We've finished the giant conversation between the pilgrim Dante and Forese Donati, complete with its interruption by the shade of the poet Bonagiunta of Lucca.

Let's look back over the entire scope of the conversation to discover its construction, its architecture, and the way meaning is made and moves through the words.

We'll start by reading the entire thing in my English language translation. Then we'll move on to a couple of small points, followed by some much larger implications of the construction and imaginative landscape of this interchange.

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

[02:06] Reading the entire conversation between Forese Donati and the pilgrim Dante in PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, line 40, to Canto XXIV, line 99.

[13:27] The conversation starts and ends with references to shores.

[14:51] The pilgrim Dante is not cleansing his sins in this walk up Mount Purgatory.

[17:08] There are three balanced prophecies in this conversation.

[20:54] The conversation is constructed from friendship to poetic craft to chivalric exaltation.

[24:55] This conversation may represent Dante's attempt at political and personal reconciliation.

We've come to the end of the long conversation between Forese Donati and Dante (as well as others) on the sixth terrace of Mount Purgatory among the penance of the gluttons.

Dante the pilgrim hedges the question of when he will die, then Forese leaps into an apocalyptic vision of the ruin of someone closely connected to Florence--that is, his own brother, Corso Donati.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through this apocalyptic prophecy about Corso's ruin, fit it into its historical context, and finally are left with the pilgrim, Virgil, and Statius on the terrace, all caught in a host of military images.

If you'd like to help defray the many fees associated with this podcast, including hosting, editing, domain registrations, and my subscriptions to a host of academic journals, please consider offering a one-time donation or a very small monthly stipend using this PayPal link right here.

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

[01:29] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, lines 76 - 99. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode of the podcast on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[03:43] A couple of problems with what the pilgrim Dante could know and the beginning of the military images in the passage.

[08:53] Forese Donati's apocalyptic prophecy of the very near future.

[13:28] The story of Corso Donati, Forese's brother and a key leader of the Black Guelphs in Florence.

[19:25] The military imagery for Forese's triumph (which reminds us of Brunetto's exit in INFERNO XV), as well as that imagery for Virgil and Statius, standing near the pilgrim on the terrace.

[23:56] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, lines 76 - 99.

Dante the pilgrim has claimed that indeed he is the one who is inspired by love, who writes what love breathes into him and then makes meaning from that.

Bongiunta is not finished with that discussion. Instead, he goes on to name this inspiration the "sweet new style" (or the "dolce stil novo"), thereby igniting over seven hundred years of commentary and controversy.

And Bonagiunta himself seems to throw some fuel on that fire, given his apparent satisfaction with himself. And Dante the poet may add some fuel, too, given his citation of classical sources, hardly breathed-in inspiration.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for this most daunting passage in all of PURGATORIO, striking near the heart of what Dante the poet believes he's doing . . . and what generations of critics and thinkers believe he's doing.

If you'd like to help support this podcast, please consider a very small monthly stipend or a one-time donation through this PayPal link right here. Your contribution helps me pay the many fees associated with keeping this podcast going.

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

[01:48] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, lines 55 - 75. If you'd like to read along or to continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[04:02] Bonagiunta's imaginative landscape: brothers and knots.

[07:17] Bonagiunta's peers (or perhaps his school?): Giacomo da Lentini and Giuttone d'Arezzo.

[11:41] The "sweet new style" and the taproot of Italian literature.

[16:27] Problems with the "sweet new style": its membership, its final relationship to Bonagiunta, and its meaning sewn into the text over generations.

[24:55] Two similes that comment on or even challenge this "sweet new style."

[30:00] Forese's poignant question and its link to INFERNO X.

[31:56] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, lines 55 - 75.

After Forese Donati has pointed out five of the gluttons on the sixth terrace of Mount Purgatory, one of them, the first mentioned and a poet of the previous generation, keeps muttering something almost unintelligible under his breath.

Our pilgrim asks him for more information. He then offers the pilgrim an oblique prophecy that has troubled Dante scholars for hundreds of years. He also asks if this pilgrim is the same guy who wrote a poem found in the VITA NUOVA.

