PURGATORIO, Episode 201. Poets Make The Flames Of Lust More Colorful: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, Lines 1 - 24

The pilgrim, Dante, Virgil, and Statius walk on the narrow ledge between the flames of lust and the drop into the abyss. The penitents in the flames notice that the pilgrim's body makes the flames of lust more colorful . . . the work of any medieval poet in the troubadour tradition when it comes to love!

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Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:

[02:26] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, lines 1 - 24. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment on this passage to continue the conversation with me, please scroll down this page.

[04:17] Three comments on PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI as a whole: It provides the poet open space for much discussion, it is part of a larger mirroring with the three upper circles of INFERNO, and it is in direct conversation with both INFERNO, Canto XXVI, and INFERNO, Canto V.

[07:34] Virgil's offers only one line in this canto just before a bit of time-telling in the  passage.

[11:50] The pilgrim doesn't have a "sham" or "fictitious" body on the terrace of lust.

[16:46] Near the flames of lust, we get a hint of the poet's expansive geographical knowledge.

[22:30] The passage may already be about the craft of poetry.

[25:24] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, lines 1 - 24.

Here’s my English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, Lines 1 – 24

As we walked right along the edge, one

In front of the other, my good master often

Said to me, “Look out: Take profit from my warnings to you.”

The sun was baking my right shoulder

And already, as I reasoned, all of the eastern sky

Was changing its aspect from azure to white.

And since my shadow, cast against the flames, made them appear

As if they glowed even redder, I saw many of the shades

Walking along and taking this hint.

My shadow was the reason they had to

Speak to me. They started by saying,

“This one doesn’t seem to have a sham body.”

Then some of them got closer—well, as close as they could,

Truth be told. They always made sure that they

Didn’t get out of the burning place in the flames.

“Hey, you who go along behind the others,

Not because you’re slower, but maybe out of reverence,

Talk to me, since I burn with thirst and fire.

“I’m not the only one who craves your answer.

All these others want it more than

The Indian or the Ethiopian wants cold water.

“Tell us how your body is an obstacle to the sunlight,

As if you were not yet

Tangled in the nets of death?”