Walking With Dante

The sun's coming up. The sky is turning orange. And night is dropping the scales of Libra. Could it get better? Well, yes, the pilgrim Dante and his guide, Virgil, could have a clue about what to do next.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at the opening prologue passage for Canto II of PURGATORIO. It's a moment of gorgeous poetry with no forward momentum. In the redeemed part of the afterlife? Apparently so.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:17] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto II, lines 1 - 12. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or drop a comment, please go to my website: markscarbrough.com.[02:27] My confession: too much talk about what's ahead in COMEDY--although such talk may be inevitable.[05:13] PURGATORIO, Canto II is a mirror image of INFERNO, Canto II.[06:35] The terrestrial/astronomical opening of PURGATORIO, Canto II.[11:30] The zodiac skyscape is alive![14:33] The globe flips twice in the passage.[15:18] Hesitancy is the primary thematic of PURGATORIO, Canto II--which may mean Virgil is not the best guide for Purgatory.[18:14] What is this hesitancy? How can we interpret it? Metapoetics? Human motives? A mistake that's not a sin?[22:36] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto II, lines 1 - 12.

At the end of PURGATORIO, Canto I, l'd like to stop and start a larger discussion of what Purgatory is. It may surprise you to learn that it's fairly new doctrine in Dante's day--and that our poet is one of the people who actually sets the terms of its theology.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we begin a much larger discussion, one that will happen over the first nine cantos of PURGATORIO, about what exactly this place is and how it came to be such a crucial part of (some) Christian theology.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:04] Purgatory is new theological territory in Dante's day.[03:30] Everyone is in transit in PURGATORIO (with one glaring exception).[06:20] Purgatory is a liminal space--and thus an artistic space.[10:59] The meaning of pain has changed from punitive to remedial or educative.[12:22] INFERNO is purgatorial for Dante the poet; PURGATORIO is purgatorial for Dante the pilgrim.

We come to the end of PURGATORIO, Canto I. Cato has disappeared. Virgil and Dante wander around (despite being told exactly what to do). And Dante the pilgrim discovers that he himself can still change in a world where everything else is fixed or permanent.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the final passage in the Canto I of Dante's PURGATORIO, the second third of his masterwork, COMEDY. The poem has so many surprises that it's hard to keep track!Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:30] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto 1, Lines 112 - 136. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or drop a comment, please go to my website: markscarbrough.com.[03:37] Cato's appearance and disappearance is like Jesus's after the resurrection. And there may be other ways they're alike.[06:19] "Follow my footsteps": a familiar emotional landscape for us readers and for the pilgrim Dante.[06:47] There are two important moments of descent in COMEDY: one in Inferno I and the second in Purgatorio I.[11:23] "The vibrations of the ocean": a call-out to THE AENEID, Book VII, lines 6 - 9. In other words, Virgil and his poetry are still our touchstone.[13:04] Dante's complex emotional landscape: wandering around a bit lost when you're in the redeemed part of the afterlife.[15:05] What exactly is Virgil's "craft"? Following Cato's directions?[17:27] Dante the pilgrim is returned to a human state, not a state of innocence.[19:58] Ulysses appears in Purgatory![21:45] In Dante's afterlife, all is permanent, except the pilgrim Dante.[24:13] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto I, Lines 112 - 136.

Virgil has replied to Cato--and now it's Cato's turn to answer back. This time, Cato doesn't seem so threatening. He seems more willing to help Virgil and Dante. Why could that be?Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore Cato's second speech at the opening of PURGATORIO. We'll talk through its implications and see how it opens up the possibilities of redemption this early on in the second third of Dante's masterwork, COMEDY.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:13] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto I, lines 85 - 111. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or drop a comment, please go to my website: markscarbrough.com.[03:40] Did Virgil make a mistake in mentioning Marcia? Or is Virgil even more human in this canticle?[06:01] Cato most likely was redeemed during Jesus's harrowing of hell.[09:03] There's a strange Latinate construction at line 87. It feels very much like legalese.[11:08] Cato addresses his reply to Virgil, thereby accepting Virgil as Dante's guide.[12:23] Cato's reference to a "smooth rush" may call us back to the wood of the suicides in INFERNO Canto XIII. And his reference to "reclothing" the pilgrim may have a reference to St. Paul's theology in it.[15:43] Cato indicates that rhetoric won't save them--but their story will.[18:19] Cato is not the first minister of Purgatory--which leads some to say that Cato is not ultimately redeemed.[20:16] Pliancy is a prime virtue of PURGATORIO, both for the pilgrim and the reader.[22:58] Cato warns them off, as the Magi may have been warned off after Jesus's birth.[25:19] The sun is rising on Easter Sunday morning.[26:37] Our first glimpse of the mountain ahead of us.[27:25] The pilgrim stands up--a huge change from his behavior in INFERNO, Canto I.[28:55] Rereading PURGATORIO Canto I Lines 28 - 111.

Our second episode on this tough passage. Here, we focus on Cato and Marcia, two big problems in the text. Why and how is Cato redeemed? Or is he? And how does Marcia pray for him from Limbo?In the end, love moves the fence. But not without costs. Not without hairline fractures in Dante's COMEDY. Because moving the fence is always costly. But necessary.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:37] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto I, Lines 49 - 84. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or drop a comment, please go to my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:09] The gatekeeper of Purgatory is Cato the Younger, a Roman Stoic pagan suicide.[06:07] How do we know this is Cato when Dante never names him? Because of references to Lucan's PHARSALIA and Dante's CONVIVIO.[08:28] Why doesn't Dante the poet name Cato?[09:37] Who is Marcia, Cato's wife?[12:11] Is Marcia truly praying for Cato from Limbo? Four possible answers.[16:24] Is Cato truly redeemed? Many commentators quibble or just say "no."[18:53] What does it mean that Cato is redeemed? Motive begins to count as much as action.[22:19] Augustine's CONFESSIONS may be a structuring device for PURGATORIO: Stoicism, Platonism, Christianity.[27:59] Cato's place in PURGATORIO heightens Virgil's tragedy and brings hairline fractures to the very structure of COMEDY.

