The Ice Finally Melts: PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, Lines 79 - 99

Beatrice has offered her first condemnation of Dante, just as his salve and mentor, Virgil, has left the scene. He's stuck across Lethe with the ice sheet encasing his heart. Even the angels surrounding Beatrice in the chariot seem dumbfounded by her vitriol and offer the pilgrim a psalm of consolation . . . which finally makes the ice that has surrounded his heart melt. He ends up wailing.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore this brilliant passage about interiority from the very top of Mount Purgatorio in the Garden of Eden.

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

[01:34] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, Lines 79 - 99. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment on this episode, please find its entry on my website: markscarbrough.com.

[03:53] One textual reference in the passage: Psalm 30/31: 1 - 8.

[07:46] A second textual reference in the passage: Augustine's CONFESSIONS, Book VIII.

[09:07] One metaphoric rearrangement in the passage: Beatrice as mother and Dante as son.

[11:55] A second metaphoric rearrangement: the melting ice inside of Dante.

[19:28] Allegory as art.

[22:30] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, lines 79 - 99.