PURGATORIO, Episode 179. Did Dante Think The Characters In Classical Poems Were Real?

Did Dante think the characters in classical poems like those by Virgil, Statius, and Ovid were real, historical people? The answer lies at the heart of our problem of reading Dante across the scientific-revolution divide. He may find texts more reliable than we do . . . and may find meaning less stable than we do.

Interpolated EpisodesMark ScarbroughJune 4, 2025Dante's poetics, Classical imageryComment

PURGATORIO, Episode 132. Three Ecstatic Visions And Dante's Warning (To Himself?) About Anger: PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, Lines 19 - 39

Dante the pilgrim has three more ecstatic visions as he gets ready to depart Purgatory's terrace of the angry. These visions are all about the destructive nature of excessive wrath and may give us an indication about why anger sits at the center of COMEDY: to mitigate Dante's own anger at Florence.

Mark ScarbroughSeptember 11, 2024Purgatorio XVII, The terrace of wrath, the terrace of anger, Purgatory, Purgatorio, Classical imageryComment

PURGATORIO, Episode 71. Three Steps Up To The Gate And Into An Interpretive Quagmire: PURGATORIO, Canto IX, Lines 94 - 105

Dante and Virgil see the three steps to the entrance of Purgatory proper with an angel sitting on up at the very threshold to the next realm. But these steps have caused 700 years of interpretive fury. They’re allegorical, to be sure. But maybe there’s a way to scrape the critical apparatus off the steps and see these steps in a new way.

Mark ScarbroughDecember 13, 2023Purgatorio IX, Purgatorio, Purgatory, The gate of Purgatory, The Divine Comedy, Dante, Angels, Classical imageryComment

PURGATORIO, Episode 66. Asleep In A Messy Bed Of Classical Imagery: PURGATORIO, Canto IX, Lines 1 - 12

Dante opens the incredibly important canto of the gate of Purgatory—that is, PURGATORIO, Canto IX—with a complete mess of classical imagery. This tangle has befuddled scholars and readers for centuries. There are proposed solutions, none of them quite adequate. Perhaps the difference here is that Dante is now free to play with classical imagery, rather than to be controlled by it.

Mark ScarbroughNovember 26, 2023Purgatorio, Purgatory, Classical imagery, Purgatorio IX, Dante, Comedy, The Divine ComedyComment