Of Moon Spots and Virgil: PARADISO, Canto II, Lines 46 - 63
Now that our pilgrim Dante is standing in the moon, he has a fundamental question: Why are there spots on the moon?And he thinks he knows the answer, right out of natural philosophy. They're caused by...
23 Aug 21min
Incarnated in the Moon: PARADISO, Canto II, Lines 19 - 45
After Dante's warning to his readers (or perhaps some of his readers), we return to the plot, ascending through the heavens to arrive at the moon . . . or really, in the moon.Dante and Beatrice find t...
19 Aug 28min
Go Home: PARADISO, Canto II, Lines 1 - 18
Our poet steps out of the shadows with an important message: "Go home."Because PARADISO is hard. Because we might get lost. Because we're not prepared.The stark address to all readers--or perhaps to a...
16 Aug 25min
Of Natural Instincts and Their Natural Ends: PARADISO, Canto I, Lines 115 - 142
Beatrice continues in her discourse about our natural instincts, making the bold claim that they can lead us to our natural ends . . . which are the good, not the catastrophic bad.Her Scholastic theol...
12 Aug 23min
Sailing Across the Great Sea of "To Be": PARADISO, Canto I, Lines 94 - 114
Beatrice has answered Dante's first doubt, but he has another. He can't quite understand how he, maybe in his body, can make his way across the universe.She doesn't have a quick answer. Instead, she h...
9 Aug 25min
Returning Home Through the Music of the Spheres: PARADISO, Canto I, Lines 61 - 93
Our pilgrim finds everything doubled in brightness . . . because he's begun to fly up to the heavens, although he doesn't know it at first.He's too busy figuring out all that light . . . and listening...
5 Aug 37min
Staring at the Sun: PARADISO, Canto I, Lines 37 - 60
The plot gets underway in PARADISO.Our pilgrim Dante turns to Beatrice . . . who is paying him no attention. She's staring at the sun.So he does the same! He hasn't even left earth, yet the miraculous...
2 Aug 36min
A Polyvocal Passage With All Its Dissonances: PARADISO, Canto I, Lines 13 - 36
Our poet moves from his scholastic and even (medieval) scientific opening of PARADISO into his invocation . . . to Apollo?This passage has often embarrassed Dante scholars who feel the need to excuse ...
29 Jul 41min
