Absence Becomes Elevated, High-Style Presence: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, Lines 49 - 63
Beatrice continues to lead Dante toward contrition, pointing out both the purposes of her body (or corpse) and the ways he has failed to followed her lofty beauty.She finishes her second salvo at the ...
1 Feb 31min
At Long Last, Dante's Confession: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, Lines 22 - 48
Ever since INFERNO, Canto I, we've never fully understood why Dante woke up lost in that dark wood.Now, in the Garden of Eden, Beatrice brings him to the point where he can voice what he did wrong. He...
28 Jan 25min
The Poet Loses His Words: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, Lines 1 - 21
Wailing, Dante comes in for Beatrice's impatience. He hasn't responded yet to her charges, so she turns the spear point of her words on him.He cracks . . . and in doing so, loses language, words, the ...
25 Jan 32min
Finding The Fit For Your Talent: PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, Lines 127 - 145
Beatrice finishes her first indictment of Dante by showing him the fit subject matter for his abundant talent: her and the damned.She accuses him of chasing after false images, then of discounting her...
21 Jan 25min
When You Don't Get The Redemption You Want: PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, Lines 100 - 126
Beatrice is now fully in charge . . . so much so that she can even tell the angels in the chariot with her what they can't understand.She launches into her first indictment of the pilgrim, Dante. Here...
18 Jan 22min
The Ice Finally Melts: PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, Lines 79 - 99
Beatrice has offered her first condemnation of Dante, just as his salve and mentor, Virgil, has left the scene. He's stuck across Lethe with the ice sheet encasing his heart. Even the angels surroundi...
14 Jan 26min
The Admiral Comes Into Her Ship: PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, Lines 55 - 78
We finally hear the first words from Beatrice's mouth. (We've heard her before but as told by Virgil in INFERNO, Canto II.) She is certainly not person we expected. She's the admiral controlling her s...
11 Jan 33min
Farewell, Virgil: PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, Lines 22 - 54
The parade of revelation has stopped and everything holds its breath for what comes next.She's veiled, behind scattered flowers. But Beatrice arrives, in the place of Jesus Christ, her second coming, ...
7 Jan 35min
