PODCAST · arts
Walking With Dante
by Mark Scarbrough
Ever wanted to read Dante's Divine Comedy? Come along with us! We're not lost in the scholarly weeds. (Mostly.) We're strolling through the greatest work (to date) of Western literature. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I take on this masterpiece passage by passage. I'll give you my rough English translation, show you some of the interpretive knots in the lines, let you in on the 700 years of commentary, and connect Dante's work to our modern world. The pilgrim comes awake in a dark wood, then walks across the known universe. New episodes every Sunday and Wednesday.
Episodes
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The First Soul in Paradise, Piccarda Donati: PARADISO, Canto III, Lines 34 - 57
At long last, the first soul--or "shade"--steps forward in Paradise. She's Piccarda Donati, a figure we've already encountered once (maybe even twice) in COMEDY. Dante flatters her to speak and she begins, not with herself, but with some theology and thoughts on her placement in the heavens.…
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Catching Feelings in the Sensual Sphere of the Moon: PARADISO, Canto III, Lines 1 - 33
Dante is about to meet the first souls in Paradise, emerging from the liquid light of the moon. The poetry is lush and sensuous. The metaphors are complex and compounded. And Beatrice is a bit chilly, full of Latinisms and a condescending smile. It's a marvelous banquet for the senses, here in…
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The Souls of the Universe: PARADISO, Canto II, Lines 127 - 148
Beatrice concludes her explanation for moon spots by veering away from them specifically to talk about the nature of the universe. Blessed movers turn the spheres. Or perhaps inhabit them. Or are bound to them. Or maybe even give them life. Her argument may veer into heresy as Dante brings his...
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The Diversity of Being in a Universe of Light: PARADISO, Canto II, Lines 106 - 126
Beatrice now launches into the true explanation for moon spots, found not in folklore, not in natural philosophy, but in metaphysics. Her explanation pushes her to disclose the parts of the universe we could never see, then lets her discuss diversity as a function of the light falling from the...
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Testing Theology With Optics: PARADISO, Canto II, Lines 85 - 105
Beatrice continues in her scientific and Scholastic explanation for moon spots by taking apart a secondary argument . . . and proposing an optical experiment. She voices an objection Dante might have: perhaps there are dense bits behind the rare bits that reflect light as darker spots because…
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Mixed Metaphors and the Limits of Human Senses: PARADISO, Canto II, Lines 64 - 84
Beatrice begins her destruction of Dante's explanation for moon spots by taking apart his notion of dense and rare spots on the lunar surface . . . with a dizzying display of mixed metaphors. Her argument lofts to the highest visible heaven, the eighth sphere; then falls back into scholastic...
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Of Moon Spots and Virgil: PARADISO, Canto II, Lines 46 - 63
Now that our pilgrim Dante is standing in the moon, he has a fundamental question: Why are there spots on the moon? And he thinks he knows the answer, right out of natural philosophy. They're caused by rare and dense material in the moon. He's asking a question for which he knows the answer…
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Incarnated in the Moon: PARADISO, Canto II, Lines 19 - 45
After Dante's warning to his readers (or perhaps some of his readers), we return to the plot, ascending through the heavens to arrive at the moon . . . or really, in the moon. Dante and Beatrice find themselves inside this translucent pearl in the heavens. And in so doing, Dante proves the...
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Go Home: PARADISO, Canto II, Lines 1 - 18
Our poet steps out of the shadows with an important message: "Go home." Because PARADISO is hard. Because we might get lost. Because we're not prepared. The stark address to all readers--or perhaps to a much more limited set of specialty readers--that opens Canto II is one of the most unusual...
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Of Natural Instincts and Their Natural Ends: PARADISO, Canto I, Lines 115 - 142
Beatrice continues in her discourse about our natural instincts, making the bold claim that they can lead us to our natural ends . . . which are the good, not the catastrophic bad. Her Scholastic theology is tinted with poetic metaphors in a bold move to explain how the arrow, once shot, can...
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Sailing Across the Great Sea of "To Be": PARADISO, Canto I, Lines 94 - 114
Beatrice has answered Dante's first doubt, but he has another. He can't quite understand how he, maybe in his body, can make his way across the universe. She doesn't have a quick answer. Instead, she has a theory of how the whole universe works. Her answers are always bigger than his questions.…
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Returning Home Through the Music of the Spheres: PARADISO, Canto I, Lines 61 - 93
Our pilgrim finds everything doubled in brightness . . . because he's begun to fly up to the heavens, although he doesn't know it at first. He's too busy figuring out all that light . . . and listening to the music of the spheres. But Beatrice is there to set him straight and tell him that his...
