Being All Red Just When You're Supposed To Be All White: PURGATORIO, Canto II, Lines 13 - 24

The pilgrim Dante and his guide, Virgil, may not know where to go next, but their answer may be arriving more quickly than they could imagine. Something incredibly white is approaching--and revealing both the poet Dante's and the pilgrim Dante's slightly disingenuous tone.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look for the arrival of the first angel in PURGATORIO.

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

[01:09] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto II, Lines 13 - 24. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or drop a comment, please go to my website: markscarbrough.com.

[02:33] Interpreting Mars in the passage: 1) as opposed to Venus in Canto I, 2) as red v. white, and 3) by a passage from Dante's unfinished work, CONVIVIO.

[10:41] "The sea's western edge": another reference to Ulysses (INFERNO XXVI: 29).

[12:08] The appearance of Dante the poet in the passage. Is there a hint of a disingenuous moment?

[13:57] Not a flight of folly but a flight of light.

[14:37] The pilgrim's humanity--once again.

[15:40] Modern notions of perspective and the quality of light.

[16:49] Trinitarian whiteness v. a disingenuous pilgrim.

[19:42] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto II, Lines 13 - 24.