"That spark" (from Canto 23) which is poetry, the natural expression of the soul’s voice and "the sweet new style," a divinely inspired language of virtue that is linked to the goodness of Creation itself as a reflection of God's love in which all love has its root. It is the love that turns sympathy into empathy, empathy into compassion, and passion into action like the passion of Christ Crucified in which "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13) Through His life, His death, and His Resurrection is the path to life eternal. He is "the way and the truth and the life" (John 14:6).
Thank you, once again, Dr. Houston! Every Canto is bursting with a richness that always catches me unawares. I waded into this Canto not knowing what to expect, and I was struck by the depth of meaning about Poetry itself and the relation of vices to it. Most sin is a grand distraction from the Good, True, and Beautiful, so the contrast and conflict between gluttony and poetry was quite profound. "Blessed are they whom grace grants so much light, that in their hearts the overhot desires send up no smoke for taste's delight--- whose thirst is always what the just requires." Hopefully, I can come to understand the meaning of the Tree more fully. Again, I expect answers to be forthcoming in the Earthly Paradise soon ahead. RIP Florentine politics... Thank you!
Canto 24: The four poets (Dante, Virgil, Statius and Forese) continue their walking discussion focused on poetry, especially love-poetry and Dante’s “new style.” Statius and Forese have slowed their own paces, the first in order to accompany his hero, Virgil, as co-guide for Dante. Forese, however, has slowed his pace temporarily and now returns to join his racing fellow-gluttons in their purgation. The three poets come upon a second tree, one which has grown from the roots of the Tree of the Garden of Eden, located on a terrace yet to be encountered. The penitents, although desiring to eat of its fruit, are cautioned that to do so will increase their time in Purgatory. Those around the Tree hear exhortations on the merits of abstinence. Nearby, Dante encounters the fiery Angel of Abstinence who, removing Dante’s penultimate mark from his forehead, guides them towards the next staircase. The choir of penitents break forth with words relating to the beatitude concerned with hunger and righteousness. Dante is directed away from “gusto” (taste) towards “giusto” (justice.)
LECTURE TRANSCRIPT 24--100 Days Transcript In canto 24 of Purgatorio Dante continues his long passage through the sixth terrace where the penitents atone for the sin of gluttony. Dante notes that the gluttonous seem to be dead twice over, rimorte as the pilgrim confronts their shades supernaturally emaciated by and incorporeal famine. They circle their level of Mount Purgatory taking solace from the pain they feel when they are repeatedly denied the fruit and the cascading water of two trees as they pass in the revolutions. Both of these trees are offshoots of the Tree of Life from the Garden of Eden as described in the book of Genesis. From each tree emanates a voice that in the first instance provides examples of temperance. From the second tree which the pilgrim encounters near the end of this canto, they hear examples of gluttony. As always, Dante chooses exempla from both Christian and the classical world to accentuate the universality of sin and virtue. After Dante receives both lessons and transits this ledge of the mountain at the end of this canto the angel of temperance erases the penultimate P from his brow. He is now ready to ascend to the final level of the terrace where lust is purged. What stands out to me in this entire episode of the gluttonous and in particular in canto 24 is the ever increasing parade of poets that accumulate to the pilgrim. Dante and Virgil have already been joined by the Roman poet Statius and Dante’s contemporary the poet Forese adds himself to their group in Canto 23 and is still with them here. In canto 24 we encounter the poet Bonagiunta da Lucca, another of Dante’s contemporaries whom Dante engages in a detailed conversation about the poetry and poets of their day. I would like to look at this conversation and understand what is at stake and why it is important for Dante’s ascent through Purgatorio. The conversation between Dante and Bonagiunta is one of the most important biographical episodes in the entire poem, in which Dante tells us about himself and about his poetry. First, Bonagiunta recognizes Dante as one who will visit Luca. Remember souls in the afterlife can see the future and be welcomed warmly by a woman named Gentucca. Dante is likely telling us that in exile he had likely visited Luca and met a woman who he calls Gentucca, perhaps having even given her that name in a poem he composed for her. After this moment of biography, masters prophecy, Bonagiunta then continues the conversation but moves the subject to the subject of Dante’s poetry, asking if he is the one who authored the verses, Donne ch’avete or ladies that have the intelligence of love. This is the second occasion in purgatory where Dante has cited his own poetry in the mouth of a contemporary. Remember Casella sang one of Dante’s own poems to him and Virgil in canto 2. And in this occasion Bonagiunta recites the central poem of the La Vita Nuova, the collection of poetry a youthful Dante composed to celebrate his love for Beatrice. It is in this poem that Dante first claims that Beatrice, through her earthly goodness and beauty, can lead him to salvation. This revelation