We hear from the first penitent beyond the gate of Purgatory proper: Omberto Aldobrandesco. He’s from a storied, titled family who switched sides, became Guelphs, and were brought low. Is Omberto humbled? Or is he still prideful? Or is he both? And why does Dante choose such a boring figure to begin our conversations on the terraces of Purgatory proper?
Read MoreDante steps down into the dale of the negligent rulers and finds a compatriot: noble judge Nino. They embrace and Dante is so glad to find this friend in Purgatory, the very person the poet himself put there, the very way he can bolster the reality claims in COMEDY: by being amazed at the people he finds exactly where he put them.
Read MoreWe’ve already glossed this long, difficult passage about the darkening vale of the negligent rulers in the last episode of WALKING WITH DANTE. In this episode, I ask ten interpretive questions of the passage: some with answers, some with tentative answers, and some with mere speculation as an answer. Dante is showing us his increasingly intellectual side. Let’s figure out what he’s up to.
Read MoreSordello runs through the roster of kings and rulers in the beautiful vale on the lower slopes of Mount Purgatory. They’re lamenting their very actionable lives. And in running the list, Sordello is giving someone (Virgil? Dante? the reader?) a crash course in the politics of central and southern Europe from the mid to the late 1200s.
Read MoreThe story of Dante’s walk across his known universe breaks in PURGATORIO, Canto VI, right after Virgil and Sordello embrace. The rest of the canto is dedicated to the poet’s rage at the constant warfare on the Italian peninsula and his hope for an iron fist to set things right. Along the way, many of us have to confront our expectations that COMEDY may not be the poem we want it to be.
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