Dante is now ready for the final apocalyptic vision of PURGATORIO . . . and in the last place we might expect it: in that bastion of innocence and purity, the Garden of Eden.

In seven vignettes, Dante witnesses some chaotic and catastrophic collapse of the chariot and even one of the original trees of Eden.

But all is not lost. Beatrice is on the scene. And Dante himself participates in this vision, seemingly instigating a new ending to what had become a disaster.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for the first of two episodes on the grand apocalypse of Eden in PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII.

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

[01:37] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXXII, Lines 109 - 180. 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.

[05:28] Thoughts on the almost surreal strangeness of the vision as it moves from the natural world to the monstrous.

[08:59] The structure of the vision: seven vignettes--five in six-line segments; the first and last scenes, longer.

[18:34] Echoes in the vision to other moments in COMEDY: eagles, a vixen, dragons, a prostitute, and giants.

[23:12] Biblical echoes from the Apocalypse of St. John at the end of Dante's vision.

[25:03] Two outside actors who enter the vision and fundamentally change it.