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Staring at the Sun: PARADISO, Canto I, Lines 37 - 60
The plot gets underway in PARADISO. Our pilgrim Dante turns to Beatrice . . . who is paying him no attention. She's staring at the sun. So he does the same! He hasn't even left earth, yet the miraculous nature of his story is already in high gear. As is his understanding of the universe ahead of...
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A Polyvocal Passage With All Its Dissonances: PARADISO, Canto I, Lines 13 - 36
Our poet moves from his scholastic and even (medieval) scientific opening of PARADISO into his invocation . . . to Apollo? This passage has often embarrassed Dante scholars who feel the need to excuse various pieces of it. But we can let those pieces stand as part of the polyvocality of the text....
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Welcome to a Renegotiated Poem: PARADISO, Canto I, Lines 1 - 12
From its opening lines, it's clear that PARADISO is not like what has come before in COMEDY. Dante seems to be renegotiating the terms of his poem, establishing a new voice, a new model, and a new methodology for who he will proceed. These opening lines are already packed with the sort of...
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WALKING WITH DANTE is coming back to start PARADISO on 26 July!
We're about to start our flight among (and even through!) the stars on WALKING WITH DANTE. We've been on hiatus for several weeks, but we'll be back with Dante and stepping off into the insurmountable wilds of PARADISO on 26 July 2026. I hope you're ready for the most mind-blowing part of the...
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An Update About Starting PARADISO soon
Here's just a brief episode about where I am and how the podcast will start again in about six weeks. Hang tight and we'll be walking . . . no, actually flying through the spheres of PARADISO in a few weeks. Until then, gird up your loins. PARADISO is not for those weak in spirit . . . or leggings.
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Walking With Dante is going on a short hiatus
Hey there. We're going to pause our slow-walk for a couple of months as I get out from under chemotherapy. We've come to the end of PURGATORIO and it also seems natural that we rest a little before the big ascent ahead in PARADISO. Look for more announcements here, but let's plan on being back on...
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Final Thoughts On PURGATORIO
We've reached the end of our time on the great mountain of Purgatory . . . and in the great second canticle of COMEDY. Here are some final thoughts, an attempt to bring our time with this part of the poem to a close. Dante has worked hard to make PURGATORIO the hinge of his entire poem. Let's...
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The Seven Addresses To The Reader In PURGATORIO
Dante, the poet, steps out of the story seven times in PURGATORIO to address his reader directly--sometimes to spur the reader on to action, sometimes to put a bridle on the reader's intentions or thoughts. If we trace these seven addresses, can we find a developmental pattern? Or uncover Dante's...
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Dante's Theories Of Writing Across INFERNO and PURGATORIO
As one of three sum-up episode to conclude our time on Mount Purgatory, this one’s about Dante’s conception of what he’s doing when he’s writing, outlined in nine selected passages from INFERNO and PURGATORIO. We’ve moved far enough into the poem that we can see the ways the poet has changed,...
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All The Hopeful Ambiguity Of The Second Canticle: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXIII, Lines 124 - 145
We come to the end of the second canticle, of PURGATORIO . . . and it includes all the ambiguity and humanness we've come to expect, plus hopeful notes for the journey ahead into Paradise. Dante complicates his ending of PURGATORIO with notes about his own dark mind and the incomplete work of…
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At Long Last, Matelda: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXIII, Lines 103 - 123
The procession continues away from Lethe and farther into the Garden of Eden until they come to a dark, frigid spot that stops them . . . a curious moment in this innocent landscape. And it gets more curious as we discover rivers named and then renamed before we come to the most difficult naming…
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Images, Schools, Obscurities, And The Promise Of Clarity: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXIII, Lines 79 - 102
After her final discourse in PURGATORIO, Beatrice and Dante enter into a brief conversation in which he admits he already has images stamped into his brain but he doesn't know what many of them mean, particularly those from her. She, on the other hand, launches into her final condemnation: the...
