PURGATORIO, Episode 133. All The Light Ends With The Stars: PURGATORIO, Canto XVII, Lines 40 - 72

Dante the poet is playing with light: physical/metaphysical, revelatory/imaginary, sunrise/sunset, illuminating/concealing, angelic/cosmic. All this as COMEDY finds its center and PURGATORIO itself divides on a beautiful moment with the stars.

Mark ScarbroughSeptember 15, 2024Purgatorio XVII, Purgatorio, Purgatory, The terrace of wrath, the terrace of anger, Angels, Dante's poetics, lightComment

PURGATORIO, Episode 117. Hunger, Light, Love, And The Theology Of Abundance: PURGATORIO, Canto XV, Lines 58 - 84

Dante has heard Virgil’s explanation of the good becoming more, the more it’s shared (at least in heaven); yet Dante is not satisfied. So the pilgrim goes back for a second helping in this passage that continues Virgil’s lesson, turning the “good” into love and light, a move that will set us up for the grand revelations in the central cantos of COMEDY.

PURGATORIO, Episode 114. Playing Around With The Sun: PURGATORIO, Canto XV, Lines 1 - 24

Dante and Virgil walk away from the envious on the second terrace of Purgatory . . . and straight into the sun. Meanwhile, we walk straight into Dante’s poetics, which are becoming more and more complex as we enter the liminal space that forms the central cantos of COMEDY.