Introduction

-         What was known of Purgatory before Dante?

o       beginning concept

o       Dante invented:

§         geography

§         first successful south seas island adventure (Ulysses [anti-Dante] failed)

o       Heaven (trip through the spheres) and Hell had “been done” but not Purgatory

o       creating Purgatory is a reinventing of poetry

-         Why Metamorphoses?

o       shape shifting (transformation of form) and link to psychological and soul/moral state changes in Purgatory and Metamorphoses and is therefore a point of contrast

o       Dante an Ovidian poet not a new Virgil (fan of Virgil is unconventional but it is Ovid that Dante “backgrounds”)

o       TERMS: Metamorphoses and Conversion

-         Purgatory

o       those in Purgatory all have HOPE, while those in the Inferno do not

o       Dante has speranza (hope of the heights)

o       Purgatory is therapy (physical and psychological) and it’s therefore not punishment but “painful exercise”

o       while in Inferno knots and problems were presented with no hope of an answer, we are now going to be presented with ideas of solutions

o       transitional place

§         damned are stuck in same area for all of eternity, but those in Purgatory climb the mountain

·        we sin in all levels and need a purified soul for saintlyhood

-         Speranza

o       Theodicy (theo=divine, dicy = justice) – meditation on divine justice vs. human justice

o       identified in:

§         poets (Milton)

§         New Testament (Paul)

§         Old Testament (Job)

§         Christianity (Augustine)

§         Classical (Boethius and Plato’s Republic)

§         related to Odyssey (again the relation to Ulysses)

o       therefore, Dante arrives at this through meditation on narratives

 

Today’s Terms

-         potentia

o       those in Purgatory are here

-         in actu

o       associated with creative powers

-         Aristotle used these terms to understand change as a process

o      

o       used to then extrapolate to heavenly realms

-         this also goes with poems

o       to humans, Purgatory is in potential BUT, to God its in actu (moment of inspiration instilled in Dante it is completed) – eternal now

§         sub specie aeternitatis (god view point)

§         eternal now, or all seeing discussed in Boethius

o       reading poem and writing it is paralled (example of 3 books on shelves)

§         idea is that when you finish Commedia you will have sub specie aeternitatis

o       while the damned have only a small potential to realize (the feeling of more pain at the Apocalypse), those in Purgatory and Paradiso have lots of potential

 

Canto 1

-         Virgil speech comparable to Infernal speech of Beatrice putting in a “good word” (Inf. 2)

-         Cato rebuffed Virgil but he recovers (questionable guide question arises from Inf.)

-         last line returns to Inf. 15

o       robes

o       seeds rejected there, but here, rebirth immediately

-         Cato (guardian of the mountain) is a surprise:

o       Pagan suicide traitor (opposed Caesar)

o       Dantean revelation to consider this man saved

o       Damnation isn’t absolute (humble our understanding – trembling sea also reminds us of this as it is not the cruel sea of the Inf. but a beautiful sea of Sapphire)

-         First 12 tersest

o       First two tersest are the invocation and the Holy Muses

§         Exordium (metaphor for work to follow)

·        in potentia

§         Invocation (aid for work – the little boat)

·        provide energy for in actu

·        little boat could stand for:

o       government

o       Ulysses

o       crew = reader

-         “sails”

o       in Italian, also means veils

o       implicitly suggests:

§         progress

§         truth

§         veil = fabric of text

§         poem in potentia (function of ship is the poem) (language starting – poetry recreation)

-         purged and resurge

o       purged is something undesirable coming out

o       linked to resurge à part of same process (purging gives to resurging, like generatio gives to corruptio and corruption then gives to generation again)

o       resurge:

§         those in Purgatory

§         poetry (poetic process) à undergoing same process

§         meant to expel:

·        errors of Purgatory

·        horror, fear, confusion, despair, dilemmas

§         hope and love and joy, solution/confidence arrives

§         resurge of what we lost with the straight and narrow (note that Purgatory is not straight, but spiral – once you are off the path, only one way back on)

§         therefore, poem promises potential positive feelings and cohesiveness

§         resurge in the role of a guide

·        D and V relation changes as V is no longer the expert but they are now on equal ground

·        also resurgence therefore of V’s hopeful salvation

§         readers have a new role

·        boat à captain and crew[reader]

·        we contribute (collective endeavor)

·        different relation to souls in Purgatory as living pray for the souls in Purgatory, we have a potential to now help the souls (including Virgil) [reader becomes empowered]

-         the line “let dead poetry rise again” suggests:

o       Inferno

§         out of our memory, done with it now

o       invoke the classic poets

§         worked before in the Inferno

o       poetry about the dead

o       poem closing

§         poem is only realized when being read

§         not words on a page but through interpretation and interaction

§         reader response is what really makes the poem

o       authorship

§         poem rise up after written

§         creativity

o       Christ resurrection

§         appear dead but miraculously rises again

o       Dante’s inspiration

§         stars = inspiration (like Giants mistaken for windmills, the perception is stars)

-         the planet Venus and the four stars

o       Venus (goddess of love) has light shining on Cato’s face

o       4 stars are the philosophical virtues[1]/stoic virtues

§         Temperance

§         Prudence

§         Justice

§         Fortitude

o       philosophical virtues are absorbed by church fathers and integrated into moral Christian virtues

-         Calliope

o       muse of epic poetry (epic poetry is dead also)

§         poetry comes alive again with allusions

o       all holy realized here but this is not the case in epic poetry

o       mirroring the Aeneid

-         Pies

o       allusion to Ovid

o       9 ladies challenged 9 muses and lost and were then changed into Magpies

 

Four-Fold

-         Literal

o       Dante poet is invoking the muses by comparing Pies and Muses

-         Typological

o       Ovid’s myth

§         9 ladies challenged Muses to musical contest

·        the ladies retell the rebellion of the giants but the gods become absurd à gods inverted to animals

·        muses sing of rape of Persephone

§         9 ladies’ arrogance causes the muses to be upset as they are insulted and they change the ladies into magpies

·        squawking (awful sounding) and discordant

·        mimicry (like Echo, there is a lack of creativity)

-         Tropological

o       Purgatory/Divine Commedia

§         Project of hubristic poetry?

·        Negated because inspired by Muses (and God)

o       Pride vs. Humility

§         freedom – Cato died for liberty

§         humility requires submission (conflict)

·        conflict cause us to go forward to find out (carrot on a stick, or as Dante will say “curb and lure”)

·        Skinner psychology (positive and negative reinforcement)

-         Anagogic

o       to arrive in Heaven must have complete humility