Walking With Dante

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...

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. Th...

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...

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 W...

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 Ca...

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 t...

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...

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 o...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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, Can...

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 tran...

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 po...

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...

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 b...

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 w...

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 translati...

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 enjo...

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 -...

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...

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...

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 INF...