Dante's Paradise: The Final Cantos and Beatific Vision - Lecture 23

Explore the culmination of Dante's journey through Paradise in this lecture on the final cantos of the Divine Comedy. Delve into the pilgrim's ascent into the Empyrean, a realm of pure light beyond time and space, and examine the symbolic representation of the Heavenly Jerusalem. Analyze Dante's fusion of garden and city imagery, his political vision, and the harmony of oppositions as he approaches the beatific vision. Reflect on St. Bernard's prayer to the Virgin Mary and Dante's struggle to describe the face of God in his final vision. Gain insights into the poet's admission of defeat in capturing the divine experience and the convergence of his pilgrimage's end with the measure of its success.

- Chapter 1. Into the Empyrean
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- Chapter 2. Canto XXX: Heavenly Jerusalem; Theatre and Imagination; Simon Magus
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- Chapter 3. Canto XXXI: Farewell to Beatrice
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- Chapter 4. Canto XXXIII: The Final Vision; The Journey and Its Telling
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- Chapter 5. Question and Answer
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