Walking With Dante
Episodes
The Long View Across The Burning Sands: Inferno, Canto XV, Lines 1 - 24
08 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We're walking with our pilgrim, Dante, along the embankment to a stream, heading down into the depths of the seventh circle of hell where the sins of ...
An Interview with the poet and novelist J. Simon Harris, a translator of Dante's INFERNO
04 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this interpolated episode of the podcast WALKING WITH DANTE, I interview the poet and translator J. Simon Harris about his work on INFERNO, his thi...
Exploring A Coda To A Canto And Cleaning Up The Canto As A Whole: Inferno, Canto XIV, Lines 121 - 142
30 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We've come to the end of this strange and wonderful canto. We've passed Capaneus. We've heard about the Old Man of Crete. We've seen the weird snowfal...
The Old Man Of Crete PART TWO--Sewing The Canto Back Together: Inferno, Canto XIV, Lines 94 - 120
27 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Canto XIV of Dante's INFERNO is often seen as a misstep. Or at least an uneasy two-parter. First, there's Capaneus on the burning sands. Then there's ...
The Old Man Of Crete PART ONE--A Statue Rises From Four Other Texts: Inferno, Canto XIV, Lines 94 - 120
23 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We come to one of the strangest moments in INFERNO. While Virgil may have claimed that stream burbling out of the wood of the suicides was the most as...
Dante Calmly Tells The Tale And Virgil Makes A Wild Claim: Inferno, Canto XIV, Lines 76 - 93
20 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We've left Capaneus spread eagle on the burning sands and have begun to pass into this hellish desert-on-fire--that is, the third ring of the seventh ...
Blaspheming Against Jove Smack In The Middle Of A Christian Poem: Inferno, Canto XIV, Lines 43 - 78
16 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Finally, a blasphemer. A monk who wrote a heretical treatise? A priest who tainted orthodoxy? A run-of-the-mill atheist?Nope. A classical figure out o...
It's Snowing Fire And You're Naked: Inferno, Canto XIV, Lines 19 - 42
13 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We now get a fuller glimpse of the third ring of the seventh circle of hell, of inferno, in this passage that lays out the ranks of the damned before ...
Welcome To The Arid Plains Of The Blasphemers: Inferno, Canto XIV, Lines 1 - 18
09 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Here's a fascinating opening passage of a canto--breaking over from the previous one, including quirky rhetorical techniques, showing us classical ref...
Further Questions About Inferno, Canto XIII
06 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE, I'm headed toward the mail bag--or maybe the email bag--to look at three questions from listeners. These questi...
One Last Suicide, One Last Irony, One Last Intertextuality: Inferno, Canto XIII, Lines 127 - 151
02 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A bush has been torn apart by a crazed squanderers and black dogs. But it's got something to say, too, just like Pier delle Vigne.Join me, Mark Scarbr...
The Limits Of Credulity In A Poem About The Afterlife: Inferno, Canto XIII, Lines 109 - 126
30 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Pier may have stopped speaking--Virgil and Dante, our pilgrim, aren't sure--but he doesn't carry on because through the underbrush crash two naked sou...
Sorrows And Windows For Sorrow: Inferno, Canto XIII, Lines 79 - 108
26 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Pier seemed to have come to a conclusion in his last speech with Virgil and our pilgrim, Dante. But he's clearly not done. Prompted by Dante, Virgil a...
The Third Great Sinner of Hell, Pier delle Vigne: Inferno, Canto XIII, Lines 46 - 78
23 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dante, our pilgrim, has done as Virgil instructed: he's torn a branch off a bramble, only to have it spit blood and air--and words!The bush is the sou...
Maybe You Can't Trust Those Old Roman Poets: Inferno, Canto XIII, Lines 1 - 45
19 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Nessus has dropped our pilgrim, Dante, off on the other side of the river where he and Virgil step into a gloomy wood with thorns rather than fruit, t...
Getting Ready For Canto XIII Of Dante's Inferno
16 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Without a doubt, Canto XIII of INFERNO is one of the most astounding in the enter canticle of pain. It ranks up there with Canto V and the lustful, wi...