We have come to one of the strangest moments so far in COMEDY: the moment we recognize the lone old man is in fact the Roman pagan Stoic suicide Cato. This moment breaks COMEDY in so many ways that we're going to spend two episodes of the podcast looking at this passage from PURGATORIO.In this episode, we're going to focus on Virgil and (to a lesser extent) Dante in the passage (thereby saving Cato and his wife Marcia for the next episode). What does this long speech tell us about Virgil's possibly changing place in the poem? What is Dante the poet up to?Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[00:58] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto I, Lines 49 - 84. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or drop a comment, please go to my website, markscarbrough.com.[05:06] Virgil in Purgatory: still a strange idea, although we may (or may not) have been set up for it.[08:55] The structure of PURGATORIO, Canto I: mostly a conversation between two father figures, Virgil and Cato. But Virgil's presence still causes lots of problems.[12:17] Making Dante the pilgrim show obeisance: a mistake or a change in the dynamics in the poem?[17:28] What is Virgil doing when he apparently paraphrases Dante the pilgrim to Cato?[20:13] Dante's folly is like Pier delle Vigne's and Ulysses'--except Dante's folly happened before COMEDY, not in COMEDY.[22:28] Humor in the passage, but maybe mean-spirited and at Virgil's expense.[24:58] Freedom: the guiding principle of PURGATORIO (until we get to Beatrice).[27:14] The law--that is, how Virgil and Dante got here.[29:08] Flattery: Does it get the job done?

As Dante the pilgrim gazes at the gorgeous sky, he finds an old man standing next to him, a figure who will startle us (if not the pilgrim) and who will eventually cue us that all is not what it seems in the second third of Dante's COMEDY.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we turn with the pilgrim to PURGATORIO's first great surprise. Let's talk about this old man without identifying him yet--because that's exactly what our text does.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:18] My English translation of this passage: PURGATORIO, Canto I, Lines 28 - 48. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or drop a comment, please go to my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:02] Our first task: The Big Dipper. It's a minor translation problem in the passage.[04:35] The on-going movement from Dante the pilgrim: turning, not walking.[06:52] The effects of wonder in this passage have already been noted in INFERNO, Canto XXVIII.[08:00] Our first vision of the lone, old man, emerging at us from the text.[08:58] The old man is not immediately identified--and that may be crucial to our seeing the poem correctly.[12:18] The old man has a paternal quality. Does that make him a potential rival for Virgil?[13:37] The old man has a long, forked beads, reminiscent of the representation of Moses in the Florentine Baptistry mosaics.[14:58] The old man is first seen by Dante the pilgrim after he turns to the north.[15:54] The old man is directly linked to the four stars over the South Pole.[16:51] There is another old man ("veglio") in the poem: the old man of Crete.[18:18] The old man's appearance is reminiscent of Jesus's appearance to Mary Magdalene at the garden tomb.[19:35] The old man seems very keen on the legal niceties.[21:37] The old man is a blocking figure, like many others we've met in INFERNO.[22:30] But there's a significant difference: This old man may be open to change.[23:57] Rereading PURGATORIO, Canto 1, Lines 28 - 48

Dante the poet leads us in a slow turn toward Dante the pilgrim, his "fictional" alter ego, who is looking up at the heavens--that is, at Venus, at four new-to-him stars, and at the gorgeous sapphire color of a predawn sky.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we come to see the emotional complexity Dante has learned to encode in this short passage after the craft developed in the writing of INFERNO. The turn to the pilgrim is a beautiful moment, with resonances of hope and loss throughout--perhaps, then, a most human moment.This passage of PURGATORIO is also packed with interpretive problems. And you know we love those! So here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:14] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto I, Lines 13 - 27. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment, please find this passage on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:13] Where are we? In a terrestrial poem that yearns for the infinite--with a couple of translation problems right off.[07:03] We turn to Dante the pilgrim in a moment in which he wonders at the sheer beauty of the sky. (Such a contrast to his responses in INFERNO!)[08:30] What is the allegory of the sapphire blue? And how do we know our interpretation of that allegory is correct?[13:27] What is this "gorgeous planet"? It's a representation of love, as Dante tells us. But it's also the potential rehabilitation of the morning star from its traditional interpretation by Christian theologians as a reference to Satan before his fall.[18:07] However, there's a historical problem for the poetry: Venus was not the morning star in 1300, the year of the pilgrim's journey across the known universe.[20:39] Check out the emotional movement in the first nine lines of this passage: from beauty to global peace to internal regeneration to the laughter of the cosmos.[23:09] We see Dante the pilgrim's first physical movement: a turn to the right (that is, to the south). And there's an interpretive problem in these lines: Who are these "first people" he mentions?[26:53] And while we're at it, what are the four stars Dante the pilgrim sees?[29:41] The last lines of the passage only make sense if you've read Virgil's explanation in INFERNO.[31:08] The last lines of the passage also encode a moment of loss, maybe even melancholy. Laughter + loss = human. That's ultimately the equation of (most of) PURGATORIO.[32:47] I read PURGATORIO, Canto I, Lines 13 - 27 again.

These are the opening lines of PURGATORIO, in whcih we start, not with the Dante the pilgrim (as we did in INFERNO), but with Dante the poet, who puts his hubris and his doubts on full display.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we slow-walk through the opening lines of the second canticle, the second third, of Dante's masterwork COMEDY. We'll hear the poet state his intentions and hear him cite a bit of orthodox theology as well as some possibly heterodox bits. He'll also invoke the muses, not to guide him, but to follow him, before expressing an implicit warning to himself about the work ahead.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:01] Reading my English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto I, Lines 1 - 12. You can find these lines on my website, markscarbrough.com, where you can also drop comments or ask questions.[03:01] Dante arrives in PURGATORIO in his own boat, although we know an angel will bring everyone else.[08:13] PURGATORIO is a terrestrial poem that begins with the Dante the poet--whereas INFERNO was a terrestrial poem that began with the Dante the pilgrim.[10:24] Dante offers the third invocation to the Muses in COMEDY, now with distinct references to that most Christian doctrine: the resurrection.[16:39] There's a slight problem with Calliope. For Dante, she may well be the greatest muse, not necessarily "just" the muse of epic poetry.[18:55] What exactly is this thing Dante calls "deadened poetry" ("morta poesí")? The answer is harder than you may think.[22:07] The opening twelve lines of PURGATORIO are jam-packed with the poet's hubris.[26:57] But the poet Dante may also express his fears in these lines.[29:18] Something to consider before we move on in the poem: INFERNO may well have been purgatory for the Dante the poet.[30:49] Rereading PURGATORIO, Canto I, Lines 1 - 12.

As I told you in the previous episode of this podcast, we're taking PURGATORIO in chunks, rather than small bits. Or more like, first chunks, then small bits. And here's our first chunk: cantos 1 - 2 in my English translation.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we begin our exploration of the shores of Purgatory. I'll first read through the first two cantos of the middle canticle from Dante's masterwork, COMEDY.Then I'll raise some initial interpretive questions--although there will be lots more as we break the cantos down into smaller chunks, starting in the next episode.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:54] Reading PURGATORIO, cantos 1 - 2.[18:26] Six initial, interpretive questions. One, are we in the same poem as we were in INFERNO?[20:53] Two, who is this solitary old man?[22:13] Three, why all the astrological and astronomical references in these cantos?[23:28] Four, why all the singing in these opening cantos of PURGATORIO?[24:43] Five, who is Casella?[25:43] Six, what does Dante the poet know about angels?