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In Which Pilgrimage Becomes Crusade: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXIII, Lines 61 - 78
Beatrice concludes her monologue at the end of PURGATORIO with some dazzling metaphoric pyrotechnics, a slam on Dante's intellect, and a redefinition of this journey across the known universe. It's not just any old pilgrimage. It's a crusade. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at the final…
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Take Notes, Dante: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXIII, Lines 46 - 60
Beatrice continues her discourse at the end of PURGATORIO by offering Dante classical examples of her own obscurity, Christian resonances for the very hope of writing, and a challenge for him to become her scribe, to take notes on her lectures. This passage falls in the middle of her long…
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Beatrice And Her Cryptic "Five Hundred Ten And Five": PURGATORIO, Canto XXXIII, Lines 25 - 45
As Beatrice and Dante continue to walk through Eden, she begins the final discourse that will end PURGATORIO: a cryptic, apocalyptic vision of the world (or maybe just the church?) set right. But by whom? Or when? And is the church destroyed? Or is it going to be rehabilitated? Beatrice's vision…
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Walking With Beatrice In Eden: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXIII, Lines 1 - 24
From tragedy to comedy, the apocalyptic vision in Canto XXXII has come to an end and Beatrice accepts Dante as her walking companion in Eden. A relatively easy passage begins the final canto of PURGATORIO, perhaps a breather before the much more difficult material that will make up the bulk of…
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Apocalypse Even In Eden, Part Two: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, Lines 109 - 160
In the last episode, we talked through some of the "superficial" factors in the grand apocalyptic vision in Eden: its structure, some diction cues, even a few rifts or cracks in its flow. In this episode, let's turn to the much thornier issue of what it all means. A consensus has developed over…
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Apocalypse Even In Eden, Part One: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, Lines 109 - 160
Dante is now ready for the final apocalyptic vision of PURGATORIO . . . and in the last place we might expect it: in that bastion of innocence and purity, the Garden of Eden. In seven vignettes, Dante witnesses some chaotic and catastrophic collapse of the chariot and even one of the original…
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A Brief Introduction To Women In The High Middle Ages
Before we continue with Beatrice (and even the young woman who tends the Garden of Eden), let's stop and talk all too briefly about the roles and available places for women in Dante's day, the high middle ages. Although we can't hope to cover this subject in depth, we might be able to see some of...
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Beatrice, Changed; Dante, Panicked; And The Reader, De-centered: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, Lines 70 - 108
Dante wakes back up from his unexpected sleep to find that the grand parade is heading off into the forest (or maybe the skies). He's in a panic that Beatrice has left, too, although the young woman of Eden comforts him and shows her now humble place under the renewed tree. Meanwhile, we readers...
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Asleep In Eden: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, Lines 49 - 69
The griffin pulls the chariot or cart up to the denuded tree--the "widowed" tree--and the tree regenerates into a color reminiscent of other moments in PURGATORIO. But which one exactly? We're descending into the murk of mystery with new songs that can't be defined, with allegories that are...
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Games Of Interpretation In Eden: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, Lines 28 - 48
The griffin rolls his chariot up to the foot of a denuded tree as Beatrice descends out of her ride. The symbolism (the allegories, in fact) become increasingly murky, difficult to parse, especially when the griffin says his one and only line in COMEDY. Dante's Garden of Eden is a place where the...
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Sound The Retreat In Eden: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, Lines 1 - 27
Face to face with Beatrice, the pilgrim Dante is ready for more revelation. Problem is, even after Lethe he's still doing things wrong and must be corrected by the women around the griffin's chariot. But what is he doing wrong? And why does the entire parade of revelation go into retreat? What...
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A Read-Through Of PURGATORIO, Cantos XXXII - XXXIII
As we've done across the second canticle of Dante's masterpiece, COMEDY, we're taking some time to read through the final two cantos of PURGATORIO, XXXII and XXXIII. I'll read my rough English translation of the cantos. I'll finesse these more when we take the cantos apart passage by passage. For...
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The Revelation Of Beatrice's Hidden, Second Beauty: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, Lines 127 - 145
We finally come to the face-to-face meeting of Beatrice and Dante. We've waited for this moment since INFERNO, Canto II, when Beatrice first stepped into COMEDY. Neither Dante nor Beatrice speak at their close meeting. Instead, the women around the chariot beg Beatrice to reveal her second…
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Beatrice And The Griffin: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, Lines 112 - 126
Dante has now crossed Lethe and is ready to face Beatrice head on. She has moved to get ready for this eye-to-eye conversation. She's positioned nearer the griffin, a complicated symbol that may have more than one interpretation. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore both Beatrice (particularly...
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Washed Clean In Lethe: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, Lines 91 - 111
Dante wakes up in the arms of the young woman who first welcomed him to the Garden of Eden. She's dragging him through Lethe before she forcefully pushes him underwater. This scene is deeply symbolic and allegorical . . . although it raises many more questions than it answers. In fact, it seems…
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Dante Faints For The Third Time In COMEDY: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, Lines 64 - 90
Beatrice has finished her case against the pilgim Dante. All that's left is for him to find his way beyond confession and into confession . . . which he does with a major crack-up that leads him to faint for the third time in COMEDY. Before he collapses, the poem begins a series of inversions or...