At Long Last, The Violent Appear: Inferno, Canto XII, Lines 103 - 139
12 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
INFERNO, Canto XII, comes to its conclusion with a "zoo" of those who have been violent against others, including Alexander the Great (perhaps), Attil...
Astride a Centaur: Inferno, Canto XII, Lines 76 - 102
09 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In INFERNO, the question of our pilgrim's corporeality continues to dog us (and perhaps the poet). Is the pilgrim in his body? Is this "merely" a drea...
The Centaurs--A Rider Without A Horse Or A Horse Without A Rider: Inferno, Canto XII, Lines 49 - 75
05 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We've come to the river of blood in the seventh circle of INFERNO, the first ring of the violent--and we don't meet any sinners. Instead, we meet the ...
More On Virgil's Life Outside Of Comedy: Inferno, Canto XII, Lines 31 - 48
02 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this passage from INFERNO, Virgil offers us (and the pilgrim, Dante) more of a glimpse into his last trek to the bottom of hell. Here, he tells us ...
This Way To The Violent, Down The Slope, Past The Minotaur: Inferno, Canto XII, Lines 1 - 30
28 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Virgil has finished his lesson on the geography of hell, he's answered the pilgrim's two questions, and we're back to the start of Canto XI, only at t...
Too Many Footnotes And Not Enough Time To Reflect
25 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Even at this point, at the end of INFERNO's Canto XI, we've come a long with Dante-the-pilgrim. We've walked down six circles of hell. We've also enco...
Usury + Violence = A Theory Of Art: Inferno, Canto XI, Lines 91 - 114
21 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Having asked one question and gotten smacked down, our pilgrim, Dante, dares to ask Virgil a second question. And this one's much harder. So much so t...
Virgil, Your Map Of Hell Needs A Little Work: Inferno, Canto XI, Lines 67 - 90
18 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Most of INFERNO Canto XI is taken up with Virgil's description of the road ahead, his "mappa-inferno," as it were. The old poet claims he's laid it al...
The Greatest Sin Isn't Pride--It's Fraud: Inferno, Canto XI, Lines 52 - 66
14 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We've clearly left the seven deadly sins behind. We got through lust, gluttony, avarice, and wrath--and then dumped sloth, envy, and pride in favor of...
The Sins Of Violence Explained (Sort Of): Inferno, Canto XI, Lines 28 - 51
11 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Virgil's mappamundi--or mappa inferno--is about to take a longer look at the seventh circle of hell, the next we'll encounter, as we sit with Dante, t...
Mapping The Uncharted At The Beginning Of The Age Of Discovery: Inferno, Canto XI, Lines 16 - 27
07 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Settled under the tomb of a heretic pope, Dante-the-pilgrim hears Virgil's first take on the nature of lowest hell: malice, injury, the heart of evil ...
The Dazzle of Beatrice, The Stench Of Hell: Inferno, Canto X, Line 121b, through Canto XI, Lines 15
04 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dante, our pilgrim, leaves Farinata's tomb almost unwillingly--at least, he has to force himself back to Virgil and continue his journey.Something abo...
Where Is My Son? A Thematic And Structural Overview Of INFERNO, Canto X
31 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The answers to these important questions--why is Farinata in the sixth circle of hell and why is he damned at all?--may lie in the structure of Canto ...
Repenting To A Heretic: Inferno, Canto X, Lines 94 - 121a
28 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We finish up our time with Farinata with a discussion that gets stranger by the minute. There's definitely a camaraderie between our pilgrim and this ...
How To Be Human And How To Quit Being Human: Inferno, Canto X, Lines 73 - 93
24 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
After the episode with Cavalcante among the heretics, a passage about human pain, loss, and suffering, we return to Farinata, our Greco-Roman statue--...
Poetic Rivalry And Poetic Guilt: Inferno, Canto X, Lines 52 - 72
21 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Factionalism run amuck! In this passage from INFERNO, our poet (and our pilgrim, Dante) comes face to face with the suffering he himself has caused. I...
