The Flames Don't Burn Up Irony: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVII, Lines 49 - 90

Our pilgrim has entered the flames of lust. For the first time, he is not a voyeur of the torments. He experiences them on the last terrace of lust.He then hears a call to enter Paradise . . . before he falls asleep on the mountain's rocky staircase.Problem is, those flames don't burn up irony. It's thick in this passage. A goat even gets into Paradise!Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through this final climb on Mount Purgatory before we enter the Garden of Eden.Consider supporting this podcast with a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend, using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:22] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXVII, lines 49 - 90. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me about this passage, please find its entry on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:09] Dante's guilt (or creative apex) and Virgil's white lie (or painful memory).[10:02] The angel in Latin and in vernacular Florentine--and perhaps Dante's homesickness.[15:02] The scope of the journey: a half revolution around Mount Purgatory.[18:14] The pastoral, idyllic, Edenic simile to (try to) summarize the moments after the flames.[21:09] The irony in the simile, full of inaccurate reference points.[25:28] Dante, the goat let loose into Paradise.[29:29] Our poet, a world-builder.[30:55] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVII, lines 49 - 90.