INFERNO CANTO 7 explained
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- Опубликовано: 30 сен 2024
- Synopsis and analysis of Canto VII of Dante’s Inferno.
PLAYLIST LINK to ALL the 100 VIDEOS IS HERE (save it!): • DIVINE COMEDY 100 Cant...
1. Pape Satan aleppe
2. Plutus
3. 4th Circle
4. Fortune
5. 5th circle
6. Dante's journey so far
English translations used for this video:
1) Robert Pinsky, "The Inferno of Dante: A New Verse Translation", Bilingual Edition. You can find it here: www.amazon.com...
2) Mark Musa, The Divine Comedy Vol. I: Inferno
www.amazon.com...
Please ask any questions about this Canto in the comments. I will keep trying to upload at least one video every week.
I mentioned Roberto Benigni but unfortunately I wasn’t able to find his reading of Canto VII on RUclips, so I would suggest to listen to this interpretation of Canto VII by Vittorio Gassman, who was one of the greatest Italian actors of the 20th century: ruclips.net/video/iTXYkueP49U/видео.html
Virgil (through Dante) is quickly becoming my hero. In my translation, his answer to Dante about why he wouldn't recognize anyone here is so cutting, saying the souls here have done nothing to mark themselves out in any way, in essence saying that despite their avarice they've gained nothing , not even a reputation worth remembering. That seems like a punishment all its own, especially considering the souls who approach Dante and ask him to talk about them when he gets back into the world. I'm thinking of the quote that Eliot uses for the beginning of his Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. I just looked it up again, the character is Guido da Montefeltro, in the 8th circle. Dante was a snob, it seems, but it makes for good reading.
I also love your observation of how well Dante makes this much much more than a philosophical exercise. He brings it all to life, thereby bringing it to OUR lives.
Thanks! I’m intrigued, I’m going to check out Eliot’s Love Song today. Also this theme of reputation really seems to recur so often in the Commedia. Florence was one of the largest cities in the world, but still small enough for everyone “who mattered” to know everyone else, so I guess your reputation was on top of your mind. And you’re right about Dante being a snob : later in the poem he makes it clear that his main sin was that of pride. At least some self-awareness, after all this throwing people under the bus!! : )
I like this Canto 7 better than Canto 5!
I think one of the genius things about Dante is the visual metaphors he uses to anchor these bodily vices in our minds ...the boulder for material goods and the rotting flesh for gluttony will stay with me .. and the sullen souls under the foetid marsh is the stuff of horror ...
Yes the squirming bodies in the mud will stay in my head.
He is strong on all 5 senses, but like you say, probably visual was his greatest genius.
I am falling into a comfortable pattern with this now of reading the canto by myself getting from it what I can and then again with you as my guide.
The punishments in this section are particularly vivid. The pointlessness of the interminable pushing to and fro of the boulders hits home, but I was even more engaged by the whines of sullen gurgling up through the swamp.
I also was struck by the whiners, and the perfection of the contrapasso--trying to speak, but producing only bubbles in the mire. GULP. It hits a bit too close to home for comfort, which I suppose is the point.
Thanks both for your comments - this is really one of my favorite cantos. From a psychological perspective, I guess you could see the wrathful and the sullen as two faces of the same problem, which is an excess of anger, whether expressed towards the outside or the inside. And I noticed that in both cases the souls have troubles communicating. The insights are endless. Every time I re-read any part of this book I realize there is something that I had missed... amazing!
Btw, about Dante’s love for Virgil, here’s a small piece of trivia : Dante was known for being able to recite the entire Aeneid by heart. I struggle to commit to memory a couple of lines of poetry ... can you imagine what kind of brain that would take??
@@tomlabooks3263 In all of my lip-syncs, I specifically chose poems that were less than two minutes long, and then I'd spend about three hundred hours on the treadmill to memorize it. I can't imagine what kind of mind Dante must have had. Amazing!
Speaking of the Aeneid, Charybdis is apparently mentioned there as well as in Odyssey, so it might be another Virgil reference.
I appreciate your addition of the comment about the centrality of free will and reference to the middle of the poem (Canto 16 of Purgatorio) - this is the kind of perspective that will probably be very useful to me as I continue my reading. And your explanation of Fortune being a divine intelligence was also helpful.
One of the things that most people miss about the Comedy is that, as wonderful as Inferno is, it is almost nothing when compared to the blinding light of Purgatorio and Paradiso. It’s a time consuming endeavor, but the poem needs to be read in its entirety in order to make full sense. That’s when you pick up on the centrality of free will and other crucial principles. Thanks again for your interest in these videos.
Hi! I have some question about some things in this Canto specifically is there a way to contact you to talk about them?
@@josephstimac8819 Sure thing. Email is in the channel description.
I’m taking a class on this poem now!
@@YourWrongImRight933 Good luck! Check out the other playlist on this channel, where I talk about this poem in Italian (with subtitles)
Great job. What a perfect punishment for the complainers. I wouldn't have thought to put anger and sullen together, but they are the two extremes of how we behave when life doesn't go our way.
Isn’t it powerful? It sounds like we are reading a treatise on psychoanalysis. Hope you’re having a good week John.
Tom, I am so glad I was directed here by Dario. I have a little scramble to catch up but I will !! Thank you so much for these great videos !
It’s great to connect with you, Lee, and thanks for your comment!
Once again, hearing a few translations of a few words, changes so much meaning. This isn't the first time I am reminded of Kierkegaard while reading Dante, but the "internal freedom" you mention near the end, really echoes his notion of choice intersecting time and eternity--the choice becoming the judge for eternity. I am sure that, on a list of great philosophers Dante influenced, Kierkegaard would be low on the list in comparison to many others--but in any case, this video gave me a great idea for a fun essay in which I will probably be completely off, haha.
Kierkegaard said that “the greatest thinker of the Middle Ages” in his opinion was St. Thomas Aquinas, who is everywhere between the lines (and also as a character) in the Divine Comedy, and arguably Dante’s favorite theologian, so your thought is spot on. I say this only after having double-checked and done a couple of searches online, of course : ) But those two guys, Thomas and Søren, I would love to read more of what they wrote. Thanks for the great spark 👍🏻
@@tomlabooks3263 \it has been years since I have read Aquinas, so i will have to do some catching up on while continuing with these Cantos!
The bubbling swamp was particularly vivid, I think
It gets worse... Much worse! 😄