Commentary Purg XXVI 109-111

Guido's request allows Dante to formulate another defining moment that will use no more than the space of a difficult tercet to respond to the remarks of a poetic predecessor (see [Purg XXIV 49-51]).

      Beginning in these lines, words for truth and for speaking or for writing poetry wend their way through 22 lines: ver here in verse 109, [Purg XXVI 121], [Purg XXVI 126]; dir or its derivative detto (poem) in verse 111, [Purg XXVI 112], [Purg XXVI 119], [Purg XXVI 130].  Their conjunction reminds the reader of the importance of the issue of the possibility of poetic truth, given the traditional view that poets are liars.  It may be helpful to know that in Dante's day a poet in the vernacular was known as a dicitore per rima, a 'speaker in rhyme.'