Purgatorio, Canto 21 with Dr. Ger Wegemer
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ม.ค. 2022
- Dr. Ger Wegemer of the University of Dallas reflects on Canto 21.
100 Days of Dante is brought to you by Baylor University in collaboration with the Torrey Honors College at Biola University, University of Dallas, Templeton Honors College at Eastern University, the Gonzaga-in-Florence Program and Gonzaga University, and Whitworth University, with support from the M.J. Murdock Trust. To learn more about our project, and read with us, visit 100daysofdante.com
Dr. Wegemer, thank you for your positive and amusing presentation. It made me smile when you reminded us that the pilgrim Dante had been chosen to go where no living being had gone before. Certainly that could be true as far as imagination is concerned. It made me think of the opening lines of Star Trek. The shout reminded me of the old hymn written by Eliza Hewitt in 1898: "When we all get to Heaven, What a day of rejoicing that will be! When we all see Jesus, We'll sing and shout the victory...
Fantastic presentation, Dr. Wegemer! This Canto was full of important wisdom and great fun and wit. The additional detail on the structure and nature of Mt. Purgatory illustrates more intently the purpose of the mountain and helps us see through the poetic representation to the actual state that is described by the Church's dogma. Purgation and free will are the center. Earthquakes no longer are terrifying; they are a rejoicing in the ascent of another soul made whole moving on to Paradise. Sin is being stripped away, and the human will is being freed from its deficiency.
What a happy place! The "charming and humorous" scene with Statius made my day better. The Pilgrim could not keep a twinkle from his eye, and it was warming to see the love burning in this freed soul. Questions about Virgil and his place in the whole journey are very important and rather troubling so far. The hint at a the Pilgrim's reordered view of classical literature is one to keep in mind going forward.
Thank you!
Thank you Dr Wegemer! That "desire to know" brings me to back to inferno 26, but it allows here, so much of love and the sadness happened at the same time...
Crystal clear
Beautiful presentation. Thank you, Dr. Wegemer.
Is T.S. Eliot, in this passage from the Wasteland, referring to The Road to Emmaus, Shackleton's party's experience AND this moment in the Purgatorio?
Who is the third who walks always beside you?
When I count, there are only you and I together
But when I look ahead up the white road
There is always another one walking beside you
Gliding wrapt in a brown mantle, hooded
I do not know whether a man or a woman
-But who is that on the other side of you? (WL 360-66)
Thank you for an excellent discussion and explanation.
Thank you for your clear and insightful commentary. One of my favorite so far.
LECTURE TRANSCRIPT
21-100 Days Transcript
Welcome to canto 21 of Purgatorio. We are still in the fifth ledge that cures greed and its opposite prodigality or reckless extravagance. Dante and Virgil have been making their way through the many souls who are strewn face down on the path. At the end of canto 20 they had been shocked by the entire mountain shaking as though it might collapse, by a loud shout from the whole mountain. These have terrified Dante. As canto 21 opens he is greatly disturbed and wonders what has happened and what this shaking and shouting might mean.
Here at the opening lines where Dante the narrator describes the flood of conflicting emotions he was experiencing. These emotions we have seen in Dante many times, especially his keen desire to know, his pity for these suffering souls “the natural thirst that can never be quenched except with that water the woman of Samaria begged to be given as a special grace tormented me and in hast I followed my leader over the bodies strewn along the way, still grieving at their just punishment.”
Here Dante the pilgrim is clearly not a soul at peace, not yet a soul quenched by a special grace. So when Statius suddenly appears from nowhere and says “o my brothers, may God grant you peace” we’re surprised at the contrast especially when Virgil, at his most courteous, wishes Statius the heavenly peace that Virgil admits he will never have. Virgil says to this newcomer, who he has never before met, “may the unerring court that confined me into eternal exile bring you in peace to the assembly of the blessed.”
Statius is shocked to find someone from hell here in purgatory and asks how they got up this far. Virgil explains, okay it’s alright, Dante isn’t dead yet and he Virgil has been chosen to be his guide. Notice that Virgil again brings out attention again to central questions of this poem: why is Dante allowed to go on this journey? And why is a soul from hell chosen to be his guide?
