A Dream Of Classical Sex And Sorrows: PURGATORIO, Canto IX, Lines 13 - 42

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Dante dreams his way to the gate of Purgatory using three classical images that explain his sexual rapture in the presence of divine love but also give his journey a texture of sadness.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for the first dream of PURGATORIO. Let's explore the imagery from Ovid, Virgil, and Statius, as well as Dante's rather unusual medieval attitude toward homosexuality.

Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:

[03:16] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto IX, lines 13 - 42. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation, please go to the Dante pages on my website: markscarbrough.com.

[05:24] Dante's morning dream is truthful AND puts to rest the notion that COMEDY itself is somehow a dream.

[07:55] The first classical image: Tereus, Procne, and Philomel.

[11:36] The second classical image: Ganymede, Zeus, and the eagle.

[14:22] The third classical image: Achilles on Skyros.

[17:22] Love, fire, and the divine mission of COMEDY.

[19:11] The classical imagery adds a sorrowful texture to the passage because real conversion always involves loss.

[22:31] The opening of PURGATORIO, Canto IX, is about unrefined, unpurged, or "unnatural" love.

[25:14] Dante sees homosexuality as nonetheless a form of love, a dramatic step for a medieval thinker.

[28:44] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto IX, lines 13 - 42.