Support WALKING WITH DANTE to keep it sponsor-free by donating what you can via this PayPal link here.Welcome back! We've been on hiatus for a bit, after we finished INFERNO. (If, that is, you're listening to this podcast IRT.) And now we're ready to start our climb up the next third of the poem: the mountain of purgation, the (perhaps) most human section of Dante's divine masterpiece.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I offer a little introduction to PURGATORIO--not so much to the poem but to our methods in this podcast. I want to tell you how the episodes for PURGATORIO are going to work (different from those for INFERNO). And I want to let you know--in advance!--the five basic ways I interpret (or "read," to use the literary term) this second canticle of COMEDY.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE, our first on PURGATORIO.[03:07] The methodology of how we'll walk through (up?) PURGATORIO: chunk, then smaller pieces (rather than the constant smaller pieces we undertook in INFERNO).[06:15] Take heart: no funny voices in PURGATORIO! But that also means there's a translation issue.[08:24] My initial five rubrics for interpreting PURGATORIO. First, PURGATORIO is about the perfection of the will and the correction of the intellect.[11:20] Second, PURGATORIO is moving away from the classical (pagan?) world and more firmly into the Christian world. But that's not an easy move for our poet who so loves his classical learning.[13:35] Third, PURGATORIO is the most heterodox portion of COMEDY.[17:12] Fourth, PURGATORIO is a meta-commentary on the writing of INFERNO.[18:35] Fifth, PURGATORIO is structured by the architecture of the New Testament.

We have come to the end of our slow-walk across Dante's INFERNO, the first third (or so) of his masterpiece, COMEDY. But there are admittedly things we missed. Perhaps you'd like to deepen your understanding of INFERNO? Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for some hints about how to further your study of this first (and most famous) part of Dante's poem.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[00:55] Consider using the medieval Florentine, particularly the rhyme and the rhythm of the original, to unlock new clues to the meaning of passages in INFERNO.[04:01] Read around among scholars who've covered INFERNO and who offer new perspectives on the poem.[06:15] Read the original sources for the poem, particularly Virgil's AENEID, Ovid's METAMORPHOSES, and Lucan's PHARSALIA. If you want to get a jump on PURGATORIO, consider reading Statius' THEBIAD.[07:39] Listen to some of the great music that's been based on Dante's poem.[08:53] Try out other translations of Dante's poem to further your understanding of his art.[10:28] To get ready for PURGATORIO, go back and look over the "great sinners" of INFERNO. They're going to be under our feet in many passages in PURGATORIO.

We've come to the end of our slow-walk through INFERNO, the first third of Dante's masterpiece, COMEDY.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for some final thoughts on this overwhelming poem. No conclusions, really. Just some access points to help you think more about this incredible journey.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:28] One negative assessment: There are some awkward transition points in the poem.[03:34] One possible explanation for those awkward points: Gothic juxtaposition.[05:37] A second negative assessment: Some classical references appear to be a tad ornamental.[07:52] But a possible answer to these rough patches: Dante sets up scenes before we encounter them.[09:18] And INFERNO has begun to fold back in on itself by its end, making reference to its own poetic self.[11:58] Dante is engaged in fantastic world-building.[14:20] Dante offers a developmental hypothesis for both the pilgrim and the poet.[17:20] Dante willingly breaks churchly orthodoxy in the service of a greater, more human orthodoxy.[21:35] Dante democratizes the afterlife.

We finish off INFERNO in my English translation, which you can find on my website: markscarbrough.com.But I hope you don't go there. I hope you sit back and listen to the conclusion of the first piece of Dante's journey across the known universe.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we finish reading INFERNO, one of the final steps before we're ready to move on to PURGATORIO.[01:33] Reading INFERNO, Cantos 32 - 34

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we fast-walk (!) through Dante's INFERNO, the first third (or so) of his masterpiece, COMEDY (or "The Divine Comedy," as some insist on calling it--although he never did).We're completed our slow walk through the poem in over 200 episodes of the podcast WALKING WITH DANTE. Now we're celebrating by reading straight through my English translation. You can find this translation on my website: markscarbrough.com. It's broken into smaller passages there. But I hope you don't look for it. I hope, instead, that you listen to it for the plot, for the sheer majesty of the imaginative landscape Dante has created.[01:42] Reading INFERNO, Cantos 29 - 31

We're continuing to read through my English translation of INFERNO--which you can find on my website: markscarbough.com.But I hope you don't. I hope you sit back and enjoy the work for what it is at its core: a story.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we pass through the eighth and ninth evil pouches of fraud, the vast eighth circle of INFERNO. We'll see Ulysses, Guido da Montefeltro, Mohammed, the poet Bertran de Born, and a host of schismatics, all ripped to pieces by a demon in their pit.Doesn't sound very pleasant, does it? But these are passages from our great poet Dante, working at the height of his (ever-increasing) powers. The journey defies belief, but not the imagination.[02:01] Reading INFERNO, Cantos 26 - 28

We're continuing on our journey, which has become a read-through of INFERNO. Having walked the first third (or so) of Dante's COMEDY passage by passage, even line by line, we're now experiencing this masterwork for what it truly is: a story.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I read through my English translation of INFERNO. You can find these passages on my website: markscarbrough.com. But I wish you wouldn't. I wish you'd just sit back and revel in the plot.Which in this case is the evil pouch of the thieves, the seventh sub-circle of the giant landscape of fraud. Ovid and Lucan don't stand a chance against our poet![01:58] Reading INFERNO, Cantos 24 - 25.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we celebrate the conclusion of our slow-walk through INFERNO, the first third of Dante's masterpiece, COMEDY, by reading straight through INFERNO.In this episode, we'll read cantos 21 - 23. This translation is my own. You can find it on my website: markscarbrough.com. But I wish you wouldn't. Especially if you've been on this long walk with us, I wish you'd just sit back and enjoy the plot.[01:58] Reading INFERNO, Cantos 21 - 23

We're continuing to read INFERNO for what it truly is: a glorious plot, the story of a guy who wakes up lost and walks across the known universe.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we walk with him through the first of the evil pouches of fraud: the panderers/seducers, the flatterers, the simoniacs, and the diviners. This translation is my own. You can find it on my website: markscarbrough.com. But I wish you wouldn't. I wish you'd just sit back and revel in the plot. It's a marvel of the imagination.[02:33] Reading INFERNO, Cantos 18 - 20

We've finished our slow-walk through INFERNO, passage by passage, bit by bit, allusion by allusion, across over two hundred episodes of WALKING WITH DANTE.Now, we're "simply" taking the canticle of pain for its plot--which may well be the heart of the work's genius.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we read through my English translation of INFERNO, Cantos 14 - 17. I'm reading my own English translation, which you can find on my website: markscarbrough.com. But honestly, I wish you wouldn't. I hope you just sit back and enjoy the story for what it is: a story.[02:15] Reading INFERNO, Cantos 14 - 17.

