14. Purgatory XXIV, XXV, XXVI

Dante in Translation (ITAL 310)

Guest lecturer Professor David Lummus discusses Purgatory XXIV-XXVI. On the terraces of gluttony and lust, the pilgrim's encounters with masters of the Italian love lyric give rise to the Comedy's most sustained treatment of poetics. Through Dante's older contemporary Bonagiunta (Purgatory XXIV), the pilgrim distinguishes the poetic style of his youth from that of the courtly love tradition pursued by his interlocutor. In Purgatory XXVI, Dante reinforces his own poetic genealogy through his encounter with Guido Guinizelli, founder of the Sweet New Style of poetry he crafted in his youth. The interpretative key to the language of paternity and filiation that pervades these cantos is found in Purgatory XXV, where Statius' embryological exposition of the divine creation of the soul conveys the divinity of poetic inspiration.

00:00 - Chapter 1. Additional Remarks about the Relationship between Statius and Virgil
02:03 - Chapter 2. The Relationship between Poetry and Gluttony
08:49 - Chapter 3. Bonagiunta da Lucca
34:52 - Chapter 4. Poetic Identity
45:51 - Chapter 5. Question and Answer

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://open.yale.edu/courses

This course was recorded in Fall 2008.