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Dante's invective against political strife reaches its height by turning its rhetoric toward Dante's own experience--and maybe even his experience in writing COMEDY.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we watch Dante's poetic craft fall apart a bit and then turn back to the poet's own experience, all to find his stance as the prophet-poet he wants to be.

Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:

[02:40] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto VI, lines 127 - 151. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment to continue the conversation, please go to my website, markscarbrough.com.

[05:05] The rage-filled sarcasm seems to go off the rails in a loss of good poetic craft.

[09:26] The invective turns to the poet's personal experience and a call-back to a previous moment in PURGATORIO, Canto VI.

[13:12] The invective ends with a terrific image of a feather bed and a sick woman as the summation of the political problems in Florence.

[15:48] PURGATORIO, Canto VI, is directly related to INFERNO, Canto VI.

[20:10] In PURGATORIO, Canto VI, Dante the poet may be learning how to become the prophet-poet he wants to be.