Dante replies that he is indeed that poet . . . and goes on to claim that his poetry is inspired by love itself.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we take on the first half of the single most annotated passage in all of Dante's COMEDY. We are getting to the heart of what Dante thinks he's doing with his poetry . . . but what exactly that is remains something of a mystery, or at least a scholarly debate.

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

[02:00] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, Lines 34 - 54. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[05:08] The value of paying attention: the pilgrim to Bonagiunta and Bonagiunta to Dante's poetry.

[08:54] Bonagiunta's shifty murmurs of "gentucca."

[11:51] An opaque prophecy about Lucca from an older poet who should know how to be clear.

[17:13] Bonagiunta's refernce to a canzone (or long poetic song) from Dante's VITA NUOVA.

[20:37] The pilgrim's wild claims for direct inspiration from . . . love (or maybe God).

[27:02] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, lines 34 - 54.

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 been silence for most of Canto XXIII and will indeed remain silent throughout Canto XXIV, his longest silence yet in COMEDY. We won’t hear anything from him until well into Canto XXV.

And in this on-going conversation with Forese Donati, we get our first glimpse of Paradise, after curiously understanding that the human will is strong enough to slow down its progress even to that place, its ultimate goal.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through the opening lines of our on-going time among the gluttons on the sixth terrace of Mount Purgatory.

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

[01:49] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, lines 1 - 15. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[03:12] Canto XXIV is a continuation of Canto XXIII--and Virgil remains silent.

[06:33] The "redead" is a reference to Jude 12 in the New Testament.

[10:49] Does Ulysses enter into this passage?

[11:50] The human will can even slow down its ultimate desire, the central motivation of the universe.

[14:15] Mentioning Piccarda Donati gives us a fuller glimpse of Paradise ahead . . . and a classical glimpse.

[16:48] Pain and solace are the core of the prophetic voice.

[21:39] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, lines 1 - 15.

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, renegotiating its opening and reconfiguring its theology, even this high up on the mountain, as we near the apocalyptic climax of PURGATORIO.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we walk slowly through this last passage in Canto XXIII.

If you'd like to help support this podcast and underwrite its many fees, please consider a small stipend or a one-time donation at this PayPal link right here.

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

[01:27] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, lines 112 - 133. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with a comment, please find this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[04:09] A V-shaped structure reinforced for Canto XXIII.

[06:17] A question of what Forese should remember and how the opening of COMEDY should be understood.

[10:20] Further negotiations about the plot of COMEDY.

[14:22] The first time the pilgrim Dante names Beatrice and the first time he acknowledges the loss of Virgil.

[16:09] A curious moment: Virgil named and Statius unnamed.

[18:29] Two larger questions. One, COMEDY is a poem in process.

[20:03] Two, PURGATORIO replicates the structure of the New Testament.

[23:16] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, lines 112 - 133.

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 accomplished with the vernacular, with medieval Florentine (in Dante's case).

And although it fuses with misogyny and xenophobia, it nonetheless demonstrates the Dante's new style beyond love sonnets: the lyrical, prophetic voice.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore Forese Donati's condemnation of Florentine women and his wild launch into Isaiah's prophetic vision.

If you'd like to help support this podcast, consider a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend using this PayPal link right here.

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

[01:40] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, lines 91 - 111. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation via a comment on this episode, please find its entry on my website: markscarbrough.com.

[03:50] As Forese launches into his misogynistic condemnation of Florentine women, he reaffirms his love for his wife, Nella, the "little widow."

[08:42] Forese's prophetic discourse takes flight from a misogynistic and xenophobic platform.

[11:29] Rising sumptuary laws indicate an increasingly fluid social structure, particularly for women.

[15:02] Forese ends his screed at a high-style moment infused with Isaiah's prophecy (from Isaiah 7).

[18:03] The prophetic discourse ends at a lyrical moment somehow still in this high style.

[20:03] The vernacular is able to handle a greater emotional range than Latin in Dante's day.

[23:40] Forese's prophecy never comes true--and incorporates a curious shadow of doubt.

[26:23] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, lines 91 - 111.