Of Prophets, Poets, And Pilgims: Inferno, Canto XIX, Lines 1 - 12
It's almost mind-boggling to see the difference between INFERNO, Canto XVIII, and INFERNO, Canto XIX.Canto XIX opens with a proem: a prefatory poem, to set up the action ahead. It's dense with Biblical, folkloric, and classical allusions. It also includes not one but two direct addresses: first to Simon Magus, a figure from both the New Testament and folklore; and second to "highest wisdom," a nearer approach to addressing God.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I begin to wrestle with one of the most complicated cantos in INFERNO: the denunciation of the church by its supreme follower, Dante.Here…
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