23. Faith, Hope, Love, and the Mystic Empyrean

The poem presents a number of preparatory climaxes to the reader as we move toward the final climax at the very end. In this lecture, we see the final lessons of Beatrice to Dante the pilgrim. We see the universe turned inside out as the pilgrim moves through seventh heaven, from which the earth seems very small, and beyond space and time into the realm of the empyrean. Here, the pilgrim sees the white rose that is the home of the souls in paradise, and as Beatrice returns to her place in this rose, her role as Dantes guide is taken over by Bernard of Clairvaux, Dantes third and final companion. We discuss some of the reasons that Bernard is a particularly important guide to the direct vision of God that constitutes the ending of the poem, including the various ways in which his life can be seen as a model for the pilgrim in his journey.