Dante-the-pilgrim's journey across the universe is underway--except it's really not. It stops almost the moment it begins in COMEDY.
What happens when you set off in a new direction but have no clue where you're going? Apparently, you get blocked by the beasts of your imagination. Or maybe by more than beasts. By symbols. Even allegories. Personal, political, social. You get blocked by your own imagination's landscape.
This is a tough passage that has used up gallons of ink and tons of paper over the years. For 700 years, people have debated what these beasts mean. I'll give you some clues. But the answers will ultimately be your own.
And here's a surprise: You'll get saved in the same way. You'll get saved by your imagination's landscape.
Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for the first steps of the journey with our pilgrim: up a hill that seems so promising, then right back down again.
Here are the segments of this episode:
[00:28] The passage from COMEDY for this episode: INFERNO, Canto 1, Lines 28 - 66
[03:12] Our first glimpse of the poem's complexity--that is, a little bit about the pilgrim's feet (or more like, a lot about his feet), all courtesy of St. Augustine and commentary written by Dante's own son and lots more, all explaining a strange detail the poet offers us about how his pilgrim self tried to climb a hill with only one good foot.
[09:19] Three beasts! Here they come, the terrors on the slope. I'll offer lots of interpretations for them. They've only generated 700 years of answers!
[20:50] And so it goes: the pilgrim slips back down the mountain, blocked by a she-wolf and almost lost, until a figure appears out of the mist. Sure, an apparition is surprising. Even more so, what the pilgrim says to this apparition: "Miserere," a word from the Latin mass.
[24:29] A final bit about a clue in the passage that helps us date the poem--not in terms of when it was written but rather when it's taking place. It seems to be Easter weekend in 1300. Seems to be March 25, in fact. Problem is, March 25 wasn't part of Easter weekend in the year 1300. What is Dante-the-poet up to?