Paradiso

The Italian language evolved largely out of the Latin spoken by the common people of the Roman Empire (sometimes called “Vulgar Latin”). By Dante’s day, many different dialects had developed in various regions of Italy. However, Latin still had more literary prestige than any form of Italian, and writers in general were reluctant to write in the more informal vernacular tongues.

Dante, although he also wrote in Latin, is known as one of the first major literary figures to make a decisive choice in favor of Italian. Dante hoped to reach a wider audience in Italy—beyond the educated class that was familiar with Latin—and also to prove the strength and expressiveness of Italian as a poetic language, a point he argued in his treatise De vulgari eloquentia (“On Eloquence in the Vernacular”). Perhaps above all, Dante was responsible for inventing the idea of Italian and promoting its use for serious literature.

Dante wrote in the Tuscan dialect (more precisely, the Florentine dialect), although he did not hesitate to borrow words from other dialects as well. Dante’s linguistic creativity in the Paradiso is also shown in his frequent inventing of fanciful new words: for example, the words translated as “in-Himmed,” “in-you’d,” and “in-me’d” (9: 73, 81), as well as occasionally using straight Latin words.

Thanks to the almost universal respect accorded to Dante and his works, the Florentine dialect eventually became the basis of the standard Italian language. Dante’s example also inspired other authors in various countries to produce literature in their own vernaculars, thus encouraging the growth of national literary styles and the development of the languages themselves. In Italy, the writers who followed in Dante’s footsteps included Petrarch, Boccaccio, and Tasso. For them, the Paradiso in particular proved that Italian was capable of expressing lofty subjects in a majestic style of language.

The layout of Heaven in the Paradiso reflects ancient ideas about “the heavens,” or the visible universe. These ideas about astronomy predate modern science and therefore might require explanation for modern readers. Following the ancient Greek astronomer Ptolemy, Dante envisions the Earth as sitting motionless at the center of successive spheres—planetary bodies that each revolve in their respective orbit and around the Earth. This conception is reflected in the final line of the poem, which declares that God “moves the sun and all the other stars” (33: 145).

Each of the bodies is increasingly farther from the Earth, which Dante connects with increasing spiritual levels or ranks. First comes the moon, and then Mercury, Venus, the sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn—Uranus and Neptune would not be discovered until hundreds of years after Dante’s time. Then comes the Primum Mobile, or Starry Sphere, where are found the fixed (non-rotating) stars. Beyond this is the Crystalline Sphere, which constitutes the “outer shell” of the visible universe, and, finally, the Empyrean or “true Heaven.” The nonphysical part of the universe that predates all the other spheres, this is the home of God and the angels—pure spiritual beings—and is the final goal of Dante’s journey.

Each “sphere” contains souls that are suited to its moral and spiritual character, reflecting their successive rank in Heaven; the whole scheme forms a hierarchy ascending to the perfection of God. Dante himself experiences an increasing knowledge and understanding of God and religion as he ascends from sphere to sphere, symbolized by Beatrice’s increasing beauty.