Dante-the-pilgrim turns from Minos to discover the hellish hurricane that is the punishment of the lustful, mercilessly blown around this second circle of INFERNO in Canto V.

But beyond the plot, it's hard to miss the language. It's getting lush, verdant, almost overgrown.

Let's discover the double simile this passage, a rhetorical device that sets up the problems to come. Who are the lustful? And what is the root nature of their sin?

And more importantly, what is Dante up to with these grand similes?

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I try to answer some of these questions and begin to explore this circle with the pilgrim in Dante-the-poet's masterpiece, THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Here are the segments of this episode:

[01:05] My English translation for this episode from INFERNO: Canto V, Lines 25 -52

[02:58] My mixed bag of commentary on the passage. First, a definition of lust--and one that won't play out for the rest of the canto! Second, a question about weather in hell. Third, a note from the poet. Fourth, a bit about synesthesia. And fifth, most surprisingly of all, the problem of how our pilgrim immediately knows these are the lustful up on the wind.

[11:50] An initial exploration of the giant double simile in this passage: starlings and cranes.

[16:00] A more nuanced exploration of this double simile.

[18:36] What is Dante-the-poet doing with these similes? I'll offer you four answers: 1) tapping the brakes on plot, 2) opening a digressive space to explore the emotions inside the plot, 3) inviting the reader into an open space of multiplicity, and 4) teaching the reader how to turn from the poem back to the natural world and read it anagogically.