has expanded in the Divine Comedy where now Dante’s poetry about Beatrice can lead others, his readers, us, to our own salvation. In response to Bonagiunta’s question, Dante responds with one of the most famous and discussed terzina in the entire poem. He claims authorship by saying, I am the one who when love inspires me take not and as he dictates deep within me so I set it forth. These three verses have come to be read as Dante’s declaration of his theory of poetry-according to which poetry is inspired by love and the poet is simply a conduit of this divinely inspired language into the world. What is this love that inspires the poet? Certainly this is the same love that inspires the first mover, God, to create the soul, as described with this exact language earlier by Dante in Purgatorio 17 and also in the next canto of Purgatorio. In short, Dante here is claiming that this poetic inspiration is analogous to the act of creation of the soul performed with joy by God. Bonagiunta responds to this claim by exclaiming that he now understands why Dante’s poetry is different and better than his own and those of many other poets whom he then goes on to name in the same canto. He defines Dante’s inspired poetry as the dolce stil novo or the sweet new style which in fact has become a historical term to identify the school of poetry that proceeds and continues after Dante. Through his encounter, with his exchange with Bonagiunta, Dante is drawing a line between his own love poetry, which he claims is divinely inspired utterance, and other love poetry which, we are left to infer, is not. Why does Dante choose to elaborate his poetic vocation in the level of gluttony? The first answer, I believe, is that Dante is preparing us for what is just up the road, the sin of lust. Love poetry, as we saw with Francesca in canto 5 of Inferno, risks tempting the reader to the sin of lust. So here Dante can distinguish his love poetry from baser motives by showing that it has a salvific purpose. Another possible answer comes from the odd turn of phrase Dante uses to describe Bonagiunta’s muttering the name Gentucca, which sound came from his mouth where he felt most the justice what so wastes him. Dante here highlights the sin of gluttony as a sin of the mouth and a sin of ingestion. Bonagiunta suffers because as a poet he used his mouth to sin by wanton consumption when it should have been an instrument to pour forth inspired poetry leading others toward true love. Gluttony replaces the primal good with desire for a secondary good, food and drink. For Dante, poetry illuminates the highest good by expressing it in the form of the word made evident in the world.
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Canto 24 neatly wrapped and tied up with a splendid bow!!
I appreciate the clear explanation in this video, makes me appreciate Dante more and re-read the Canto. Thank you!
"That spark" (from Canto 23) which is poetry, the natural expression of the soul’s voice and "the sweet new style," a divinely inspired language of virtue that is linked to the goodness of Creation itself as a reflection of God's love in which all love has its root. It is the love that turns sympathy into empathy, empathy into compassion, and passion into action like the passion of Christ Crucified in which "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13) Through His life, His death, and His Resurrection is the path to life eternal. He is "the way and the truth and the life" (John 14:6).
Thank you, once again, Dr. Houston! Every Canto is bursting with a richness that always catches me unawares. I waded into this Canto not knowing what to expect, and I was struck by the depth of meaning about Poetry itself and the relation of vices to it. Most sin is a grand distraction from the Good, True, and Beautiful, so the contrast and conflict between gluttony and poetry was quite profound.
"Blessed are they whom grace grants so much light,
that in their hearts the overhot desires
send up no smoke for taste's delight---
whose thirst is always what the just requires."
Hopefully, I can come to understand the meaning of the Tree more fully. Again, I expect answers to be forthcoming in the Earthly Paradise soon ahead. RIP Florentine politics...
Thank you!
I found this Cando particularly beautiful. Thank you for your commentary.
Canto 24: The four poets (Dante, Virgil, Statius and Forese) continue their walking discussion focused on poetry, especially love-poetry and Dante’s “new style.” Statius and Forese have slowed their own paces, the first in order to accompany his hero, Virgil, as co-guide for Dante. Forese, however, has slowed his pace temporarily and now returns to join his racing fellow-gluttons in their purgation. The three poets come upon a second tree, one which has grown from the roots of the Tree of the Garden of Eden, located on a terrace yet to be encountered. The penitents, although desiring to eat of its fruit, are cautioned that to do so will increase their time in Purgatory. Those around the Tree hear exhortations on the merits of abstinence. Nearby, Dante encounters the fiery Angel of Abstinence who, removing Dante’s penultimate mark from his forehead, guides them towards the next staircase. The choir of penitents break forth with words relating to the beatitude concerned with hunger and righteousness. Dante is directed away from “gusto” (taste) towards “giusto” (justice.)
Your last sentence summed up Dante’s entire Divine Comedy! 👏🏻
Very helpful. I came confused by this canto and you helped me understand and be ready to move on.
