hBjcDQfnMguRXVnjTNgM Mark Scarbrough's WALKING WITH DANTE: The Most Bitter Pain Of Purgatory In PURGATORIO, Canto XIX, Lines 115 - 124 - Walking With Dante

Episode 155

The Most Bitter Pain Of Purgatory: PURGATORIO, Canto XIX, Lines 115 - 124

Published on: 12th March, 2025

Pope Adrian V, bound hands and feet to the ground, sets out to answer the pilgrim Dante's second question: What's going on here?

In doing so, the pope unwittingly gives one of the most misunderstood lines in PURGATORIO.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore more of this conversation with the first (and only) pope we meet on Mount Purgatory.

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

[01:52] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIX, lines 115 - 124. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[03:43] Punishment v. purification . . . and their contrapasso.

[06:33] The bitterness of the pain.

[09:42] Bitterness and falconry.

[12:53] The transformation of the soul . . . momentarily stopped.

[14:06] The avaricious v. the envious.

[16:17] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIX, lines 115 - 126.

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About the Podcast

Walking With Dante
A passage-by-passage stroll through Dante’s DIVINE COMEDY with Mark Scarbrough
Ever wanted to read Dante's Divine Comedy? Come along with us! We're not lost in the scholarly weeds. (Mostly.) We're strolling through the greatest work (to date) of Western literature. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I take on this masterpiece passage by passage. I'll give you my rough English translation, show you some of the interpretive knots in the lines, let you in on the 700 years of commentary, and connect Dante's work to our modern world. The pilgrim comes awake in a dark wood, then walks across the known universe. New episodes every Sunday and Wednesday.
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Mark Scarbrough

Former lit professor, current cookbook writer, creator of two podcasts, writer of thirty-five (and counting) cookbooks, author of one memoir (coming soon!), married to a chef (my cookbook co-writer, Bruce Weinstein), and with him, the owner of two collies, all in a very rural spot in New England. My life's full and I'm up for more challenges!