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Recent episodes
An Update about PARADISO and WALKING WITH DANTE
May 28, 2026
2m 37s
An Update About Starting PARADISO soon
May 28, 2026
Unknown duration
Walking With Dante is going on a short hiatus
Apr 30, 2026
3m 00s
Final Thoughts On PURGATORIO
Apr 26, 2026
19m 30s
The Seven Addresses To The Reader In PURGATORIO
Apr 19, 2026
25m 11s
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| Date | Episode | Topics | Guests | Brands | Places | Keywords | Sponsor | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5/28/26 | ![]() An Update about PARADISO and WALKING WITH DANTE✨ | podcast updatePARADISO+3 | — | PARADISO | — | DantePARADISO+3 | — | 2m 37s | |
| 5/28/26 | ![]() An Update About Starting PARADISO soon | Here's just a brief episode about where I am and how the podcast will start again in about six weeks. Hang tight and we'll be walking . . . no, actually flying through the spheres of PARADISO in a few weeks.Until then, gird up your loins. PARADISO is not for those weak in spirit . . . or leggings. | — | ||||||
| 4/30/26 | ![]() Walking With Dante is going on a short hiatus✨ | hiatuschemotherapy+5 | — | PURGATORIOPARADISO | — | hiatuschemotherapy+5 | — | 3m 00s | |
| 4/26/26 | ![]() Final Thoughts On PURGATORIO✨ | PurgatoryDante+4 | — | PURGATORIOINFERNO+3 | — | DantePurgatory+7 | — | 19m 30s | |
| 4/19/26 | ![]() The Seven Addresses To The Reader In PURGATORIO✨ | DantePURGATORIO+4 | — | PURGATORIOCOMEDY | — | DantePURGATORIO+8 | — | 25m 11s | |
| 4/12/26 | ![]() Dante's Theories Of Writing Across INFERNO and PURGATORIO✨ | Dante's writing theoriesINFERNO analysis+3 | — | INFERNOPURGATORIO+1 | — | Dantewriting theories+5 | — | 30m 44s | |
| 4/8/26 | ![]() All The Hopeful Ambiguity Of The Second Canticle: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXIII, Lines 124 - 145✨ | DantePURGATORIO+5 | — | PURGATORIOCOMEDY | — | DantePURGATORIO+5 | — | 19m 58s | |
| 4/5/26 | ![]() At Long Last, Matelda: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXIII, Lines 103 - 123✨ | Dante's PurgatorioMatelda+4 | — | PURGATORIO | Garden of EdenLethe+2 | DantePurgatorio+7 | — | 33m 22s | |
| 4/1/26 | ![]() Images, Schools, Obscurities, And The Promise Of Clarity: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXIII, Lines 79 - 102✨ | DantePurgatory+4 | — | PURGATORIOCanto XXXIII | — | DanteBeatrice+6 | — | 25m 20s | |
| 3/29/26 | ![]() In Which Pilgrimage Becomes Crusade: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXIII, Lines 61 - 78✨ | Dante's PURGATORIOBeatrice's monologue+5 | — | PURGATORIOPARADISO+1 | Limboriver Elsa | DanteBeatrice+7 | — | 29m 16s | |
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| 3/25/26 | ![]() Take Notes, Dante: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXIII, Lines 46 - 60✨ | Dante's writing craftBeatrice's discourse+4 | — | PURGATORIOINFERNO+1 | — | DantePURGATORIO+5 | — | 23m 42s | |
| 3/22/26 | ![]() Beatrice And Her Cryptic "Five Hundred Ten And Five": PURGATORIO, Canto XXXIII, Lines 25 - 45✨ | DanteBeatrice+4 | — | PURGATORIOPARADISO | — | DanteBeatrice+5 | — | 30m 11s | |
| 3/18/26 | ![]() Walking With Beatrice In Eden: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXIII, Lines 1 - 24✨ | Dante AlighieriBeatrice+5 | — | PURGATORIOGospel of John+1 | — | DanteBeatrice+8 | — | 29m 07s | |
| 3/15/26 | ![]() Apocalypse Even In Eden, Part Two: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, Lines 109 - 160 | In the last episode, we talked through some of the "superficial" factors in the grand apocalyptic vision in Eden: its structure, some diction cues, even a few rifts or cracks in its flow.In this episode, let's turn to the much thornier issue of what it all means. A consensus has developed over the seven hundred years of commentary. That reading (or interpretation) now dominates the Anglo-American, rationalist outlooks on the vision.But might there be more? And might that reading be prone to mistakes or gaffes it cannot accommodate?Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for the second of two episodes on the complicated vision of the apocalypse that ends PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII.To support this work, consider underwriting its many fees with a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend. You can do so at this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:38] Once again, my English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, lines 109 - 160. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[05:28] The now-standard interpretation of the vision as a sweet of Christian church history up until Dante's day and the so-called "Avignon captivity" of the papacy.[13:10] Questions and problems that arise in the standard interpretation. These may show us that the vision is more layered than a rationalist interpretation would consider.[16:28] Two external sources that may impinge on this vision: the prophecy of Daniel 7:7 and the visionary writings of the Radical Franciscans.[19:27] My reading of the vision as the collapse of good governance following the departure of the proper balance of church and state.[21:47] Two final questions: 1) Does Dante cause the collapse of the vision? And 2) should the vision be interpreted in such a rational, one-for-one way? | — | ||||||