The Second Great Sinner Of Hell, Farinata degli Uberti: Inferno, Canto X, Lines 22 - 51
17 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Rising out of the burning sarcophagus, pulling himself upright, Farinata confronts Dante-the-pilgrim from the tombs of the heretics. But this is no or...
Cosmic Battles And Interpersonal Squabbles: Inferno, Canto X, Lines 1 - 21
14 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the sixth circle of hell, we haven't yet seen any of the damned. Instead, Dante, our pilgrim, and Virgil are picking their way along a "secret path...
Straight On, Then Turn Right For The Heretics: Inferno, Canto IX, Lines 107 - 133
10 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Finally, we are done with the fifth circle of hell, with the wrathful (and the sullen) and all that happens standing before the gates of Dis.We're als...
Saved At Last . . . By Mercury, Christ, The Archangel Michael, Someone: Inferno, Canto IX, Lines 64 - 106
07 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How long have we been standing with Dante-the-pilgrim and Virgil, his guide, in front of the walls of Dis? For ten episodes of this podcast!And now co...
How Much Classical Imagery Can One Poem Take? Inferno, Canto IX, Lines 34 - 63
03 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Without a doubt, this passage is one of the densest with classical allegory in INFERNO. The references are so thick and fast, in fact, that Dante-the-...
Did Dante Intend All Of This?
28 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We danced around with the witch Erichtho quite a bit in the last episode. Seven different interpretive stances toward her that can arise out of Dante'...
Erichtho And The Complications In Virgil's Backstory: Inferno, Canto IX, Lines 1 - 33
24 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
At the end of INFERNO, Canto VIII, we left our pilgrim and his guide standing outside the walls of Dis, the city of hell. Virgil appeared to be a bit ...
Being Human In Hell: Inferno, Canto VIII, Lines 97 - 130
21 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Virgil goes off to confer with the demons who then slam shut the gates of Dis, shutting our pilgrim out in the fifth circle of INFERNO, among the wrat...
The Walls Of Dis And The Limits Of Virgil's Imagination: Inferno, Canto VIII, Lines 64 - 96
17 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dante-the-pilgrim and Virgil have made it across Styx, leaving behind Filippo Argenti and the wrathful. They've come to the iron walls of Dis, the cit...
Angry Among The Angry: Inferno, Canto VIII, Lines 31 - 63
14 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We've been through some dramatic passages: dark woods, wild beasts, Francesca, Cerberus and his claws. But nothing so far rivals the crossing of Styx ...
It's All Plot: An Overview Of The Fifth Circle Of Wrath
10 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In almost every episode of WALKING WITH DANTE, we take a passage from (so far) INFERNO and analyze it, talk through it, look at some of the interpreti...
Dante Is The Poet Who Stands Between The Classical And Modern Worlds: Inferno, Canto VIII, Lines 7 - 30
07 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We're in the fifth circle of INFERNO. We may or may not be over a divide in the poem, over a break. Boccaccio thought so. Many modern scholars do. I h...
Nothing In Dante's Own Hand: A Brief History Of COMEDY's Manuscripts
03 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this interpolated episode of the podcast WALKING WITH DANTE, I want to give you a brief history of the manuscript of COMEDY. None exists in Dante's...
The Biggest Crack In Hell Is In The Poetry, Not The Landscape: Inferno, Canto VIII, Lines 1 - 6
31 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Among the wrathful, the poem seems to back up and start over. While Boccaccio had a giant story to explain this break, I feel that it may be more in t...
On To The Wrathful, Sort Of: INFERNO, Canto VII, Lines 97 - 130
27 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Here's something new: a descent from one ring to another within a single canto.Our pilgrim and Virgil scramble down to find themselves on the shore of...
O, Fortuna: INFERNO, Canto VII, Lines 67 - 96
24 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dante wants to know why some people have it good and some, bad. Virgil, seemingly impatient, sets into his sermon on the goddess Fortune who controls ...
