The Siren, The Lady, And Virgil: PURGATORIO, Canto XIX, Lines 16 - 33

Here's the second episode on the pilgrim's second dream in PURGATORIO. Things get wilder after the ugly lady becomes beautiful under the pilgrim Dante's gaze.

She begins to sing. She identifies herself as a siren. She mentions Ulysses (incorrectly?). Another lady appears and begs Virgil for help. And Virgil saves Dante (yet again).

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we parse this passage about the workings of poetry and perhaps COMEDY as a whole.

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

[01:23] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIX, lines 16 - 33. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation, please find the entry for this episode on my website: markscarbrough.com.

[03:18] Questions about free will in the dream state.

[05:27] Questions about singing (and therefore, about poetry).

[07:03] Ulysses back in Purgatorio again!

[10:30] The siren's song and possible identification.

[14:05] The holy, speedy lady.

[15:15] Her possible identifications: Beatrice, Saint Lucy, the second lady in Dante's VITA NUOVA, a whore/virgin cliché, or the holy lady of Philosophy from Boethius's CONSOLATION OF PHILOSOPHY.

[22:37] Virgil in and out of Dante's dream.

[23:51] Medieval medical remedies for lust.

[25:10] A grammatical problem in the passage.

[28:39] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XIX, lines 16 - 33.