Walking With Dante8 Des 2021

A Look Back At The Structure, Beauty, And Engineering Of Inferno, Canto XIX

Inferno, Canto XIX, is one crazy canto, so gorgeously constructed, as thick as fine tapestry, woven with Biblical allusions, historical references, structural idiosyncrasies, and even one glaring fault.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I look back over Inferno, Canto XIX, one of the finest Dante wrote for this part of Comedy. I'll offer some general assessments, goad you on to think more deeply about the canto, and even raise one ethical question about its overall thinking.

These are the segments of this episode of the podcast WALKING WITH DANTE:

[01:51] A reading of all of Inferno, Canto XIX. No text here. Just sit back and listen to it.

[09:51] The first question: Is the third evil pouch of the 8th circle of hell only filled with popes? The answer is a little harder than you might expect.

[12:20] How many popes are or will be in hell? Four by my count. But more perhaps. And the real question is this: How many clerics are in hell? Countless hordes.

[15:26] The savage irony of Canto XIX--which then reveals to us its structural complexities, its engineering feat.

[19:35] The linguistic range of Canto XIX: from the common, simple speech to the heights of allegorical language and back down to the depths of vulgarity.

[20:35] The direct address to Constantine the Great that ends the rant to end all rants. What does that direct address do for the passage?

[23:31] Questions about the "horizontal" (that is, linear) and "vertical" (that is, revisionary) strategies of Inferno.

[27:13] A larger ethical question that arises as you stand back from Canto XIX: Just how much does apocalyptic thinking distort clear thinking?

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Episoder(509)

The Expanding Community of Women in the Moon: PARADISO, Canto III, Lines 109 - 130

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23 Sep 23min

The Violent yet Elliptical End to Piccarda Donati's Story: PARADISO, Canto III, Lines 88 - 108

Piccarda Donati finally answers the question about who she is. She's given her name but not much else about her. In twelve lines (or four tercets) she brings her personal story to its violent yet elli...

20 Sep 27min

Piccarda Donati's Apotheosis of the Will: PARADISO, Canto III, Lines 58 - 87

Piccarda has confessed to her more humble place in the heavens. Our pilgrim Dante then wants to know if she wants more.Her answer leads her to an apotheosis of the will. Everything in the universe is ...

16 Sep 30min

The First Soul in Paradise, Piccarda Donati: PARADISO, Canto III, Lines 34 - 57

At long last, the first soul--or "shade"--steps forward in Paradise. She's Piccarda Donati, a figure we've already encountered once (maybe even twice) in COMEDY.Dante flatters her to speak and she beg...

13 Sep 29min

Catching Feelings in the Sensual Sphere of the Moon: PARADISO, Canto III, Lines 1 - 33

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9 Sep 28min

The Souls of the Universe: PARADISO, Canto II, Lines 127 - 148

Beatrice concludes her explanation for moon spots by veering away from them specifically to talk about the nature of the universe.Blessed movers turn the spheres. Or perhaps inhabit them. Or are bound...

6 Sep 27min

The Diversity of Being in a Universe of Light: PARADISO, Canto II, Lines 106 - 126

Beatrice now launches into the true explanation for moon spots, found not in folklore, not in natural philosophy, but in metaphysics.Her explanation pushes her to disclose the parts of the universe we...

2 Sep 28min

Testing Theology With Optics: PARADISO, Canto II, Lines 85 - 105

Beatrice continues in her scientific and Scholastic explanation for moon spots by taking apart a secondary argument . . . and proposing an optical experiment.She voices an objection Dante might have: ...

30 Aug 26min