In this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE, we take the first steps with our pilgrim, Dante, as he wakes up in a dark wood and starts his walk . . . through hell? No way! Actually, across the known universe.
He finds himself in a dark wood. He's in a mid-life crisis. Not his, mind you. Ours.
He doesn't know how he got there. He just knows it's a bad place. So bad that it even makes him quake when he tries to write about it years later. Which means there are two Dantes in the poem: the pilgrim who's walking and the poet who's writing. At times, they even compete for our attention.
Join me, Mark Scarbrough, to discover the opening lines of Dante's masterwork COMEDY. Why does it open the way it does? What sort of poem is this? Who's saying these lines? Who's the "I"? And how does this "I" intend to record this journey across the known universe?
This is an admittedly tough episode. Don't get discouraged. It's like learning a new language. One thing looks hard (the past perfect? what?). but then that thing starts to look easy as you learn more.
Here are the segments of this episode:
[01:09] Why would you want to walk with Dante? I've got four reasons.
[03:39] Who am I? This podcast is my passion project. It has been brewing for years. I finally worked up the courage. Like Dante. You have to work up the courage before you start to walk.
[05:56] Here are the opening lines of of Dante's COMEDY--and a lot from me about why they're so strange, even off-putting at first glance.
[14:12] Does this grand poem open "in medias res"? That is, "in the middle of things" (as goes the Latin)? That's a phrase to signal the epic form. But I don't think so. Dante's not writing an epic. He's writing a comedy.
[16:23] Who's journey is this? It's a tougher question than you might think. Who is this "I" who is speaking? And how can this "I" write this journey into the wilds of the universe itself?
[21:57] Okay, having said all that, what's the point of Dante's COMEDY? How can I sum it up in just a few words.
If you want to see my rough English translation of this passage, head out to markscarbrough.com or walkingwithdante.com. Or just listen along in this episode.