henry cary

[Glenn Scheper]

Mention of Divine Comedy made me go re-read cantos 29 up
of Purgatory, in _The Portable Dante_, a Musa translation.
 
Permit me to read-in Dante's apocalyptic prophetic vision as
the smashing of the World Trade Centers, a la Revelation 18:
 
Dante is walking by a stream, which despite any referents in
his own time and place, signifies the Hudson that flows past
on both sides of Manhattan Island. The tree and beasts have
tantric (sacral-erotic) meanings I will set down far below,
allowing for any youths or other innocents to stop reading.
 
By Purgatory 29:67, Dante is on the shore opposite, his image
reflected from, WTC 1; which has Edison's incandescence 29:19.
 
At 29:151, the plane strikes WTC 1, an apocalyptic milestone:
"And when the chariot was opposite me,
 thunder was heard! The exalted creatures, then,
 as though forbidden to move on, stopped short,
 as did the flaming ensigns at the front."
 
Here are the same lines from an online source:
http://www.everypoet.com/archive/poetry/dante/dante_p_29.htm
 And when the car was opposite to me
 Thunder was heard; and all that folk august
 Seemed to have further progress interdicted,
 There with the vanward ensigns standing still.
 
Since "Virgil, sweet father" vanishes at 30:50, this is the
same mystery as the "name of the Father," the sparagmos, or
killing and cannibalizing of the father, which resulted in
the destruction of the infant vessel which would become the
man Dante, and the first apocalyptic witness, male, WTC 1.

The rest of canto 30 describes the passion attendant to the
youth Dante casting himself into Hades (the repose of saints)
as he finally "crossed Lethe, drinking its sweet flow" 30:143.
 
Canto 31 starts describing his subsequent pychic dissolution,
or "mise-en-bas", or "dark night of the soul" that afflicts,
and is well attested by, so many true poets and prophets.
 
Since the tantric act of youth Dante has made his own name a
near synonym (Hades versus Death) of the "name of the Father,"
Dante can now recover that mystery, to process it rationally.
It is in fact the only way for such a son to be disabused of
his father: "But when the condemnation of his sin/bursts from
the sinner's lips, here in our Court,/the grindstone is turned
back against the blade." 30:42 Jesus:Sowing wheat among tares.
 
Dante comes to the griffin's breast (recognize gk mastix)
31:113 and sees the reflection of the two-fold creature in
Beatrice's eyes 31:132, because now Dante *IS* the griffin.
 
We come to the tree Eve ate, and they praise the griffin for
not biting of it's savory bark, but that's tautologous, for
the griffin is male, and such a tantric act is purely female.
Of course, god-the-father forbade that, lest Eve recover the
name of her father. One such who did so is Emily Dickinson.
All such become the other apocalyptic witness, female, WTC 2.
Her destruction by plane is recorded in Purgatory 32:109-141.
The giant would be her evil father, but in general, all such.
 
I find 33:34 is salient today, sop suggesting to me turban:
"Know that the vessel which the serpent broke
 was, and is not. Let kim who bears the blame
 learn that God's vengeance has no fear of sops.
 
I'll omit, you who know my view can solve, the tantric part.
 
Here's a page of my old WTC posts, which do differ from above:
http://www.antelecom.net/~scheper/wtc.htm
 
Yours truly,
Glenn Scheper
scheper at antelecom.net
http://www.antelecom.net/~scheper/
Copyleft(!) Forward freely.
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