| 3/11/26 | ![]() Apocalypse Even In Eden, Part One: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, Lines 109 - 160 | Dante is now ready for the final apocalyptic vision of PURGATORIO . . . and in the last place we might expect it: in that bastion of innocence and purity, the Garden of Eden.In seven vignettes, Dante witnesses some chaotic and catastrophic collapse of the chariot and even one of the original trees of Eden.But all is not lost. Beatrice is on the scene. And Dante himself participates in this vision, seemingly instigating a new ending to what had become a disaster.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for the first of two episodes on the grand apocalypse of Eden in PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII.To support this work, please consider a small monthly stipend or a one-time gift to help cover the many fees associated with this podcast. You can donate at this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:37] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, Lines 109 - 180. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[05:28] Thoughts on the almost surreal strangeness of the vision as it moves from the natural world to the monstrous.[08:59] The structure of the vision: seven vignettes--five in six-line segments; the first and last scenes, longer.[18:34] Echoes in the vision to other moments in COMEDY: eagles, a vixen, dragons, a prostitute, and giants.[23:12] Biblical echoes from the Apocalypse of St. John at the end of Dante's vision.[25:03] Two outside actors who enter the vision and fundamentally change it. | — | ||||||
| 3/8/26 | ![]() A Brief Introduction To Women In The High Middle Ages | Before we continue with Beatrice (and even the young woman who tends the Garden of Eden), let's stop and talk all too briefly about the roles and available places for women in Dante's day, the high middle ages.Although we can't hope to cover this subject in depth, we might be able to see some of its reflections in COMEDY so far, as well as in the complex and even contradictory characterization of Beatrice in COMEDY.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we take an all too quick side quest into the question of women in the high middle ages.To help support this podcast by underwriting its many fees, please consider a small monthly stipend or a one-time donation using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:40] The largest grouping of women in COMEDY does not bode well for Dante . . . except a women who lies ahead of us.[06:01] The various roles and positions women could hold in the middle ages, at least according to a tract/book written in Dante's lifetime.[09:48] The damning problem: Women cannot be citizens.[13:31] The church's role in the growing restrictions on women . . . and the ways they subverted those religious restrictions.[17:50] Beatrice's role v. the Virgin's growing veneration. | — | ||||||
| 3/4/26 | ![]() Beatrice, Changed; Dante, Panicked; And The Reader, De-centered: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, Lines 70 - 108 | Dante wakes back up from his unexpected sleep to find that the grand parade is heading off into the forest (or maybe the skies). He's in a panic that Beatrice has left, too, although the young woman of Eden comforts him and shows her now humble place under the renewed tree.Meanwhile, we readers are equally panicked . . . or at least de-centered, as we try to make sense of complicated similes and oblique symbolic meanings. COMEDY is getting more complex by the line. It's a game of interpretation we've been preparing to play since INFERNO, Canto I.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at the passage just before the giant apocalyptic vision of PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII.To underwrite the many fees for this work, consider a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:21] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, Lines 70 - 108. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:53] Four (or maybe five) interwoven Biblical references in the opening twelve lines of this passage (or the opening four tercets).[13:25] The interweaving of textuality to de-center the reader by pushing meaning further into mystery.[15:52] Dante's awakening to panic and then obeisance.[19:43] The complex meaning of Beatrice's changed position under the tree.[25:10] Dante's Roman hopes for heaven.[26:47] A flourish of the medieval high rhetorical style at the end of the passage.[28:53] Writing as awakening and return.[31:23] Rereading this passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, lines 70 - 108. | — | ||||||
| 3/1/26 | ![]() Asleep In Eden: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, Lines 49 - 69 | The griffin pulls the chariot or cart up to the denuded tree--the "widowed" tree--and the tree regenerates into a color reminiscent of other moments in PURGATORIO. But which one exactly?We're descending into the murk of mystery with new songs that can't be defined, with allegories that are becoming increasingly opaque, and even with classical references that seem somehow out of place in the overall arch of the glorious parade.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we begin to approach the strange and incomprehensible mysteries that lie at the end of the second canticle of COMEDY.To support this work, consider a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:24] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, Lines 49 - 69. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me with a comment on this episode, please find its entry on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:32] A correction perhaps: "Adam" may have been a murmured reassessment of the misogyny in the text.[04:55] The pole, the chariot, and the tree: complicated translation problems.[07:15] The pole as the cross or perhaps the ties of good human governance.[11:49] The changing seasons as the tree regenerates.[13:26] The ambiguous symbolism of purple.[15:41] The unknown new song, a further mystery in the passage.[18:48] A tense and perhaps off-pitch reference to Ovid.[22:27] A knock against representative art before the apocalyptic vision just ahead.[24:18] Rereading the text: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, lines 49 - 69. | — | ||||||
