ABSTRACT
The opening of the poem introduces us to several figures which really belong to the family of those in the “Purgatorio”. There is Piccarda, sister of Forese, for whom Dante had felt a fraternal regard as a good but fragile creature torn and trampled upon amongst the political passions of the age. The journey continues, becoming miraculous in a manner only occasionally employed in the preceding poems. The poet tells how he ascended without knowing it to the sphere of fire, by gazing at the eyes of Beatrice, who kept hers fixed on things eternal, a marvel which is repeated time after time in the ascent from sphere to sphere. In addition to their literal and poetic meaning, these representations of light and song have another, a doctrinal interpretation, which they hold in common with the torments of the “Inferno” and punishments of the “Purgatorio.”.
