Behold Satan: INFERNO, Canto XXXIV, Lines 1 - 27

We've come to the final revelation of INFERNO, to its climax: the vision of Satan himself, called "Dis" by Virgil (after his own king of the underworld in THE AENEID).

The emperor of the kingdom of woe scares the lights out of the pilgrim--and out of the poet. Our final revelation may well be that the poet has gone as far as he can with his infernal poetics. Now he must find new words to express what's ahead.

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

[01:28] My English translation of the passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXIV, lines 1 - 27. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or drop a comment, please go to my website, markscarbrough.com.

[04:31] Satan is at the center of the universe and at the farthest point from God.

[07:39] You can never say, "The devil made me do it."

[10:12] Virgil begins Canto XXXIV with an infernal twist on a Lenten Latin hymn.

[12:33] Why hasn't Virgil been speaking in Latin all along?

[13:34] What is Virgil doing with this Latin hymn? Is he praising his own king? Or is he making fun of Christ?

[14:56] There are seven Latin words or phrases in INFERNO.

[17:30] Satan is merely structure: an edifice.

[19:19] The pilgrim and poet are starting to fuse in the face of the vision of Satan.

[19:58] The damned are fully frozen in ice, a place of great silence.

[20:49] Canto XXXIV has many resonances with the neutrals in Canto III.

[22:12] The imagery of Satan is based on a Christian interpretation from a passage in the prophecies of Isaiah.

[25:13] The pilgrim is frozen--thus in tune with the landscape and maybe with the damned as well.

[26:48] What does "both dead and alive" mean? Four hypotheses.

[32:21] Rereading the passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXIV, lines 1 - 27.