A Shade Appears: PURGATORIO, Canto XXI, Lines 1 - 21

Walking With Dante

Dante is left wondering why the mountain has shaken when an even deeper mystery occurs: a shade appears seemingly out of nowhere and behind our pilgrim and Virgil.

This shade offers a Christian greeting, Virgil returns it in a darker way, and then this shade assume he's looking at two damned shades, escaped from hell.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at this most curious passage that begins one of the most fascinating cantos in all of Dante's COMEDY.

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

[01:54] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXI, lines 1 - 21. If you'd like to read along or offer more commentary, please find the entry for this podcast episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[04:43] Introductory material for Canto XXI.

[07:26] Hesitation, the desire to know, and Aristotle.

[10:46] The Samaritan woman and a shift in the nature of thirst.

[13:35] Haste and liminal spaces.

[15:15] Vendetta, justice, and human compassion.

[17:33] The road to Emmaus and the resurrection.

[21:26] The sudden appearance of a shade.

[25:14] Christian greetings, darkened by Virgil.

[28:40] A transfer of "what?" from Dante the pilgrim to this shade.

[30:27] This shade, Virgil, and Dante together.

[31:54] A rereading of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXI, lines 1 - 21.