We have finished our slow-walk through the first canticle of Dante's masterwork, COMEDY. And we're celebrating by reading the cantos straight through in my English translation--because we must remember, above all else, that Dante's work is a story, a narrative, the journey of one human across the known universe.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I read through INFERNO, Cantos 11 - 13. Sit back and enjoy the story. It's worth every step.[02:05] Reading INFERNO, Cantos 11 - 13

We're continuing our read-through of Dante's INFERNO, the first canticle of COMEDY, as we conclude our long study of this first third (or so) of Dante's medieval poem and contemporary masterpiece.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I read through INFERNO, Cantos 8 - 10: across Styx, before the walls of Dis, into the city of Dis, and to the heretics in their tombs.[01:24] Reading INFERNO, Cantos 8 - 10

We've finished our walk across INFERNO, passage by passage, interpretive knot by interpretive knot. It's now time to see Dante's INFERNO for what it is: a story of one person's walk across the known universe.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I read through INFERNO, Cantos 4 - 7. Sit back and enjoy the story. Because at the end of it all, that's what it is: a story.[02:05] Reading INFERNO, Cantos 4 - 7.

We're not ready to finish our walk across hell. Instead, there's one more thing to do: hear the walk for what it is. A story. A narrative through-line. An adventure. A journey.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore INFERNO, not as a series of interpretive points, but as a whole, as a story, as an incredible product of the human imagination.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[00:55] The point of reading INFERNO through.[03:07] The way each read-through will work for this podcast.[03:37] Reading INFERNO, Cantos 1 - 3.

Can you believe we got here? The final lines of the first canticle of Dante's masterwork, COMEDY.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we climb out of hell to see the most gorgeous things we know: the stars in the heavens above.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[00:58] My English translation of the passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXIV, lines 127 - 139. If you'd like to read long, drop a comment, or print it off, go to my website: markscarbrough.com.[02:35] Dante the poet enters Virgil's space: explanatory material.[05:06] Why does Dante the poet so understate the climb out?[06:21] Virgil's explanation of this cavern and the mountain above us stated as supposition because Virgil has no experiential knowledge of this geography.[07:31] INFERNO may end on a point of uncertainty: What is this little stream they follow?[10:12] INFERNO ends with the stars.[11:48] More importantly, INFERNO ends with Virgil's exit from hell.

We've come beyond Satan and are standing in a giant, empty, baronial hall, waiting to get out of hell.But not before our pilgrim, Dante, gets some answers.And from whom would he get those answers if not from Virgil--who remains true to himself to the end of INFERNO, despite all the ribbing and drubbing he's been through.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the next to the last passage of INFERNO: Virgil's explanation time and the very formation of the universe.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:19] My English translation of the passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXIV, lines 94 - 126. If you'd like to read along, drop a comment, or print it off, go to my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:00] The way out of hell is indeed long! But Virgil is still our guide.[05:54] For the first time, Virgil tells the time by the sun's position.[08:20] Dante and Virgil step into irony: an empty baronial hall at the middle of the universe.[09:41] How does Dante "pull himself up by the roots" from hell?[11:34] Dante gets close to a concept of gravity--and perhaps we can understand how Satan is held in hell.[14:19] Virgil offers a geography lesson on the earth's hemispheres by indirectly mentioning Jesus Christ.[17:19] Virgil names the final circle of Cocytus: Judecca, which may be an antisemitic slur.[20:29] The clocks have been set back by twelve hours.[21:55] Virgil tells the story of Satan's fall from heaven.[23:30] Which is absurd heresy. Who then is in the garden of Eden?[26:06] Virgil's myth-making lets Virgil remain Virgil until the end of INFERNO.

There's much more to be said about this problem of up, down, and spin after Dante the pilgim and Virgil pass the center of the earth.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I explore this problem: the world upside-down and the enforced rereading of INFERNO to turn it into COMEDY, the dominant form of Western civilization.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:28] Once more, a reading of my English translation of INFERNO, Canto XXXIV, lines 70 - 93. If you'd like to print it off, read along, or drop a comment, you can find this text on my website: markscarbrough.com.[03:25] Dantista John Freccero's notion of the universe's spin via Aristotle.[04:36] Dante's notion of global geography: Jerusalem and Mount Purgatory at opposite sides of the globe from each other.[08:36] Dante flips the globe itself on his journey.[09:49] Where is the dark wood in INFERNO, Canto I?[11:32] All the left turns are really right turns and the two right turns are "really" left turns--which is how INFERNO becomes COMEDY.

We've seen it all. Now we just have to get out. And to do that, we have to make a big turnaround on Virgil's shoulders. Right at Satan's butt.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we pass the center point in the universe, a place where the action of grace suddenly comes into focus. Satan is the way out of hell. Satan is the pivot for the entire universe. The way down has been the way up all along.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:38] My English translation of the passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXIV, lines 70 - 93. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or drop a comment, please go to my website: markscarbrough.com.[04:18] What is Dante-the-pilgrim's motivation? How does he know to grab on to Virgil?[05:25] Virgil is the only one who can get them out of hell. Is that thematic? Part of the poetics? Or the theology?[06:43] Dante-the-pilgrim never touches Satan. Is that thematic? Part of the allegory? Why can Virgil touch Satan?[08:14] Satan is not held in place by the ice sheet of Cocytus.[09:12] Satan is very anatomical, almost a cut of meat.[11:13] Satan's anus is the center of the universe. Or maybe his genitals.[13:12] Does Satan need a digestive tract?[15:22] Do Satan and the angels need genitals?[18:10] Dante-the-pilgrim is confused about Satan's directionality but never about Virgil's.[20:12] This passage echoes the descent on Geryon's back in its rhyme at the same spot (lines 82 and 84).[22:27] Satan is now upside down--and named with his Christian title for the first time.[24:08] Why is Dante-the-poet irritated at those who don't get it? The beginning of reason and the intellect![27:08] The three instances of "felix culpa" (fortunate fall) in this passage: Satan is the way out, Satan is the axis for the universe, and the way down has been the way up all along.

