The lady in the forest has come to face the pilgrim and his poets across the stream in the forest.

The pilgrim clearly feels a sexual attraction toward her, one that might even make us think of his reactions to Beatrice.

She, however, has other ideas, like answering their many questions. Except in so doing, she raises even more questions than she has time to answer.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through this passage in PURGATORIO in which we first learn we're wandering around in the Garden of Eden.

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

[01:37] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXVIII, lines 67 - 84. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me by dropping a comment on this episode, please find it on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[03:38] Upright and flirty: the many contradictions of the lady in the forest.

[07:04] A rare misstep in COMEDY.

[08:06] A tough tangle of references from Ovid and the Bible: from pride to sexual attraction to (thwarted) redemption.

[15:28] The tenuous connections between the lady's laugh and their doubts, as well as her words and Virgil's presence.

[21:17] Her purpose: to offer answers (but not to remove sexual tension).

[23:39] The Garden of Eden, utterly reimagined by Dante.

[28:23] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVIII, lines 67 - 84.