Lectura Dantis: Paradiso XXXI

Abstract

This article analyzes the structure and role of Paradiso XXXI, the second of the four final cantos of Paradiso, all set in the Empyrean. The canto amplifies the initial presentation of the Empyrean in Canto XXX, both in its depiction of the role of the angels and its heterodox presentation of the blessed in their «glorious bodies» as they will appear at the Last Judgment. It also contains the surprising substitution of Saint Bernard for Beatrice and Dante’s farewell prayer to Beatrice. In reading the canto’s similes, the centrality of the idea of pilgrimage becomes clear, and points to the way in which Dante creates a poetic personal alternative to Pope Boniface’s Jubilee of 1300, the fictional date of Dante’s poem.