We've come to our last moments in hell. Here, our pilgrim Dante sees the three worst sinners in human history: Judas Iscariot, Brutus, and Cassius.Wait . . . what? Brutus and Cassius. Indeed, being gnashed by Satan at the center of the earth.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we walk through this difficult passage and try to figure out its many tricky implications . . . and its little bit of bawdy humor. This is Dante, after all.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:23] My English translation of the passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXIV, lines 46 - 69. If you'd like to print it off, read along, or drop a comment, please go to my website: markscarbrough.com.[03:53] Satan as a seraph without flight, or as a bird without flight.[05:59] Satan as a sailing vessel without motion.[08:05] Satan as a bat, the fourth image--a strange, neither-here-nor-there creature in medieval mythology.[10:46] Satan's billowing wings.[12:39] Our last glimpse of hell.[13:15] Satan's wind as the first (of many) "felix culpa" (or "fortunate fall") in Canto XXXIV.[15:09] Satan's weeping and gnashing: a traditional Christian notion of hell's torments.[17:57] Satan's tears and blood as a perversion of the crucifixion of Jesus and/or a cross-reference to the Old Man of Crete.[19:21] The first sinner in his mouths: Judas Iscariot.[20:58] A pastoral image at the bottom of hell and in the face(s) of Satan.[21:49] Satan as an inversion of the eucharist (along with a butt joke).[23:15] Judas and the allegory of the human spine.[29:28] The second sinner in his mouths: Brutus.[32:30] The third sinner in this mouths: Cassius.[34:14] Treachery against God = treachery against the church AND against the state.[36:27] The journey through hell took one day.[37:28] "For we have seen all there is to see."[39:05] Rereading this passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXIV, lines 46 - 69.

Dante the pilgrim has seen the final vision of INFERNO: Satan, looked in the ice sheet of Cocytus. Perhaps it's wise to step back and think about where this figure of Satan comes from--and how it exists as a concept in Dante's day.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I try to clear away modern notions of Satan to see what's so unusual about Dante's portrayal.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:20] The origins of Satan from Hebraic traditions.[05:26] Two spots where Christian theologians alter the interpretation of the Hebraic texts.[07:47] Satan's appearance in the stories of the life of Jesus.[10:06] The medieval notion of Satan as a comic figure, an easy dupe for saints.[11:10] The growing heresy of dualism, of Satan as an equal to God in some way.[12:56] The problem of neo-Platonic thought in Christian theology.[14:45] Try to draw a line between medieval notions of Satan and post-Reformation or even modern notions of this figure.

We're about to get a good look at Satan, closer and closer, until we can see the color of his faces. Yes, faces. Three of them. Some trinitarian perversion lies at the center of the universe.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we walk up to Satan with Dante, our pilgrim, and Virgil, his guide. We're nearing the end of the infernal landscape. And we're finding out what will replace it: awe.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:25] My English translation of the passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXIV, lines 28 - 45. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or drop a comment, please go to my website: markscarbrough.com.[03:15] The relationship between this vision of Satan and the one in the Baptistry mosaics in Florence.[05:21] Satan as a most ineffective emperor.[06:57] Satan's size: the bedevilment of Dantistas for centuries.[09:16] The sheer hollowness of the earth--or the center of the universe.[10:18] Satan's beauty and apparently his very minor rebellion.[11:53] Fear gone, marvel or wonder ahead.[14:33] The heresy in the passage: Satan as the source of anything.[16:35] The many interpretations of the colors of Satan's three faces.

This episode is an interpolated one in the podcast WALKING WITH DANTE. We've just gone beyond the last of the seven direct addresses to the reader in INFERNO. Let's look back over all seven of them to discover what sort of reader Dante imagines for his poem and what Dante wants out of that reader.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:15] The direct addresses to the reader tell us what sort of reader the poet wants and even imagines for his work.[02:09] The first direct address: INFERNO, Canto VIII, lines 94 - 96.[06:00] The second direct address: INFERNO, Canto IX, lines 61 - 63.[10:38] The third direct address: INFERNO, Canto XVI, lines 127 - 132.[13:58] The fourth direct address: INFERNO, Canto XX, lines 19 - 24.[17:19] The fifth direct address: INFERNO, Canto XXII, line 118.[20:22] The sixth direct address: INFERNO, Canto XXV, lines 46 - 48.[22:41] The seventh direct address: INFERNO, Canto XXXIV, lines 22 - 27.

We've come to the final revelation of INFERNO, to its climax: the vision of Satan himself, called "Dis" by Virgil (after his own king of the underworld in THE AENEID).The emperor of the kingdom of woe scares the lights out of the pilgrim--and out of the poet. Our final revelation may well be that the poet has gone as far as he can with his infernal poetics. Now he must find new words to express what's ahead.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:28] My English translation of the passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXIV, lines 1 - 27. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or drop a comment, please go to my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:31] Satan is at the center of the universe and at the farthest point from God.[07:39] You can never say, "The devil made me do it."[10:12] Virgil begins Canto XXXIV with an infernal twist on a Lenten Latin hymn.[12:33] Why hasn't Virgil been speaking in Latin all along?[13:34] What is Virgil doing with this Latin hymn? Is he praising his own king? Or is he making fun of Christ?[14:56] There are seven Latin words or phrases in INFERNO.[17:30] Satan is merely structure: an edifice.[19:19] The pilgrim and poet are starting to fuse in the face of the vision of Satan.[19:58] The damned are fully frozen in ice, a place of great silence.[20:49] Canto XXXIV has many resonances with the neutrals in Canto III.[22:12] The imagery of Satan is based on a Christian interpretation from a passage in the prophecies of Isaiah.[25:13] The pilgrim is frozen--thus in tune with the landscape and maybe with the damned as well.[26:48] What does "both dead and alive" mean? Four hypotheses.[32:21] Rereading the passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXIV, lines 1 - 27.

We've come to the last sinner who speaks in INFERNO. And his story is as wild as it gets. He claims that once someone violates the guest/host relationship, their soul exits their body and falls into the ice sheet at the center of the earth. Their body is then made into a puppet for a demon.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we walk through the third ring of Cocytus, Ptolomea, out on the ice sheet of the ninth circle of Dante's INFERNO. It's one last imaginative blast before the final revelation of INFERNO.Here are the segments for this episode of the podcast WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:50] My English translation of this passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXIII, lines 118 - 157. If you'd like to read along, print it off, make notes, or drop comments, please find it on my website: markscarbrough.com.[05:37] Brother Alberigo clearly wants to be known.[07:02] Who is Brother Alberigo as a historical figure?[09:52] Why is Brother Alberigo here when he's still alive?[11:09] What's the deal with the dates and figs?[12:09] Who is Branca Doria?[14:26] Branca Doria actually outlived the poet Dante![15:34] The artistic problem with so much emphasis on the historical identities of the characters in COMEDY.[18:06] What does "Ptolomea" mean, this third ring of Cocytus, the ninth circle of hell?[20:52] Theology in the passage: first (strangely) a reference to Atropos.[21:50] Theology in the passage: the guest/host relationship.[26:30] Theology in the passage: zombies![28:58] The condemnation of Genoa as the last of a list of condemnations of central Italian city-states.[33:32] What is justice in this passage?[36:11] I don't need Saint Dante. I need a great poet.[38:27] Rereading the entire journey across Ptolomea: INFERNO, Canto XXXIII, lines 91 - 157.

