Dante wakes up in the arms of the young woman who first welcomed him to the Garden of Eden. She's dragging him through Lethe before she forcefully pushes him underwater.

This scene is deeply symbolic and allegorical . . . although it raises many more questions than it answers. In fact, it seems to want to leave many things open-ended, a cue that Dante wants us in the poem, working on solutions to the many puzzles he has set.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we see the pilgrim Dante cleansed and ready to dance with the seven virtues around Beatrice's chariot.

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

[01:29] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, Lines 91 - 111. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website: markscarbrough.com.

[03:43] Two notes on the first nine lines: the heart and the shuttle.

[06:33] Is this a baptism?

[09:46] Three questions that surround the Latin line from the Psalms.

[13:43] Why is the dunking so forceful?

[15:45] What sign do the four women make over Dante?

[17:41] The seven women fill in the details from PURGATORIO, Cantos I and VIII.

[19:56] The four women are linked to the classical world; the three women, to the contemplative life.

[22:43] Does everything happen to Statius, too? And to other penitent souls?

[26:23] How do you express the inexpressible?

[28:28] Must our poet forget the CONVIVIO in Lethe?

[29:39] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, lines 91 - 111.

Washed Clean In Lethe: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, Lines 91 - 111