The Divine Comedy: Paradiso Free online reading

In the final volume of The Divine Comedy, Dante completes his tour of the afterlife and rises to the highest sphere of heaven. His guide is Beatrice, who acts as both an object of devotion and also a source of instruction. In verse of the most sublime order, Dante not only describes the sights, sounds, and inhabitants of this celestial region, but also presents, with astonishing clarity, a comprehensive view of Catholic theology. Nor does he fail to explore the psychology of the saved souls, who, even in their habitual state of supernal bliss, still experience anger and disappointment over troubling events in the terrestrial world. However, at the end, even Dante's beloved Beatrice fades from his mind as he finds himself drawn ineluctably into ecstatic union with the Godhead itself.

This is the first recording of the elegant and accurate translation by Ichabod Charles Wright.