We've slipped on down to the third ring of Cocytus--where we find a few textual problems, more New Testament references, the return of Virgil for no good reason, and a possible slip from our poet. Hey, it's slick down here!Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we near the end of INFERNO, Canto XXXIII, passing on from Count Ugolino (sort of--one last glance) and toward the last speaking damned soul in all of INFERNO.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:27] My English translation of the passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXIII, lines 91 - 117. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or drop a comment, just go to my website: markscarbrough.com.[03:37] One last glance at Count Ugolino and his sons: a question about Dante's own rage in exile away from his own children.[07:36] The return to the journey, here to a landscape with the damned as the only "geographical" markers.[10:07] A translation problem about how the damned are actually facing in this third ring of the ninth circle, Cocytus.[12:56] Why's in your eye? A reference to the Sermon on the Mount: Matthew 7:3.[15:07] Yet another New Testament reference--perhaps to Acts 2:3--but a deeper problem of exactly what the pilgrim Dante knows (and whether the poet Dante has made a gaffe).[18:13] The medieval understanding of how wind happens.[19:32] The return of Virgil--to tell you we don't need Virgil![21:35] The last of the damned who speaks in hell--and here, asks for help.[25:19] The damned soul asks for a kindness from a traveler on the road.[27:17] Dante makes a coy or arch or false promise. So is he becoming more like God?

Our final episode on Count Ugolino! Yet there's so much left to say. We're going to have to pass on from this ghastly damned soul and let him return to his savage meal of Archbishop Ruggieri's brain.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I add on the condemnation of Pisa and try to come to terms one last time with this overwhelming figure from the COMEDY, a rival to Ulysses and Francesca in the amount of scholarly ink that has been spilled on their speeches.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:43] The passage one more time, but now through its conclusion: INFERNO, Canto XXXIII, lines 1 - 90. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or drop a comment, please go to my website, markscarbrough.com.[08:45] Ugolino points out Ruggieri as the traitor--and not himself![10:37] Ugolino is a master manipulator.[13:04] Ugolino breaks his narrative to 1) absolve himself and 2) aggrandize himself.[16:16] Ugolino breaks his narrative and shows his self-doubt, his humanity, as narcissists often do.[19:05] Ugolino is a bad father, not because he doesn't comfort his sons, but because he turns to silence when he should be helping them pray to prepare for their deaths.[22:29] Everyone debates why Ugolino is in hell, but why exactly is Archbishop Ruggieri in hell?[25:25] Ugolino's dream anticipates the dream sequences in PURGATORIO.[26:35] How can all Pisans deserve death if evil is an individual's choice?[28:49] The condemnation of Pisa is Dante's attempt to bring a deep ambivalence back under control.[32:44] Dante's rage is on full display at the end of Ugolino's monologue.

On first glance, Count Ugolino's speech appears to be quite secular. He even appeals to the earth, not God, to save him and his sons.In fact, Dante has woven an incredible tapestry of New Testament references together to make this monologue.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look over Ugolino's speech as both a parody and an affirmation of Jesus' teaching.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[00:59] What's about to happen in this podcast episode and a little bit about how the New Testament took shape.[04:56] Ugolino and Jesus' parable of the sower.[10:41] Ugolino and the irony of loving his neighbor.[15:09] Ugolino and the torn veil.[17:51] Ugolino's story as a parody of the eucharist.[20:25] Ugolino and the annunciation.[21:34] Ugolino and Jesus' parable of the persistent neighbor.[23:42] More on the parody of the eucharist in Ugolino's monologue.[25:24] Ugolino turns down the sacrifice (sacrament?).[26:16] Ugolino's secular plea in the middle of so many references to Jesus.[26:48] Gaddo's last words are an echo of Jesus' last words.[27:58] Ugolino's last line in the interpretive history of COMEDY.[30:25] One more reference: dogs and crumbs off the master's table.[33:29] Is Ugolino's fate what's gnawing the church?[35:12] The concentration of New Testament references anticipates our approach to Purgatory.

In the last episode of this podcast, we've looked at Count Ugolino's speech as a narrative arc, taking apart and looking at the ways both the poet Dante has changed the historical record and the details that may be too removed by time for us to see clearly.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we now situate the last great sinner of hell, Count Ugolino, inside the larger framework of Dante's INFERNO. Ugolino gets the longest speech in INFERNO. What's it doing here? How does it echo other parts of INFERNO? How does it sum up INFERNO?Giant questions with attempted answers--as always on this podcast. Here are the segments of this episode:[01:42] Once again, my English translation of this passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXIII, lines 1 - 78. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or drop a comment, please go to my website, markscarbrough.com.[06:52] Here's a list of the seven great sinners of INFERNO: Francesca da Rimini, Farinata degli Uberti, Pier della Vigne, Brunetto Latini, Ulysses, Guido da Montefeltro, and Count Ugolino.[13:04] The great sinners convey dramatic stories, provoke profound ambivalences, and offer a deeper understanding of the human condition.[19:16] Count Ugolino and Archbishop Ruggieri as one of the three great pairs in INFERNO.[20:23] Echoes between Francesca da Rimini and Count Ugolino: the beginnings and endings of INFERNO.[23:15] Echoes among Francesca, Ugolino, and Aeneas: heroism or irony?[26:15] Echoes between Ciacco the glutton and Ugolino: the insanity of the damned, the trustworthiness of the damned.[29:40] Echoes between Filippo Argenti and Ugolino: the uses of rage.[30:56] Echoes between Farinata and Ugolino: the possibilities of peace.[34:54] Echoes between Cavalcante and Ugolino: where is my son?[36:31] The schismatics and Ugolino: the body in pain, the body in political strife.[38:46] Four possible reasons for Ugolino's placement in INFERNO: 1) as a test for the reader, 2) as a tragic figure of fallen humanity, 3) as a ravenous wolf who blocks the way (as in Canto 1), and 4) as a repeated strategy of moving from narrative clarity to interpretive murk.

We come upon the last great sinner of hell: Count Ugolino, frozen in the ice of Cocytus, munching on the brains of Archbishop Ruggieri.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for the first of several episodes on Ugolino. His story won't allow us to forget him. And its place in COMEDY makes sure we'll keep talking about it over several episodes. And the last line he speaks will continue to bedevil Dante’s readers forever.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[02:38] My English translation of the passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXIII, lines 1 - 78. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment, please go to my website, markscarbrough.com.[08:20] Count Ugolino as a historical figure.[16:55] Close-reading Ugolino's monologue to fill in the details.[33:34] The famed last line: "That's when fasting had more power than grief."

