Preliminary points:
 

Paradise: a perfect state of perpetual happiness
 

Scholastic philosophy/theology pervade the canticle
 

Dante's great and unrivaled power of imagination: the invention of images of light, motion, sound to attempt to describe the undescribable unseen and intangible world of the spirit. The invention of a new vocabulary to present the ineffable: neologisms
 

all souls see all things in God: the fullness of vision, knowledge, love
 

each soul receives knowledge, joy and love to the full extent of its capacity, its capacity having been foreordained by God's just but mysterious will. The degree of beatitude depends on the inner potential which is foreordained. The souls in the three lowest heavens -- Moon, Mercury, and Venus -- were foreordained to have some earthly stain, and these heavens are in the shadow of the earth
 

nine orders of angels, one for each heavenly sphere
 

the material universe -- the Empyrean, the true universe, the world of pure spirit
 

the canticle of conclusions, completion: the presentation of souls who are the last family member; the discussions that put previous ones into perspective; the fulfillment of models, incomplete in Hell, complete here
 

the distinction between the three realms:
 

Hell: static --> captivity; Purgatory: dynamic --> movement from bondage to freedom; Paradise: static --> freedom

the exordium: "The glory of the One who moves all things..." ("La gloria di colui che tutto move...")
 

invocation to Apollo
 

the time of the ascent: noon (cf. Christ's ascension)
 

the manner of ascent: through Beatrice
 

images of light, fire, sparks
 

the allusion to Glaucus and the trasumanar ("passing beyond the human")
 

the rapidity of the movement
 

the order of the universe

the address to the reader: nautical imagery
 

the occurrence of things that defy reason
 

the problem of the moon-spots and its resolution
 

the hierarchical order of the universe and its great diversity

Heaven of the Moon
 

Inconstant nuns: the Empress Constance and Piccarda Donati: "And in His will there is our peace" ("E 'n la sua voluntade è nostra pace")
 

Piccarda is the sister of Forese and Corso: she is the last family member of the Donati to be mentioned and her discussion puts previous ones into perspective

the Heaven of Mercury: ambitious statesmen: the emperor Justinian
 

the epic story of the Roman Empire, as seen in its unified history, in its glory as the fulfillment of the Divine Idea: the eagle as symbol unifies the canto
 

the three cantos six:
 

• Inferno 6: Florence, political disintegration
• Purgatory 6: Italy, the invective against political disunity in contemporary society. The hope for unity and the reconstruction of society out of political chaos signaled by the embrace between Sordello and Virgil
• Paradise 6: the Empire in history, its unified story, the perfect earthly realm

the Heaven of the Sun (beyond the shadow of the earth): the theologians
 

canto 10, first 27 verses: a prologue to a new section of the poem
 

the 24 (12 + 12) souls who form the two wheels of lights
 

Thomas Aquinas and Sigier de Brabant (whose deterministic thought negated 1) creation ex nihilo, 2) the immortality of the soul, and 3) free will
 

The "double truth": the "truth of reason" and the "truth of faith"

the life of St. Francis of Assisi (hagiography) recounted by Thomas Aquinas: the key events:
 

• marriage to Lady Poverty ( --> the ideal marriage of Christ and the Church)
• the approval (Innocent III) and confirmation (Honorius III) of the Franciscan Order
• preaching before the Sultan
• the receiving of the stigmata

 

condemnation of the decline of the Dominican Order

the life of St. Dominic recounted by Bonaventure
 

condemnation of the division in the Franciscan Order: Spirituales and Conventuales
 

the other twelve theologians: Joachim of Flora

the Heaven of Mars: the crusaders, soldiers of the faith
 

the cross formed in heaven by the souls
 

Cacciaguida, Dante's great-great-grandfather
 

Dante becomes the new Aeneas and the new Paul (vv. 25-30)
 

the evocation of the old Florence

Cacciaguida's response to Dante's questions concerning the old Florence, his ancestors and the other famous families, and the reasons for its decline

the prophecy of Dante's exile
 

Cacciaguida's directive to the Pilgrim as poet

The Heaven of Jupiter: just rulers
 

skywriting: "Diligite iustitiam qui iudicatis terram" ("Love justice you who judge the world"): the transformation of the final "M" into the lily and then into the eagle

the eagle speaks: unity in multiplicity
 

the justice for the virtuous pagans: humankind's limited vision and God's infinite knowledge and unfathomable justice
 

invective against contemporary rulers: the acrostic LVE = LUE (= "pestilence")

the six most just rulers in the eye of the eagle, including Trajan and Ripheus
 

the anaphora "now he has learned" ("ora conosce"): their knowledge then on earth and now in heaven
 

knowledge and the lack of knowledge: the mystery of "predestination"

The opening tercets that disclose the Pilgrim-Poet's fondest desire: to be crowned poet laureate in the Florentine Baptistery
 

St. James and the examination on hope
 

The appearance of St. John

St John and the examination on love
 

the Pilgrim's meeting with Adam: how long ago was he created, how much time did he spend in the Garden of Eden, what was the nature of the first sin, and what was the language that he spoke

Peter's invective against corrupt popes and Papacy and Dante's poetic mission
 

the earthward gaze and the ascent to the Primum Mobile
 

the changeover from the "earth-centered" to the "God-centered" universe: from the material to the spiritual

Beatrice's lament over the perversity of humankind and her prophecy of apocalyptic redemption

the point of light encircled by nine rings: the model of the spiritual universe (the true one) and its copy: the material universe
 

the angelic hierarchy: Dionysius and St. Gregory

the arrival in the Empyrean
 

the river of light and its transformation
 

the Light of Glory (Lumen Gloriae)
 

the throne prepared for Henry VII
 

the last words of Beatrice

Dante the Pilgrim in Paradise: Rome and the last reference to Florence
 

Beatrice --> St. Bernard: the changeover in guides for the final vision
 

Dante's last words to Beatrice (use of the "tu" form)

the order of Paradise as seen in the Celestial Rose: the arrangement of the souls
 

the importance of Mary for the final ascent to the Beatific Vision; Mary as intercessor

Bernard's prayer to the Virgin Mary in good liturgical style: vv. 1-39
 

Dante's attempts to describe the vision of God. God as the Book
 

the description of the Trinity: the three concentric circles
 

the attempt to see and understand the mystery of incarnation
 

the sudden flash of intuition, vision aided by Divine Grace
 

the final image in the poem: the perfect circle, the balanced wheel
 

Dante in complete harmony with the universe: microcosm and macrocosm are joined in perfect harmony