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 very things that are the heart of his craft.Canto XXXI opens with an intensely emotional scene, meant to bring the pilgrim right to the brink of his ability to handle things . . . about like what happened with Francesca in INFERNO, Canto V.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the second canto of PURGATORIO that is centered on the pilgim Dante's interiority . . . and his craft as a poet.Here…
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