Dante the pilgrim and silent Virgil lead us to the most disgusting scene in all of INFERNO as one sinner munches on the skull and brains of another.This scene is the setup at the end of INFERNO, Canto XXXII for the last great sinner of hell, a figure no one ever forgets.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at some of the kinks in this opening passage and start a discussion of the nature of Dante's art: polyphony.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:10] My English translation of the passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXII, lines 124 - 139. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment, please go to my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:07] The double simile in the passage as a function of the doubling throughout the last circle of INFERNO.[06:03] More about Thebes and a possible turn to Statius as a primary source.[09:34] A passing reference to St. Paul's letter to the Galatian church (Galatians 5:15).[11:03] The problems in Dante's pact with this sinner and the promise of payback.[12:17] The last line of Canto XXXII: an interpretive crux for 700 years.[15:25] The last line of Canto XXXII: an expression of the canto’s overall structure.[17:45] Dante as a polyphonic poet.

Dante the pilgrim has come across an infamous traitor on the ice sheet of Cocytus in the ninth ring of hell. Here in Antenora, the second sub-ring of the bottom of the everything, Dante finds the guy he and many others blame for the troubles of central Italy.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the second half of this conversation with one of the most despicable sinners in Dante's universe. The last episode began this moment in INFERNO. This episode finishes it off.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:36] My English translation of the passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXII, lines 103 - 123. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment, please go to my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:36] Bocca degli Abati, the great Guelph traitor who caused the slaughter of so many Guelphs at the battle of Montaperti in 1260.[09:44] Bocca's characterization in the passage: 1) sneering, 2) snitching, and 3) still trying to be in control.[13:15] The list of others traitors in Antenora: Buoso da Duera, Tesauro de' Beccheria, Gianni de' Soldanieri, Ganelon, and Tebaldello Zambrasi.[20:13] Dante the pilgrim as a devil in hell.[21:57] The incredibly tight parallelism of INFERNO, Canto XXXII.[23:35] Is INFERNO, Canto XXXII successful or clumsy?[28:53] Rereading Antenora: INFERNO, Canto XXXII, lines 70 - 123.

We're nearing the center of the universe, a place where we can feel the weight of everything bearing down on us.Our pilgrim is showing the strain. Violent. Erratic. Our poet, too. Trying to convince us he really took this journey.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we walk with Dante and (silent!) Virgil across the final ice sheet of hell, the ninth circle, into Antenora, the realm of those who've been treacherous to their own political parties or countries (or even literary forefathers).Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:48] My English translation of this passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXII, lines 70 - 102. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment, please go to my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:27] Two problems: I've divided a single passage into two parts for this podcast and we must make many inferences to make any of these passages make sense.[06:26] Three translation problems: "cagnazzi," "gravezza," and "se fossi vivo."[15:26] The poet appears in the passage--and predicts his own future, based on the reality of this journey.[18:05] Why is this passage so violent? Three answers: 1) the pilgrim's progress (the traditional answer), 2) the poet's frustration, or 3) COMEDY's structure as a series of interlocking and bracketed events and situations which do not offer linear development.[26:28] The pilgrim is keeping notes, thereby further asserting the "realism" of the journey.[30:10] Antenora: the second sub-ring of Cocytus, named for a Trojan traitor, Antenor.[34:24] Dante is being a traitor to his literary party, too.

We've come a long way down into INFERNO and we'already passed dozens, even hundreds of similes. (It all depends on how you count them.)This podcast episode is an interpolated one in our slow-walk across Dante's masterwork COMEDY. Here, I'd like to look at the six basic types of similes Dante has used to craft his work (so far).Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for this admittedly literary episode of WALKING WITH DANTE. Are these the only types of similes Dante uses? Of course not! But they're a good start to a larger discussion about this classic and classical poetic technique.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:55] Similes used to describe Dante the pilgrim's inner, emotional landscape.[08:31] Derived, balanced, and highly crafted similes from various literary traditions and classical authors.[15:43] Simple similes to describe complex, external, imaginative environments.[22:40] Ironic, discordant similes toward the bottom of INFERNO.[28:49] The beginning of metaphysical similes that will become more prominent in the next two canticles, perhaps a development of the similes about the pilgrim's emotional inner landscapes.[31:23] The misguided, mismatched, almost "red herring" similes of lower hell.

We've come to the first subset of the last circle of INFERNO, the pit of hell, an ice sheet that start with Caïna, which holds those who've offed family members, mostly for land or money. These guys are frozen solid to their necks, the heads bent down to let their tears spill onto the ice.They're a nasty lot, although one of the damned can't help but speak up. He proves both a snitch and strangely reticent. A poor storyteller, really, who just wants to get back to his misery.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at a pack of traitors who've killed family members for land or money (or power) in this nightmarish subset of hell which is actually controlled by the shadow of another sinner, someone far above us in the circles of INFERNO.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:40] My English translation of the passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXII, lines 40 - 69. If you want to read along, print it off, or drop a comment, please go to my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:26] Disorientation (and focus) as one of the thematics of the ninth circle of hell.[08:49] A frozen, infernal parody of a brotherly kiss of affection (or maybe even the liturgical kiss of peace).[13:42] Dante's strange (and perhaps unnecessary?) interest in the damned, expressed by their physicality.[16:50] The traitor's question invokes a larger one about how Dante the poet and/or the pilgrim is mirrored here.[20:15] The last fifteen lines of this passage--first, a quick reading with the details filled in.[23:34] Caïna: unpacking the name of the first subcircle of the ninth circle.[25:47] Unpacking the characters in this passage: Alessandro and Napoleone degli Alberti, Modred, Focaccia (or Vanni dei Cancellieri), Sassol Mascheroni, Camicione de' Pazzi, and Carlino de' Pazzi.[35:01] Reasons for the (mostly) obsessive regionalism of this passage: the locale and time (mostly) in which Dante lived.[40:33] Francesca's control of this passage from way up above in Canto V.

We start our trek with the pilgrim Dante and his guide Virgil across the final, ninth circle of hell, an unforgiving ice sheet, where we encounter disembodied voices, questions about perspective, pastoral imagery, and some puzzling questions about how it all works.Dante’s imagination is mechanical and full. But even he nods once in a while. Maybe a couple of times in this passage, in fact. But not in its overall effect: a nightmare of frozen bodies at the center of the universe.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:17] My English translation of the passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXII, lines 16 - 39. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment, please go to my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:20] What does it mean that Dante and Virgil are "well below the feet of the giants"?[06:00] Who says "watch out"? Why are these lines of dialogue unassigned?[10:17] The final ring of hell is not a lake of fire, but a lake of ice, made from the rivers of hell. But there's an interesting problem here! Dante may have nodded off and forgotten some details.[15:07] Dante bring "local" geography to the last circle of hell, furthering the complex irony in the passage.[18:08] How does Dante know about Cocytus?[21:15] We get pastoral glimpses inside the terror of the final ice sheet.[24:10] The damned use a language denied to Dante the poet.[25:31] Cocytus is a noisy place![26:22] The final revelation is that the endpoint of evil is immobility.