LECTURE TRANSCRIPT
24--100 Days Transcript
In canto 24 of Purgatorio Dante continues his long passage through the sixth terrace where the penitents atone for the sin of gluttony. Dante notes that the gluttonous seem to be dead twice over, rimorte as the pilgrim confronts their shades supernaturally emaciated by and incorporeal famine. They circle their level of Mount Purgatory taking solace from the pain they feel when they are repeatedly denied the fruit and the cascading water of two trees as they pass in the revolutions. Both of these trees are offshoots of the Tree of Life from the Garden of Eden as described in the book of Genesis. From each tree emanates a voice that in the first instance provides examples of temperance. From the second tree which the pilgrim encounters near the end of this canto, they hear examples of gluttony. As always, Dante chooses exempla from both Christian and the classical world to accentuate the universality of sin and virtue.
After Dante receives both lessons and transits this ledge of the mountain at the end of this canto the angel of temperance erases the penultimate P from his brow. He is now ready to ascend to the final level of the terrace where lust is purged.
What stands out to me in this entire episode of the gluttonous and in particular in canto 24 is the ever increasing parade of poets that accumulate to the pilgrim. Dante and Virgil have already been joined by the Roman poet Statius and Dante’s contemporary the poet Forese adds himself to their group in Canto 23 and is still with them here.
In canto 24 we encounter the poet Bonagiunta da Lucca, another of Dante’s contemporaries whom Dante engages in a detailed conversation about the poetry and poets of their day. I would like to look at this conversation and understand what is at stake and why it is important for Dante’s ascent through Purgatorio. The conversation between Dante and Bonagiunta is one of the most important biographical episodes in the entire poem, in which Dante tells us about himself and about his poetry. First, Bonagiunta recognizes Dante as one who will visit Luca. Remember souls in the afterlife can see the future and be welcomed warmly by a woman named Gentucca.
Dante is likely telling us that in exile he had likely visited Luca and met a woman who he calls Gentucca, perhaps having even given her that name in a poem he composed for her. After this moment of biography, masters prophecy, Bonagiunta then continues the conversation but moves the subject to the subject of Dante’s poetry, asking if he is the one who authored the verses, Donne ch’avete or ladies that have the intelligence of love. This is the second occasion in purgatory where Dante has cited his own poetry in the mouth of a contemporary. Remember Casella sang one of Dante’s own poems to him and Virgil in canto 2. And in this occasion Bonagiunta recites the central poem of the La Vita Nuova, the collection of poetry a youthful Dante composed to celebrate his love for Beatrice. It is in this poem that Dante first claims that Beatrice, through her earthly goodness and beauty, can lead him to salvation. This revelation has expanded in the Divine Comedy where now Dante’s poetry about Beatrice can lead others, his readers, us, to our own salvation.
In response to Bonagiunta’s question, Dante responds with one of the most famous and discussed terzina in the entire poem. He claims authorship by saying, I am the one who when love inspires me take not and as he dictates deep within me so I set it forth. These three verses have come to be read as Dante’s declaration of his theory of poetry-according to which poetry is inspired by love and the poet is simply a conduit of this divinely inspired language into the world.
What is this love that inspires the poet? Certainly this is the same love that inspires the first mover, God, to create the soul, as described with this exact language earlier by Dante in Purgatorio 17 and also in the next canto of Purgatorio. In short, Dante here is claiming that this poetic inspiration is analogous to the act of creation of the soul performed with joy by God.
Bonagiunta responds to this claim by exclaiming that he now understands why Dante’s poetry is different and better than his own and those of many other poets whom he then goes on to name in the same canto. He defines Dante’s inspired poetry as the dolce stil novo or the sweet new style which in fact has become a historical term to identify the school of poetry that proceeds and continues after Dante.
Through his encounter, with his exchange with Bonagiunta, Dante is drawing a line between his own love poetry, which he claims is divinely inspired utterance, and other love poetry which, we are left to infer, is not. Why does Dante choose to elaborate his poetic vocation in the level of gluttony? The first answer, I believe, is that Dante is preparing us for what is just up the road, the sin of lust. Love poetry, as we saw with Francesca in canto 5 of Inferno, risks tempting the reader to the sin of lust. So here Dante can distinguish his love poetry from baser motives by showing that it has a salvific purpose. Another possible answer comes from the odd turn of phrase Dante uses to describe Bonagiunta’s muttering the name Gentucca, which sound came from his mouth where he felt most the justice what so wastes him.
Dante here highlights the sin of gluttony as a sin of the mouth and a sin of ingestion. Bonagiunta suffers because as a poet he used his mouth to sin by wanton consumption when it should have been an instrument to pour forth inspired poetry leading others toward true love. Gluttony replaces the primal good with desire for a secondary good, food and drink. For Dante, poetry illuminates the highest good by expressing it in the form of the word made evident in the world.
THANK YOU FOR THE 100 DAYS PROJECT!
Cool!