PURGATORIO, Episode 189. The Daunting Problem Of This Sweet New Style: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, Lines 55 - 75

Dante claime to be the poet who takes love’s inspired dictation, but Bonagiunta has more to say about ut: He names this new poetry, perhaps minimizes its impact, and passes on content. The poet Dante enters the discourse to offer a classical simile that is hardly inspired, just lifted from Lucan. A most curious passage, the one that has caused the most commentary of any in PURGATORIO.

Mark ScarbroughJuly 9, 2025Purgatorio XXIV, Purgatorio, Purgatory, The terrace of gluttony, Bonagiunta of Lucca, Forese Donati, Dante's poetics, Dante's theory of artComment

PURGATORIO, Episode 188. Dante's Wild Claim For Love's Inspiration: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, Lines 34 - 54

Bonagiunta, a poet from the previous generation and one of the gluttons pointed out by Forese Donati on the sixth terrace of Mount Purgatory, offers the pilgrim an opaque prophecy and then wonders if this pilgrim is the same guy who wrote a long poem in the VITA NUOVA. The pilgrim replies that he is that poet . . . and then goes onto make a wild claim about poetic inspiration.

Mark ScarbroughJuly 6, 2025Purgatorio XXIV, Purgatorio, Purgatory, The terrace of gluttony, Forese Donati, Bonagiunta of Lucca, Dante's poeticsComment