We've come to the ninth circle of hell. But not quite yet. Dante opens Inferno, Canto XXXII with a metapoetic moment, a passage in which he talks about the limits of the very form he's using to craft these verses.He offers up his second invocation of the poem and finds himself at a place of despair as an artist--the very same emotional landscape that makes up the last circle of hell.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:17] My English translation of INFERNO, Canto XXXII, Lines 1 - 15. You can find this translation on my website, read along, or even drop a comment about this episode at markscarbrough.com.[03:12] We enter Canto XXXII with Dante the poet, not the pilgrim--and come into the one canto in all of INFERNO in which Virgil doesn't say a word. Why? Here are some possible reasons for Virgil's silence.[07:19] We begin, not with the limits of rhyme, but with the limits of poetry itself, perhaps the very form Dante has created. Those limits bring the poet to despair--which is precisely the emotional landscape of the last circle of hell.[14:40] We have come to the very center of the Ptolemaic universe, which includes the depths of sin and baby talk.[18:58] The center of the universe also looks a lot like Thebes, the ultimate city of ruin.[20:51] At the start of the ninth circle of hell, Dante offers his second invocation of COMEDY to aid him in building this final fortress of hell.[25:02] Dante invokes a passage from the Gospel of St. Matthew: At the last judgment, the Son of Man will divide the sheep from the goats. Get ready for the goats.[29:41] The poet's frustrations will get worked out through the pilgrim's actions in Inferno, Canto XXXII.[31:34] Brunetto Latini claimed that rhetoric makes civilization possible. Here we are among the destroyers of civilization. And of rhetoric, too?

We've walked with Dante the pilgrim and his guide, Virgil, to the very foundations of the universe, the ninth circle of hell, the bottom of all that is.All that blather about Antaeus? He's not so bad. He's just a traitor to Satan's kingdom.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we get picked up and set down into the ninth circle of hell by a giant who almost bested Hercules, who seemed immune to Lucan's flattery, and who finally betrays his master and lets the invaders in.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[00:57] My English translation of the passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXI, lines 130 - 145. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment, please go to my website, markscarbrough.com.[02:36] One more time back to Lucan's PHARSALIA--here, Hercules' defeat of Antaeus. Intriguingly, after all that flattery, here's a reference to the giant's failure (well, to Antaeus' momentary victory over Hercules before his final defeat).[09:08] The tower of Garisenda: bristling but ultimately hollow pride.[13:09] Who wishes he could have traveled by another road? Dante the pilgrim or Dante the poet?[15:06] A rare instance of the cliché of hell as an open mouth.[16:07] Antaeus turns from a tower into a ship's mast.[17:18] What's with the sheer number of similes and metaphors in INFERNO, Canto XXXI?[21:53] The terrible irony in that reference to Roland and Charlemagne.[25:00] A rereading of the passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXI, lines 130 - 145.

Dante the pilgrim and Virgil walk on to find Antaeus, the unbound giant who can set them down on the floor of hell--otherwise known as the center of the earth.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we watch Virgil flail around, cite Lucan's PHARSALIA repeatedly, not get his way, and finally resort of a promise of Dante's own success to get what he needs.This passage is a wild ride of literary references. Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:47] My English translation of this passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXI, lines 112 - 129. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment, go to my website, markscarbrough. com.[03:41] Are these giants Titans?[06:57] More accurate measurements (at least in a medieval context)--and some thoughts as to why precision becomes more important in lower hell.[11:09] Virgil flatters Antaeus first with three passages from Lucan's PHARSALIA. First up, Scipio's defeat of Hannibal in north Africa.[15:44] Virgil's third bit of flattery from the PHARSALIA: the Titans' war against the Olympian gods.[19:03] Virgil's SECOND bit of flattery: an embellished passage from the PHARSALIA.[20:10] Virgil cannot have read Lucan's PHARSALIA![21:52] Our first glimpse of the ninth circle of hell.[23:15] Unpacking the quick references to Tityus and Typhon.[25:33] Virgil's failed flattery turns to Dante's poetic hopes.[27:42] Virgil is at a disadvantage here, unlike when he spoke to Ulysses.[31:34] Rereading the passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXI, lines 112 - 129.

We've walked by one giant, Nimrod, a mighty hunter, with his horn (like Roland). But there are more. Three, at least. Ephialtes, Briareus, and Antaeus. Figures out of classical literature who sit at the bottom of hell and pose more theological questions than we can imagine.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we continue on into Inferno's Canto XXXI, a liminal space where all bets are off. Even theological ones. And especially literary ones.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:35] My English translation of this passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXI, lines 82 - 111. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment, please go out to my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:53] The insistence on turning to the left--except twice when we've turned to the right.[06:07] The curious insistence on measurable distances in lower hell.[09:26] Three giants ahead. First up, Ephialtes.[13:52] Jove? He threatened Jove? Why not God?[14:14] Next up, Briareus.[16:48] Finally, Antaeus.[18:43] The theological riddle in this passage: Antaeus' position in hell. Was he just made bad?[22:08] Virgil and The Aeneid: back to rewriting it.[24:36] Shaking Ephialtes for reasons that are not clear, except he's still a tower.[27:16] The question of the stakes in Canto XXXI.[29:12] Liminal spaces and the question of authority.[30:37] Rereading INFERNO, Canto XXXI, lines 82 - 111.

Dante the pilgrim thought he saw towers in the gap between the eighth and ninth circles of hell. But no, they were giants. Who were "entowered" in the pit.And now we come to the first one: Nimrod. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we come up to the first of the giants/towers that ring the final pit of hell, a place where the imagination and history meet in a liminal spot and where all bets are off.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[02:00] My English translation of INFERNO, Canto XXXI, lines 46 - 81. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment, please go to my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:59] Nimrod as he appears in the Bible.[06:52] Nimrod as he moves into Christian mythology.[10:41] Nimrod as he moved beyond Christian mythology.[12:42] Nimrod and the confusing nature of the Tower of Babel.[15:49] Nimrod's garbled speech. Hebrew? Arabic? Pentecostal tongues?[19:31] Three reversals in this passage: Biblical material in place of classical material, Nimrod as a piece of art from St. Peter's, and Nimrod as Roland, the tragic hero of chivalry.[25:25] Four curiosities in this passage: "nature" v. the creator, fig leaves, Frisians, and Virgil's direct address to Nimrod.[33:30] Fictional space as liminal space.[37:25] Rereading INFERNO, Canto XXXI, lines 46 - 81.