PURGATORIO, Episode 149. The Siren, The Speedy Lady, And Virgil: PURGATORIO, Canto XIX, Lines 16 - 33

Dante’s dream continues with the ugly woman turned beautiful . . . and then into a siren. She sings a song about Ulysses (a song that gets his story wrong but brings him back into COMEDY) before a holy speedy lady descends to request Virgil’s aid in (once again) saving Dante the pilgrim.

Read More

PURGATORIO, Episode 68. Lucy, Virgil, The Christian Reality, The Classical Texture: PURGATORIO, Canto IX, Lines 43 - 63

Lucy arrives to carry the sleeping Dante up to the gate of Purgatory itself. And perhaps most shocking of all, she keeps Virgil in tow to this very Christian part of the mountain. In fact, classical imagery may well be the texture that underlies Dante’s Christian truth: the rough threads that make the tapestry more beautiful.

Read More