Dante's COMEDY is about to shift gears. It's going to change its relationship to the poetry of the past. It's going to become more complicated in its symbolism (and yes, symbolism, not "just" allegory). And the pilgrim is going to begin to interact with the poet who is standing behind him.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for this exploration of some of the next to the last passage in Inferno, Canto XVI. It's a corker in every sense of the word: difficult, challenging, fun, a great mind game all around.

Here are the segments of this podcast episode:

[01:10] The passage: Inferno, Canto XVI, Lines 106 - 123. As always, if you want to read along, you can find my English translation on my website, markscarbrough.com, under the header tab about this podcast.

[02:28] Did you know Dante the pilgrim had a cord around his waist? Apparently! There's been some misinterpretation of this cord over the years. We'll delve into that. And here's a bonus question: since Virgil is going to throw this thing over the cliff, how big is it?

[04:38] The leopard back in Canto I gets rewritten here at the end of Canto XVI. What is Dante up to?

[08:57] Here, the leopard is said to have a "painted coat." Painted? That sounds like art.

[10:12] The changing relationship between Dante the pilgrim and Virgil--that is, the changing notion of who provides the raw material and who straightens it out.

[12:31] The pilgrim, the poet, and Virgil each speak a tercet, a three-line stanza. Their triangulation is becoming evident, even self-conscious.

[16:01] What's imagined is going to appear in front of your face. Now there's a claim for poetry.