Paradiso, Canto 31 with Dr. Greg Roper 

Pat Camerino : many thanks for your canto summaries. They have been a help all the way through this 100 days. And many thanks to Dr.Greg Roper - beautifully expressed lecture.

Thank you Dr. Roper. This is a phenomenal and in-depth summary.

Your enthusiasm made this lecture even more enjoyable. Thank you.

Dr. Roper, I truly enjoyed your presentation. Besides being very knowledgeable and articulate, you have the imagination and talent of a good storyteller and you make Dante come alive. Thank you so much!

I loved reading Canto 31 and your lecture made it even better, more rich and complex in a beautiful way. Thank you so much Dr. Roper! A blessed Good Friday to everyone!

(Excellent analysis of a given canto; among the best! Nevertheless, I am adding my own usual summary.) Canto 31: Dante is enraptured by the vision of the mystical white-rose (candida rosa) and the angelic bees, with golden wings, white robes and faces filled with burning love, who carry Christ’s peace to its petaled saints and return with their bliss to the luminescent hive from which they have come. The invading Germanic tribes, who first came upon the glory of Rome, could not have been more awed than Dante now is, seeing the city of God spread out before him. He is so awestruck that he is content to exist in total silence, neither speaking nor hearing, until he realizes he has additional questions for Beatrice. He turns towards the one beside him and sees it is not Beatrice standing there, but an elderly spirit who identifies himself as Bernard, the abbot of Clairvaux, known for his mystic contemplation, his devotion to Mary, and as the preacher of the Second Crusade. Bernard advises Dante to turn his attention to the third tier of the white-rose and behold Beatrice who has returned to her prepared throne, having accomplished her task of leading their meditative journey through Paradise. Dante prays to her, desiring that she remember him on his return after his own death. She smiles at him and beholds the luminous fountain, the Beatific Vision, of the Empyrean. The poet hungers for a true appearance of Christ, one that is more than the virtual image once left on Veronica’s veil. Bernard urges Dante to look towards the topmost tier in order to behold Mary, whose light exceeds that of a morning sunrise. The contemplative saint urges the poet to interact with her so that she may serve as his intercessor in his own contemplation, his own oneness, with the divine. Dante joins Bernard in his ardent gaze of the Queen of Heaven.

Wow, I never knew the story behind “Veronica”! Another wonderful lecture.

Thank you, Dr. Roper!!!! This was such a beautiful Canto, and you truly grasped the heart of it. We start to see the fruits of where we are in Paradise. Language begins to stretch beyond what we can bear, but in the only way that is fitting to the brilliant beauty being touched. The river-circle-rose-legion-swarm of blessedness is like music that overwhelms us in complexity and sound and sweetness all at once. Divine love and divine peace are bound together. How can we approach these unapproachable things? Poetry. I have long had a hard time understanding poetry and defining it. Those days may be over, even though the understanding part is not completed. Poetry seems to be the use of language that approaches the unapproachable and unsayable things the closest. This doesn't have to always be speaking about Heaven, though. Things beyond normal descriptive capacity require literary tools beyond normal descriptive capacity. It is a fine line to get it right and make something truly beautiful. Dante does it. I am convinced that Dante does it better than anyone. This POEM is IT. (damn, I need to learn Italian) Do you hope for the True Image of God? Do you yearn to complete your faith? Dante is giving us a glimpse of what that vision, that completion will look like. Nearing closer and closer, things start to get left behind. My sense of time and planning during Easter break. Dante's mentions of Florence and corruption back on earth are left far behind. This feels like a great stepping forward from the dim things to the eternally bright and seen things. Part of this launch forward is she that is Queen, the Holy Mother of God, the Blessed Ever-Virgin Mary. St. Bernard is right to point the Pilgrim to her. Her beauty reflects and magnifies the One in a way that no other creature will. The clear path is now seen: Dante will be brought to the Vision by the aid of his Mother. This poem is beyond me. It could be the greatest literary work of Western Civilization. We'll see. Thank you!

Freedom, not slavery. That is paradise.

wow.