PURGATORIO, Episode 213. To Refocus Virgil And COMEDY: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVII, Lines 109 - 123

We come to the climax of Virgil's character in the poem, the end of PURGATORIO, Canto XXVII. Let's take this dramatic and chilling scene in two episodes, starting with the moment our pilgrim, Dante, wakes up from his third dream on the mountain.

Virgil steps forward to offer a grand and perhaps new hope. The journey is not about the need for justice. It's now about the search for peace. What’s more, Virgil's character reaches its most accurate and compelling focus.

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The segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:

[02:26] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXVII, lines 109 -123. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, scroll down this page.

[03:58] Callbacks from previous passages in PURGATORIO as this one begins to wrap up the canticle so far.

[12:14] Omitting the erasure of the final "P" on the pilgrim's forehead.

[13:37] The only calm awakening from a dream in PURGATORIO.

[15:44] Virgil, finally and fully the father-guide the pilgrim has always needed.

[23:51] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVII, lines 109 - 123.

My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXVII, Lines 109 – 123

And already because of the pre-dawn splendors

Which rise and provide welcome to the traveler,

When, returning, he has lodged closer to home,

The shadows were being set in flight all around us

As was my sleep with them. I stood up

Once I saw that my great masters had already arisen.

“That sweet apple that mortals reach for

With such effort and along so many branches

Will today offer peace to all your hungers.”

Virgil used these very words with me.

There never was a gift

That could bring me any pleasure equal to them.

So much willpower on top of willpower came to me

To be up top with each step that I felt

My wings unfold for flight.