Expecting Those Ladies Of Consolation: PURGATORIO, Canto XIX, Lines 34 - 51

Awakened from his dream by a foul odor, Dante the pilgrim finds himself fully out of tune with his surroundings: a bright new day on the mountain of Purgatory, beautiful sunshine at his back, and an angel whose feathers fan him on to the next terrace.

He's even promised the curious "ladies of consolation" as a salve for his mourning.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at a difficult passage in PURGATORIO, the journey from the fourth terrace of sloth to the fifth terrace up the mountain ahead of us.

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

[01:45] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIX, lines 34 - 51. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation, please find this particular episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[02:59] The Bodleian manuscript's illustration of Dante's second dream in PURGATORIO.

[04:23] Dante's disorientation and his possible guilt.

[07:14] Virgil and Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane.

[09:29] Disorientation in the passage: hope and despair.

[11:28] More disorientation: an angel and the poet Dante in the tercet.

[13:06] A return to the familiarity of the plot.

[14:14] Four answers to the question of "who mourns?"

[21:42] Those curious ladies of consolation.

[26:12] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIX, lines 34 - 51.