Paradiso

Author: Dante

content

• Paradiso - Canto 1, 2, 3
• Paradiso - Canto 6 - History of Roman Empire
• Paradiso - Canto 10, 11 - Heaven of the Sun
• Paradiso - Canto 14 - Ascent to Fifth Heaven, Mars
• Paradiso - Canto 15 - Cacciaguida
• Paradiso - Canto 16 - critique of Florence
• Paradiso - Canto 17 - prophecy of exile
• Paradiso - Canto 24, 25 - Heaven of the Fixed Stars
• Paradiso - Canto 27
• Paradiso - Canto 31, 32, 33

depiction of heaven

• Souls saved from any inclination to sin

background

• Perfect state of perpetual happiness
• Scholastic philosophy
• Theology
• Power of imagination
  • Light
  • Motion
  • Sound
  • Describe world of the spirit
    • Unseen
    • Intangible
    • Dante’s neologisms
• Sources
  • Cosmological models
    • Plato
    • Aristotle
    • Ptolemy
  • Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians
    • Celestial visit
  • Medieval works with celestial travels of allegorical figures
    • Theological
    • Philosophical
    • Bernardus Silvestris’ Cosmographia
    • Alan de Lille’s Anticlaudianus
  • Popular Christian narratives of heavenly journeys or visions
  • Mohammed’s visit to the other world
    • Latin or French versions
    • “Book of the Ladder”

analysis

• Poetics of ^7bca43
  • Ineffable
  • Unsayable
  • Not invented by Dante
    • Epic poetry tradition
• Risk of writing
  • Theological risks
    • Body and soul
    • Vision
    • Intentionally vague about
      • Ascension
      • Circumstances of journey
      • Metaphors
      • “I don’t know”
      • “I can’t say”
  • Less sources
    • Visual
    • Literary
  • Representation
    • Some variation
      • Stylistic requirement
        • Engagement
    • Balance with religious sources
• Culmination of the Divine Comedy
  • Dante’s goal since
    • Beginning of work
    • Vita Nuova
      • Poetry
        • To Beatrice
      • Prose
      • Period of being lost
        • Searching for other muses
      • Wants to write about Beatrice
        • Never said about anyone before
        • Reconnecting in larger view
    • Decades of pursuit
      • Complex architecture
• Souls share infinite knowledge with God
  • Facilitate Dante’s perfect understanding
    • Not for senses of someone alive
      • Obstacle → poetic choices
  • Fullness of
    • Vision
    • Knowledge
    • Love
• Roman emperor
  • Spokesperson for political message
    • Canto 6
• Canticle of completion
  • Last family member
  • Discussions that put previous ones into perspective
  • Fulfillment of models
    • Incomplete in Hell
• Elevation of style
• Theological exams
  • By apostles
• Dante the Pilgrim vs. Dante the Author
  • Profoundly contradictory
    • Elevating family
    • Elevating previous literary experience
    • Cleansed & purified
  • Very human
  • Multifaceted

related

• Divine Comedy

references

• Beatrice Arduini

highlights

The “desired end” of the intellect of God, in whom is perfect knowledge. – p. 309

The telos of life is beauty and contemplation

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