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.

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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.

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.

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.