The Expanding Community of Women in the Moon: PARADISO, Canto III, Lines 109 - 130
Piccarda Donati doesn’t stop her monologue with the cryptic line about her life after the convent. She turns to another figure in the lunar landscape: Constance I of Sicily, the Holy Roman Empress and...
23 Sep 23min
The Violent yet Elliptical End to Piccarda Donati's Story: PARADISO, Canto III, Lines 88 - 108
Piccarda Donati finally answers the question about who she is. She's given her name but not much else about her. In twelve lines (or four tercets) she brings her personal story to its violent yet elli...
20 Sep 27min
Piccarda Donati's Apotheosis of the Will: PARADISO, Canto III, Lines 58 - 87
Piccarda has confessed to her more humble place in the heavens. Our pilgrim Dante then wants to know if she wants more.Her answer leads her to an apotheosis of the will. Everything in the universe is ...
16 Sep 30min
The First Soul in Paradise, Piccarda Donati: PARADISO, Canto III, Lines 34 - 57
At long last, the first soul--or "shade"--steps forward in Paradise. She's Piccarda Donati, a figure we've already encountered once (maybe even twice) in COMEDY.Dante flatters her to speak and she beg...
13 Sep 29min
Catching Feelings in the Sensual Sphere of the Moon: PARADISO, Canto III, Lines 1 - 33
Dante is about to meet the first souls in Paradise, emerging from the liquid light of the moon.The poetry is lush and sensuous. The metaphors are complex and compounded. And Beatrice is a bit chilly, ...
9 Sep 28min
The Souls of the Universe: PARADISO, Canto II, Lines 127 - 148
Beatrice concludes her explanation for moon spots by veering away from them specifically to talk about the nature of the universe.Blessed movers turn the spheres. Or perhaps inhabit them. Or are bound...
6 Sep 27min
The Diversity of Being in a Universe of Light: PARADISO, Canto II, Lines 106 - 126
Beatrice now launches into the true explanation for moon spots, found not in folklore, not in natural philosophy, but in metaphysics.Her explanation pushes her to disclose the parts of the universe we...
2 Sep 28min
Testing Theology With Optics: PARADISO, Canto II, Lines 85 - 105
Beatrice continues in her scientific and Scholastic explanation for moon spots by taking apart a secondary argument . . . and proposing an optical experiment.She voices an objection Dante might have: ...
30 Aug 26min