Fate And The Cracks In Dante's Poetry: INFERNO, Canto VII, Lines 36 - 66
20 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We finally get a glimpse at the hoarders and the wasters, the avaricious and the prodigal. They're mostly clergy, from run-of-the-mill clerics all the...
Jousting With Greedy Plutus: INFERNO, Canto VII, Lines 1 - 35
17 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We descend a level of hell and 'come to the "il gran nemico," the great enemy: Plutus.But why is he so great if he makes babbles nonsense and is easil...
Virgil Gets The Apocalypse Wrong: INFERNO, Canto VI, Lines 94 - 115
13 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ciacco has fallen back into the muck, never to be seen again--at least not until the last judgment.As the pilgrim and Virgil start to descend to the f...
The Bloodbath That Was, Is, And Will Be Florence: INFERNO, Canto VI, Lines 58 - 93
10 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the last passage, Ciacco the glutton seemed to have come to a halt in his conversation. But our pilgrim has not had enough. He prompts this damned ...
The Curious Case Of Ciacco: INFERNO, Canto VI, Lines 34 - 57
06 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the third circle of hell, our pilgrim finds an emblematic glutton, Ciacco. This strange soul offers us a few problems. He mixes gluttony with anoth...
Wide Awake With Cereberus: INFERNO, Canto VI, Lines 1 - 33
03 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Our pilgrim wakes up in the weather of the third circle of hell: hail, rain, and snow, making the ground a rancid swamp.But wait, wakes up? How'd he g...
The Case For Francesca: INFERNO, Canto V, Lines 88 - 142
20 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Francesca has long been a subject of fierce debate. By the mid-nineteenth century, she had been turned into an almost Byronic hero.Maybe the truth of ...
The Case Against Francesca: INFERNO, Canto V, Lines 88 - 142
16 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Dante, our pilgrim, calls the two who are light on the winds of lust to float down to him. When they arrive, he gets more than he bargained for. Franc...
Damning Lust, Then Confusing It With Love: INFERNO, Canto V, Lines 52 - 87
13 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The pilgrim, Dante, has just asked his guide who is tossed in lust's whirlwind.Virgil answers with a list of the "greats" out on the wind: figures fro...
The Lush Poetry Of The Lustful: INFERNO, Canto V, Lines 25 - 51
09 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Our pilgrim, Dante, turns from Minos to discover the hellish hurricane that's the punishment of lustful.It's hard to miss the lush language in this pa...
An Interpolated Episode: An Introduction to the Seven Deadly Sins
06 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Seven deadly sins: They almost seem like a cliché these days. But here they are: lust, gluttony, sloth, avarice, anger, pride, and envy.It wasn't alw...
Minos, The Connoisseur Of Sin: INFERNO, Canto V, Lines 1 - 24
02 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We've walked to the second circle of hell, where the winds of lust howl. But not yet. First, we must meet a connoisseur of sin: Minos. He determines y...
An Interpolated Episode: A Look Back At The First Four Cantos of INFERNO
29 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I look back over the first four cantos of INFERNO with an overview of where we've been and a discussion of the structure ...
Cataloguing The Greats You Know And The Ones You Wish You Knew: INFERNO, Canto IV, Lines 115 - 151
25 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Our pilgrim, Dante, gets to a vantage point where he can look across the "enameled" green to see the crowd gathered in and around Limbo's castle. He t...
The Great Poets Of Limbo: INFERNO Canto IV, Lines 85 - 114
22 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We follow our pilgrim, Dante, into Limbo. He sees four great shades coming toward him: Homer, Horace, Ovid, and Lucan. They welcome Virgil back and do...
Virgil's (Mis)Understanding Of The Harrowing Of Hell: INFERNO, Canto IV, Lines 46 - 84
18 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Our pilgrim and Virgil begin to walk across Limbo, surely the largest surface in hell since its the uppermost ring. In fact, it's at first like a plai...
An Interpolated Episode: Limbo Unraveled
15 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Limbo is the first circle of INFERNO . . . although that statement already presents a problem. How can Limbo be in hell? Isn't it a state somewhere be...
