Posts tagged The terrace of gluttony
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.

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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.

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PURGATORIO, Episode 187. Of Eels And Wine: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, Lines 16 - 33

Forese Donati continues his conversation with Dante the pilgrim by pointing out five of the penitent gluttons who surround them and by using culinary and gastronomical imagery to reinforce both the thematics and the irony of this terrace (and perhaps to add fuel to the fire of the rivalry between French and Italian cuisine).

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PURGATORIO, Episode 185. Renegotiating COMEDY As PURGATORIO Nears Its Climax: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, Lines 112 - 133

Forese Donati has finished his screed against Florentine women and is ready to hear how the pilgrim Dante got so far up Mount Purgatory while still in the flesh. Dante obliges and also renegotiates the terms of the opening and even the plot of COMEDY as we near the climax of the second canticle, of PURGATORIO.

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PURGATORIO, Episode 184. From Lofty To Lyrical In The Prophetic Voice: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, Lines 91 - 111

Forese Donati launches into his screed against Florentine women by reaffirming his love for his wife, Nella. He vaults into the high style of a prophetic voice, referencing prophecies from Isaiah, all while using the vernacular Florentine to offer a lyrical subtext to his stern (and ultimately false) condemnation.

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PURGATORIO, Episode 183. The Heroic Nella Donati: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, Lines 76 - 90

Dante the pilgrim and his rival/friend/fellow poet Forese Donati go on talking about suffering and the nature of the ascent up the mountain. In doing so, they must speak about Forese’s wife, Nella. Dante has previously insulted her in the sonnet rivalry. Now, she’s a heroic figure who nonetheless brings us back to the problem of stating the higher truths in the vernacular.

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PURGATORIO, Episode 182. Pain, Solace, And Being Human: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, Lines 49 - 75

Dante and Forese, friends and poetic rivals, continue their conversation on the sixth terrace of Mount Purgatory among the emaciated, skeletal gluttons. Forese’s suffering is clear and present, which makes them both pause on the central crux of being human: how to interpret the pain we feel.

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PURGATORIO, Episode 180. Starved For Affection: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, Lines 1 - 27

Our pilgrim is still marveling at the mystical tree on the sixth terrace of Mount Purgatory—he has to be goaded on by Virgil, his “more than father.” As they walk along the terrace, they’re soon overtaken by skeletal, cadaverous penitents who find that the pilgrim himself is a source of marvel.

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PURGATORIO, Episode 178. You Are What You Eat . . . And Read: PURGATORIO, Canto XXII, Lines 130 - 145

Statius and Virgil head out across the sixth terrace of Mount Purgatory. They’re stopped by an upside-down tree in the path. A voice in the tree warns them off, then admonishes them with examples of those who were moderate in their appetites . . . and the wonders of the classical age.

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PURGATORIO, Episode 171. Virgil Offers The First Of Many Classical Misreadings: PURGATORIO, Canto XXII, Lines 1 - 24

Dante the pilgrim begins his climb to the sixth terrace of Mount Purgatory blinded and behind his two guides, Virgil and Statius. The drama of the pilgrim’s blindness is superseded by Virgil’s curiosity about Statius . . . complete with Virgil’s own misquotation of Francesca from INFERNO, Canto V.

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PURGATORIO, Episode 170. A Read-Through Of PURGATORIO, Cantos XXII - XXIV

A read-through of Purgatorio, Cantos XXII, XXIII, and XXIV. A rough translation before we break it into smaller parts for deeper analysis. The ascent from the fifth terrace of avarice (and we learn, another sin) to the sixth terrace of gluttony: an arboretum with hollow, wasted souls purging their love of wine and food.

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