| 2/25/26 | ![]() Games Of Interpretation In Eden: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, Lines 28 - 48 | The griffin rolls his chariot up to the foot of a denuded tree as Beatrice descends out of her ride. The symbolism (the allegories, in fact) become increasingly murky, difficult to parse, especially when the griffin says his one and only line in COMEDY.Dante's Garden of Eden is a place where the games of interpretation kick into high gear. Nothing is what it seems . . . yet what it is is a matter of much debate.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through this increasingly complex passage on our way to the final apocalyptic vision of PURGATORIO.To help support this work with a one-time donation or a very small on-going stipend, please consider using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:04] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, Lines 28 - 48. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:04] Statius, both physically and thematically in the passage.[05:55] Adam and Eve, with notes toward the theological fall of mankind.[09:19] The stripped tree in the Garden of Eden . . . but which tree?[14:49] The griffin, becoming a more difficult allegory with his one and only line in COMEDY.[21:06] Beatrice and her (complex) descent from the chariot/cart.[25:57] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, lines 28 - 48. | — | ||||||
| 2/22/26 | ![]() Sound The Retreat In Eden: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, Lines 1 - 27 | Face to face with Beatrice, the pilgrim Dante is ready for more revelation. Problem is, even after Lethe he's still doing things wrong and must be corrected by the women around the griffin's chariot.But what is he doing wrong? And why does the entire parade of revelation go into retreat? What indeed does that griffin symbolize? And how did we get from the intensely personal experience of Dante's confession and contrition to this much more global view of the allegories on the march?Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we begin to walk slowly through one of the most complex cantos (and certainly the longest canto) in all of COMEDY.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:17] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, Lines 1 - 27. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me about this canto, please find the entry for this podcast episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:31] A brief introduction to PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII.[05:19] Notes for the first nine lines (or three tercets) of the canto.[10:40] Dante's forgotten failings and Beatrice's on-going attraction.[12:04] Dante's intense gaze . . . but for or at what?[16:23] Beatrice and the problem of the "lesser thing" of revelation.[21:28] The parade of revelation (or of the church militant) in retreat with its "precious cargo."[25:01] The griffin's feathers, which prompt further questions about the griffin's allegorical meaning.[28:08] Bridging the personal and the universal.[31:04] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, lines 1- 27. | — | ||||||
| 2/18/26 | ![]() A Read-Through Of PURGATORIO, Cantos XXXII - XXXIII | As we've done across the second canticle of Dante's masterpiece, COMEDY, we're taking some time to read through the final two cantos of PURGATORIO, XXXII and XXXIII.I'll read my rough English translation of the cantos. I'll finesse these more when we take the cantos apart passage by passage.For now, just sit back and listen to the narrative sweep of the final two cantos of PURGATORIO, truly the climax of the canticle.[01:43] A read-through of my loose translation of PURGATORIO, Cantos XXXII and XXIII. | — | ||||||
| 2/15/26 | ![]() The Revelation Of Beatrice's Hidden, Second Beauty: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, Lines 127 - 145 | We finally come to the face-to-face meeting of Beatrice and Dante. We've waited for this moment since INFERNO, Canto II, when Beatrice first stepped into COMEDY.Neither Dante nor Beatrice speak at their close meeting. Instead, the women around the chariot beg Beatrice to reveal her second, hidden beauty: her mouth.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the complex symbolism in this passage. We'll also take on its textual difficulties: a Biblical allusion that has been muddled in commentary, a lost word that's hard to translate, and a question of quotation marks in a medieval manuscript.To support this work, consider a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend by using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:26] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, lines 127 - 145. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:11] Textual problems in the first six lines (XXXI: 127 - 132)--a muddled Biblical reference, a moral question of virtues, and a word that's hard to translate.[07:49] Beatrice's turning and the coming revelation of her mouth.[10:57] A difficult conclusion to Canto XXXI: Who says these complicated lines that use the informal "you"?[16:59] Forgetting and remembering your former works to create something new.[23:10] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, lines 127 - 145. | — | ||||||
