INFERNO, Episode 95. Cords, Leopards, Medieval Poets, And Medieval Pilgrims, All Straightened Out By Classical Poetry: Inferno, Canto XVI, Lines 106 - 123

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, just look below.

[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.

Here’s my English translation for Inferno, Canto XVI, Lines 106 – 123:

I had a cord around my waist—

With it, I’d thought I’d be able to

Catch the leopard with the painted coat.

After I’d taken this thing off myself—

Just as my master had requested—

I handed it to him all wound up and knotted.

He stepped back, twisted to his right,

And flung it out far from the edge of the precipice

And down into the deep well of that pit.

I said to myself, For sure something new

Will respond to this weird signal

That my master traces with his eyes.

Wow, we should be really careful with those

Who not only see everything we do

But can also make sense out of our thoughts!

He said to me, “It will soon come into view,

This thing I anticipate and that you try so hard to imagine.

Soon it will be right in front of your face.”