Realism And Its Discontents: PURGATORIO, Canto X, Lines 46 - 69

After the intaglio about the annunciation, Dante moves beyond Virgil (or is prodded to move beyond his guide) to discover a second sequence, this time from the story of King David and his journey with the ark of the covenant into Jerusalem.

The scene is so realistic that it causes a sensory confusion in our pilgrim. Problem is, his amazement at the realism in the art is based on the poet's fabrication of details in the scene. The imagined enhances the real? A complex game indeed!

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look with the pilgrim at the second carving on the terrace of the prideful in PURGATORIO.

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

[01:13] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto X, lines 46 - 69. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment to continue the conversation, please go to my website, markscarbrough.com.

[04:00] Comparing the first image in the marble with this second one: spare vs. elaborate.

[04:54] Dante, on the side of Virgil's heart, eventually passes his guide. Is this symbolic? Allegorical? Or ironic?

[09:51] The relief in the marble is a story lifted from II Samuel 6: 1 - 23.

[12:19] The last six lines of the passage seem to show a dichotomy between low comedy and high tragedy.

[14:26] Complex ironies in the passage: Dante makes up details that are the basis of its hyper-realism.

[17:23] More complex ironies in the passage: Dante the poet may appear in disguise twice in the pilgrim's story.

[21:01] The call for greater realism leads to, yes, Renaissance art but also to modern abstraction.

[23:48] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto X, lines 46 - 69.