PURGATORIO CANTO 15 Analysis
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.พ. 2025
- Analysis of Canto XV of Dante’s Purgatorio. The terrace of Wrath begins.
English translation used for this video:
Allen Mandelbaum, Purgatorio, Second Book of the Divine Comedy (California Dante) www.amazon.com...
Thanks for your comments and questions. I will keep trying to upload at least one video every week.
Been loving your videos! Thanks so much for all the hard work you put into each one. Your puppies are adorable ☺️
Thank you so much! It’s a real pleasure for me.
This canto is so rich, it’s taken me a few days to get through it. There is so much light and beauty to be gleaned from it. Keeping it short, what I wanted to comment on, though, was the tercet where Virgil tells Dante, that if his words have “not appeased his hunger,” than he will see them and all other longings fulfilled in Beatrice. This fills my imagination with thoughts of how genuinely beautiful she must be. The tercet also teaches me that in moments when words fall short, there is also a sense of knowing. I think of CS Lewis’s beautiful quote here, “How little people know that think that holiness is dull. When one meets the real thing, it is irresistible.”
I am also reading “Les Miserables,” and I think of the example of Bishop Bienvenu and the power that he had, through his loving heart and actions to transform others, including us as the reader. Bishop St Francis of Assisi’s words also come to mind here, “Preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary use words.”
Wow, thank you for this beautiful comment! That CS Lewis quote is gorgeous. And you point at THE most important gear in the entire mechanism of Les Miserable: the transformative actions of Bishop Bienvenu. It’s such a profound truth. I believe that everything we do (and even everything we say, write online or think) has an impact on our world. Knowing that should be enough to direct our behavior. 🙏🏻
@@tomlabooks3263 yes, and thank you for YOUR teachings and influence. 🙏
Your comparison of the pacing of the cantos to musical movement seems exactly right. This was a softer, smoother ride, even though we're entering the territory of wrath. I thought I was well versed in my knowledge of saints, especially virgins and martyrs, but this is my first time hearing about St. Stephen! Wonderful.
I liked the theme of this Canto , that love creates more love. I've been reading some neurophysiology and it sounds just like the networks in the brain have been found to create and reinforce emotional responses . I think Dante would like the science !
Hester that is gorgeous.
@@scallydandlingaboutthebooks Lisa Feldman Barrett ..emotions aren't inate but are created by our brain's guesswork, using past sensory information ... fascinating. On another point most advertising creates envy so are we all stuck at Level 2 ?!?
@@hesterdunlop7948 That sounds like an intriguing book! I see on my goodreads tbr “How emotions are made”. Is that the title?
@@tomlabooks3263 the very one ..I listened to an extended interview with her yesterday on a podcast and she also has a very good Ted talk
@@hesterdunlop7948 Great! I’ll move it up in my tbr list, thank you.
I really enjoyed this Canto. Thank you for your help with it. I am finding Purgatorio much more difficult than Inferno, not in a bad way, just that there is a lot more to understand and study. My reading pace is much slower but I am enjoying it even more.
That’s how it should be read, my friend! I also find Purgatorio more spiritually engaging than Inferno. Paradiso is literally and metaphorically “at yet another level”. Thank you for your message.
Grazie, Tom!
Il piacere è tutto mio! Grazie Maria 🙏🏻
@@tomlabooks3263 Before I use Google Translate, am I right that you are saying, "It's my great pleasure! Thanks Maria 🙏"?
@@tomaria100 That’s correct 😄
@@tomlabooks3263 😀 I grew up in an Italian family. My Grandfather and Grandmother were from the region near Salerno. Again, I appreciate your treatment of Dante!
I really like the added detail about Mary speaking tenderly to Jesus like a mother. Every time Dante invokes the imagery of a mother (usually comparing Virgil to one), I think about how he lost his mother when he was about five or six. Even if he never explicitly says so, I imagine he must've felt that loss powerfully and longed for surrogate maternal love. It's even more beautiful and touching for me when Dante uses the word mamma instead of madre.
Yes! And let’s remember that he was from the country of the biggest mama-boys in the world! 😄
Sometime ago I heard that Dante's intense and pure love for Beatrice comes also from his mother's death. He found that maternal love in her.
The ultimate Tom thumbnail!
😂 I was showing the size of Dante’s brain!
Delighted to see this up even though I may not get to it properly until the weekend.
I'm a bit behind. It's been a busy week and I've got another one coming up. I really enjoyed the line where Virgil accuses Dante of having his mind on earthly matters and harvesting darkness from light.
You quote Augustine's "City of God" here, have you had the opportunity of reading that? I have wanted to for awhile now, but have yet to make the time. I was thinking on rereading "Confession," but maybe I will have to just make the time for "City of God."
I had jumped into it right after my first read of the “Confessions”, but didn’t have enough steam back then, so it’s still on my TBR. But I know I will love it, so I really want to read it. Probably next year.
@@tomlabooks3263 Hahaha, I did the same thing after "Confessions" and the same thing happened. 😂 Confessions is brilliant through and through.