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Absence Becomes Elevated, High-Style Presence: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, Lines 49 - 63
Beatrice continues to lead Dante toward contrition, pointing out both the purposes of her body (or corpse) and the ways he has failed to followed her lofty beauty. She finishes her second salvo at the pilgrim with a rhetorical flourish, showing the reader (and Dante) that she is a master of...
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At Long Last, Dante's Confession: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, Lines 22 - 48
Ever since INFERNO, Canto I, we've never fully understood why Dante woke up lost in that dark wood. Now, in the Garden of Eden, Beatrice brings him to the point where he can voice what he did wrong. He can finally offer his confession. It was all about her all along. And maybe about what he…
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The Poet Loses His Words: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, Lines 1 - 21
Wailing, Dante comes in for Beatrice's impatience. He hasn't responded yet to her charges, so she turns the spear point of her words on him. He cracks . . . and in doing so, loses language, words, the very things that are the heart of his craft. Canto XXXI opens with an intensely emotional scene,...
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Finding The Fit For Your Talent: PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, Lines 127 - 145
Beatrice finishes her first indictment of Dante by showing him the fit subject matter for his abundant talent: her and the damned. She accuses him of chasing after false images, then of discounting her own inspiration in dreams. She ends with her final hope: to descend to the doorway of the dead...
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When You Don't Get The Redemption You Want: PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, Lines 100 - 126
Beatrice is now fully in charge . . . so much so that she can even tell the angels in the chariot with her what they can't understand. She launches into her first indictment of the pilgrim, Dante. Here, she claims that he hasn't fulfilled his talent. He hasn't? With so much of COMEDY behind us?…
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The Ice Finally Melts: PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, Lines 79 - 99
Beatrice has offered her first condemnation of Dante, just as his salve and mentor, Virgil, has left the scene. He's stuck across Lethe with the ice sheet encasing his heart. Even the angels surrounding Beatrice in the chariot seem dumbfounded by her vitriol and offer the pilgrim a psalm of...
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The Admiral Comes Into Her Ship: PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, Lines 55 - 78
We finally hear the first words from Beatrice's mouth. (We've heard her before but as told by Virgil in INFERNO, Canto II.) She is certainly not person we expected. She's the admiral controlling her ship. She names the pilgrim, names herself, and gets very close to blasphemy in a passage that...
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Farewell, Virgil: PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, Lines 22 - 54
The parade of revelation has stopped and everything holds its breath for what comes next. She's veiled, behind scattered flowers. But Beatrice arrives, in the place of Jesus Christ, her second coming, her advent in the victory chariot. And as she arrives, Virgil disappears from COMEDY. (Statius,...
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Brides, Grooms, And Virgil: PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, Lines 1 - 21
The grand parade of revelation has come to a stop across Lethe from our pilgrim, Virgil, and Statius. Everything seems to hold its breath: the constellations stop moving, the crowd goes quiet, one voice calls out for the bride, then a hundred angels appear, calling out for the groom . . . which…
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The Second Coming Of Beatrice: A Read-Through Of PURGATORIO, Cantos XXX - XXXI
As we have done throughout PURGATORIO, let's read through a chunk of the canticle to get the plot down so that we can then focus on the many moving parts that comprise it. Here are cantos XXX and XXXI, in many ways the climax of the first part of COMEDY: the arrival of Beatrice, long awaited…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Ever wanted to read Dante's Divine Comedy? Come along with us! We're not lost in the scholarly weeds. (Mostly.) We're strolling through the greatest work (to date) of Western literature. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I take on this masterpiece passage by passage. I'll give you my rough English translation, show you some of the interpretive knots in the lines, let you in on the 700 years of commentary, and connect Dante's work to our modern world. The pilgrim comes awake in a dark wood, then walks across the known universe. New episodes every Sunday and Wednesday.
HOSTED BY
Mark Scarbrough
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How many episodes does Walking With Dante have?
Walking With Dante currently has 510 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Walking With Dante about?
Ever wanted to read Dante's Divine Comedy? Come along with us! We're not lost in the scholarly weeds. (Mostly.) We're strolling through the greatest work (to date) of Western literature. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I take on this masterpiece passage by passage. I'll give you my rough English...
How often does Walking With Dante release new episodes?
Walking With Dante releases new episodes frequently with a large back catalog of 510 episodes. Check the episode list for recent publication dates.
Where can I listen to Walking With Dante?
You can listen to Walking With Dante on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Walking With Dante?
Walking With Dante is created and hosted by Mark Scarbrough.
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