Laughter And Loss, The Essence Of Being Human: PURGATORIO, Canto I, Lines 13 - 27

Walking With Dante · Mar 22, 2023 · 35m

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 turn to the pilgrim is a beautiful moment, with resonances of hope and loss throughout--perhaps, then, a most human moment.This passage of PURGATORIO is also packed with interpretive problems. And you…