| 2/11/26 | ![]() Beatrice And The Griffin: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, Lines 112 - 126 | Dante has now crossed Lethe and is ready to face Beatrice head on. She has moved to get ready for this eye-to-eye conversation. She's positioned nearer the griffin, a complicated symbol that may have more than one interpretation.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore both Beatrice (particularly her emerald eyes) and this dual-natured beast that seems to become more difficult to interpret with its every move in the poem.To support this podcast, consider a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend through this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:19] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, Lines 112 - 126. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[02:44] Beatrice has moved . . . but where?[05:09] With her emerald eyes, Beatrice and Dante finally escape the Francesca episode.[09:15] Dante is the Orpheus who can look into the eyes of his Eurydice.[10:49] Here are at least two additional interpretations for the griffin.[13:58] Beatrice's eyes are the methodology of revelation (and mystery).[16:41] The passage drops the first hint about Jesus' transfiguration.[18:50] Reflection is transfiguring, as in the craft of poetry.[19:34] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, lines 112 - 126. | — | ||||||
| 2/8/26 | ![]() Washed Clean In Lethe: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, Lines 91 - 111 | Dante wakes up in the arms of the young woman who first welcomed him to the Garden of Eden. She's dragging him through Lethe before she forcefully pushes him underwater.This scene is deeply symbolic and allegorical . . . although it raises many more questions than it answers. In fact, it seems to want to leave many things open-ended, a cue that Dante wants us in the poem, working on solutions to the many puzzles he has set.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we see the pilgrim Dante cleansed and ready to dance with the seven virtues around Beatrice's chariot.To support this work, consider a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend. You can make either contribution at this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:29] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, Lines 91 - 111. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website: markscarbrough.com.[03:43] Two notes on the first nine lines: the heart and the shuttle.[06:33] Is this a baptism?[09:46] Three questions that surround the Latin line from the Psalms.[13:43] Why is the dunking so forceful?[15:45] What sign do the four women make over Dante?[17:41] The seven women fill in the details from PURGATORIO, Cantos I and VIII.[19:56] The four women are linked to the classical world; the three women, to the contemplative life.[22:43] Does everything happen to Statius, too? And to other penitent souls?[26:23] How do you express the inexpressible?[28:28] Must our poet forget the CONVIVIO in Lethe?[29:39] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, lines 91 - 111. | — | ||||||
| 2/4/26 | ![]() Dante Faints For The Third Time In COMEDY: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, Lines 64 - 90 | Beatrice has finished her case against the pilgim Dante. All that's left is for him to find his way beyond confession and into confession . . . which he does with a major crack-up that leads him to faint for the third time in COMEDY.Before he collapses, the poem begins a series of inversions or reversals that both increase the ironic valences of the passage and give its reader an almost vertigo-inducing sense of Dante's emotional landscape.A difficult passage in the Garden of Eden, here Beatrice accomplishes what she came for. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the slow build-up to the final moment of contrition . . . which mimics the moment when Dante gives way in front of Francesca, back in INFERNO's circle of lust.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:20] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, Lines 64 - 90. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:15] Dante, from boy to man.[07:26] Recognition, the key to the passage, to contrition, and a possible node of irony.[10:38] The "unbearded" oak and the final crack-up.[13:49] Iarbas and Dido v. Dante and the new Dido.[16:28] Beatrice's venom.[17:27] Dante's beard.[20:00] The angels' departure?[21:16] The meaning of the beast's two natures.[23:53] Glossing the end of the passage: lines 82 - 90.[27:57] Francesca and her physical seduction v. Beatrice and her physical-theological seduction.[33:01] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, lines 64 - 90. | — | ||||||
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Chart Positions
50 placements across 29 markets.
Chart Positions
50 placements across 29 markets.
