]  Who am I? This podcast has been brewing for years.[06:26]   At first glance, why are the opening lines so strange, even off-putting?[14:42]  Does Dante's poem open "in medias res"? That is, "in the middle of things"?[17:03]  Who's journey is this? Who is this "I"? And how can this "I" write this journey into the wilds of the universe?[22:27]  What's the point of Dante's COMEDY? To walk across the known universe.

An introduction to the podcast WALKING WITH DANTE. I'm Mark Scarbrough, a former academic and working author.This podcast is my passion project: to take Dante's COMEDY passage by passage. I've taught it many times. But I've always felt rushed. I want to take this masterpiece at my own speed. So here I go. No, here WE go.I'll use my own English translation. You can find mine at markscarbrough.com or walkingwithdante.com. You can also find supplemental material for these upcoming episodes, including deeper interpretive issues, translation issues I don't handle in the episodes, and even journaling prompts to bring Dante's poem into your life.To begin, look for the header on my site labeled "INFERNO, Cantos I - IV." Sorry: the episodes are in reverse order. The hosting provider won't let me change that! But scroll back a page or two and you'll find the first episodes for Canto I. See you there!