Guest lecturer Professor David Lummus discusses Purgatory XXIV-XXVI. On the terraces of gluttony and lust, the pilgrim’s encounters with masters of the Italian love lyric give rise to the Comedy's most sustained treatment of poetics. Through Dante's older contemporary Bonagiunta (Purgatory XXIV), the pilgrim distinguishes the poetic style of his youth from that of the courtly love tradition pursued by his interlocutor. In Purgatory XXVI, Dante reinforces his own poetic genealogy through his encounter with Guido Guinizelli, founder of the Sweet New Style of poetry he crafted in his youth. The interpretative key to the language of paternity and filiation that pervades these cantos is found in Purgatory XXV, where Statius' embryological exposition of the divine creation of the soul conveys the divinity of poetic inspiration. Reading assignment: Dante, Purgatory: XXIV, XXV, XXVI Resources: Visual Resources - Lecture 14 [HTML]