Welcome To Virgil's Home Turf: INFERNO, Canto IV, Lines 1 - 45
14 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Along with our pilgrim and Virgil, we take the first steps into the first circle of hell, the "real deal" of INFERNO.As you might imagine, we encounte...
When Crossing Acheronte Into The First Ring Of Hell, Don't Faint: INFERNO, Canto III, Lines 109 - 136
08 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We finish canto III of INFERNO, standing on the shores of Acheronte, the river that forms the border of the first rings of inner hell.Charon is busy w...
Charon, The Pagan Ferryman Of The Christian Damned: INFERNO, Canto III, Lines 70 - 108
04 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We step out of the foyer and enter the second part of Canto III of INFERNO: the part about the storied Charon, the ferryman on Acheronte (or Acheron),...
Sometimes, You Get The Hell You Want: INFERNO, Canto III, Lines 22 - 69
01 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Our pilgrim, Dante, and his guide, Virgil, walk beyond hell's entrance to encounter, well, the sort of hell we thought we were going to get all along....
Abandon Hope For It's The Gate Of Hell: INFERNO, Canto III, Lines 1 - 21
28 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We follow our pilgrim and his guide, Virgil, on their first steps into hell. Let's pause with these two at the gate of hell with its famous inscriptio...
Bested By Beatrice, Bested By Virgil: INFERNO, Canto II, Lines 115 - 141
25 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Beatrice has bested Virgil. Virgil has bested Dante, our pilgrim.Dante can do nothing else except set off across the universe.Join me, Mark Scarbrough...
To Be Saved, Tell A Story: INFERNO, Canto II, Lines 76 - 114
21 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Where's Dante, our pilgrim? Not in this passage! He's fallen out of his own poem as Virgil and Beatrice engage in their rhetorical battle.And where's ...
Jousting To Tell The Tale: INFERNO, Canto II, Lines 43 - 75
18 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
After Dante confesses his unworthiness in the opening of Canto II of INFERNO, Virgil clarifies the matter. "You're not modest. You're a coward."Then V...
False Modesty (Or Maybe Not): INFERNO, Canto II, Lines 1 - 42
14 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We thought we were underway, but important things must happen first. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we start the Canto II of INFERNO to discover that th...
An Interpolated Episode: A Look Back At INFERNO, Canto I, And Look Around The Entire Poem
11 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Let's pause to look back over INFERNO, Canto I. I'll read it through for its scope and arc. Then we'll set about exploring this piece of architecture,...
Virgil The Poet Becomes Virgil The Prophet: INFERNO, Canto I, Lines 97 - 136
07 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In a previous episode, I talked about how Dante defines Virgil as a poet, not a philosopher, and why that was important in Dante's medieval context.Bu...
Virgil To The Rescue: INFERNO, Canto I, Lines 67 - 96
04 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We meet the pilgrim Dante's first and great guide, the Roman poet Virgil. He is the pilgrim's master, his "author." Except he's also Virgil, a guy who...
Wild Beasts On The Slope And The Slide Into Despair: INFERNO, Canto I, Lines 28 - 66
30 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Dante begins his journey across the known universe--except not. The journey stops almost the moment it begins in COMEDY.What happens when you set off ...
Climbing Away From The Turbulence In The Lake Of The Heart: INFERNO, Canto I, Lines 10 - 27
26 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Our pilgrim, Dante, comes awake in a dark wood. Now what? He has to walk out. But to where? And how?This fourth episode of WALKING WITH DANTE is actua...
An Interpolated Episode: Who was Dante?
26 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Who was Dante? Actually, that's two questions in one. First, how did this hard-working if not formerly brilliant poet and would-be politician from a r...
Finding Ourselves Lost In A Dark Wood: INFERNO, Canto I, Lines 1 - 9
26 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We take the first steps with our pilgrim, Dante, as he finds himself in a dark wood and starts his walk . . . through hell? No, across the known unive...
An Introduction To WALKING WITH DANTE
26 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
An introduction to the podcast WALKING WITH DANTE. I'm Mark Scarbrough, a former academic and working author.This podcast is my passion project: to ta...