Circulating melody in the key of sapphire: Paradiso 23

Abstract

Paradiso 23 is intensely lyrical. Everything in it is part of a coherent construct both readable in relation to itself alone and also as part of a larger set of themes, images, and narrative strategies. Even by the standards of the Paradiso, it takes place in an atmosphere of exalted rarification and intense dependence on metaphor. Until the final lines there is no hint of earthly troubles, nor are we given the cosmological or theological discourses we have come to expect. The canto is replete with tropes of phonic repetition (alliteration and assonance), with Latinisms, and exclamations—all of which serve to magnify its intensity and stylistic elegance, even while conveying, for most readers, an effect of simplicity. Instead of the customary dialogue between Dante and the souls that he encounters, this canto is given over to spectacle; the only dialogue is between Dante and Beatrice.