But back to Statius’s question: Virgil explains to Statius that Dante’s soul, “could not attempt to climb himself because he cannot see things quite as we do. I for this reason was drawn from hell’s wide jaws to be his guide and I shall guide him as far as my own teaching will allow now.” What is Virgil’s teaching and why is he the one chosen to guide Dante on this pilgrimage that no one has ever made before? Our wonder is again peaked. Then Virgil askes just the question on Dante’s min, what caused the entire mountain to shake and why all the shouting?
Lo and behold, Statius, this unexpected visitor was the cause. After 500 years doing penance on this ledge his will is finally free and everyone else in purgatory shouts in praise of God and in joy for their brother’s ascent into paradise. At this point, Dante the narrator then recalls how these answers satisfied his thirst and how his wise leader Virgil asks the next questions, Who are you and why so long on this ledge?
Statius then explains who he is in a kind of riddle, he says that while on earth he, “bore the name that most endures and honors most.” The name of course is, poet. Yet Statius doesn’t know he’s talking to two poets. He then explains that he is Statius the famous epic writer crowned in Rome for his poetry. And he praises the Aeneid and Virgil as his greatest nurse and inspiration, not knowing that he is talking with Virgil.
The scene that follows is charming and humorous. Virgil gestures to Dante not to reveal his identity, Dante can’t control himself and smiles. Statius asks why he smiles. Dante is embarrassed and frozen, he doesn’t know what to say or do until Virgil gives him permission. Don’t’ be afraid to speak, yes speak, Virgil says, tell him what he is so keen to know.
This keen desire to know, this sense of wonder, is constantly provoked throughout the Divine Comedy. Notice that Dante the pilgrim, what he says next: perhaps you wonder, ancient spirit, at my smiling but I would have a greater wonder seizure, and as we’ll see in the next few moments, even greater wonders are in store for us the readers. But here is the wonder Dante will reveal to Statius, “this one who guides my eyes on high is the very Virgil from whom you took the power to sing of men and of the gods.”
So great is Statius’s awe and wonder that he, a fully purified soul, bends over to embrace this damned pagan’s feel. Virgil stops him saying, Brother, do not do so for you are a shade and you behold the shade. Nonetheless, Statius ends the canto by saying to Virgil, that now you can understand the measure of the love for you that warms me.
We definitely see here the love that both Statius and Dante have for Virgil and we will learn more in the next canto why. Statius, for example, attributes his conversion to Christianity to Virgil. Again raising the question why does Dante the author put this faithful guide, so courteous, Virgil, creator of pious Aeneas in hell?
You will soon see more evidence of the disorder of Dante the pilgrim’s love for the beauty of classical learning embodied in Virgil’s magnificent poetry and in Virgil’s glorious fame for what Dante’s other teacher, Brunetto Latini had seductively called immortality. Soon, Beatrice, understanding her friend Dante, will continue to use all of her wit and beauty, as she did at the beginning of the Inferno, and her tough love to move Dante upward to the stars and beyond to the source of all beauty and truth, of all peace and happiness. Enjoy the rest of the ascent and be courageous in the challenge.
Thank you for the 100 Days Project!
Canto 21: Dante, realizing he desires the living water Christ offered to the Samaritan woman at the well, continues his pace through the Fifth Terrace. He and Virgil are joined by an unnamed spirit in a manner similar to that of Christ, who upon meeting two travelers on their way to Emmaus, instructed them on the meaning of his life. In response to their question about the mountain-quake, the stranger explains that, being perfect, Purgatory and Paradise cannot be changed by any external cause. However, penitents can experience the change of metanoia when they realize they are purified and forgiven their sins; they can now proceed towards Paradise. At that moment of self-revelation, the mountain quakes and other penitents cry out “Gloria in excelsis deo.” The stranger introduces himself as Statius, a poet during the early Christian period of the Roman Empire. He says his own efforts were influenced by Virgil’s Aeneid and Eclogues. Virgil is reluctant to tell Statius about his own identity, but a smiling Dante reveals it. Statius, realizing only a few moments ago that he is now pure and able to enter Paradise, agrees to serve as another companion-guide for Dante. Thus, the three poets continue their journey under the influence of Virgil’s reason and Statius’ faith.