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 and get the pilgrim started across the known universe.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the final lines of PURGATORIO, Canto XXX: Beatrice's first indictment of Dante.

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

[01:25] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, Lines 127 - 145. If you'd like to read along or continue the discussion with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[03:16] In praise of Beatrice's elevated rhetoric.

[05:20] The erotic tension between Beatrice and Dante.

[07:59] First callback in the passage: to either the Siren in PURGATORIO XIX or to the second woman in the VITA NUOVA.

[10:22] Second callback: to either Beatrice's eyes or her appearance in a dream toward the end of the VITA NUOVA.

[13:43] Third callback: to Limbo (and Virgil).

[15:37] Dante's search for the subject matter that will fit his talent.

[16:47] Four levels of interpretation for Beatrice's first indictment: literal, moral, allegorical, and anagogical.

[21:31] When was Dante supposed to purse these failings on the mountain?

[23:27] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, lines 127 - 145.