Paradiso

The third and final phase of the Divine Comedy sees Dante ascending to Paradise with Beatrice – his idealized version of the perfect woman, symbolic of both romantic and divine love – now replacing Virgil as his guide. Dante’s cosmology is passed on the geocentric model, which was widely accepted at the time. Paradise consists of nine celestial spheres, which rotate around the Earth.

These comprise the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the Fixed Stars (the constellations and other extra-solar phenomena, and finally the Primum Mobile – the outermost sphere that provides motion for the whole cosmos. Beyond the Primum Mobile and physical existence lies the Empyrean, God’s dwelling place. The poem closes with Dante reaching this lofty site, and trying to discern the truth of God. This comes to him in a moment of intuition which he canot express in words, understanding simply that God’s love has returned him to the straight path, and that this is as much a function of the cosmos as the rotation of the solar system.