Unfulfilled Vows . . . But To Whom? PARADISO, Canto V, Lines 1 - 16

Dante wants to know if someone (who?) can make an unfulfilled vow good with other good works?

Beatrice begins her answer with a tightly woven passage that illustrate a high degree of poetic skill . . . and then seems to acknowledge her own role in starting a canto of the poem.

Dante's question remains curious? To or for whom was the vow made? And how is it broken?

The segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:

[01:20] My English translation of PARADISO, Canto V, Lines 1 - 16. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, scroll down this page.

[03:15] Rhetorical strategies: fire, sight, and love tightly interwoven (along with a mixed metaphor!).

[09:05] Fire, sight, and love: the metaphoric crux for the theological idea of the vestige of eternal light in all things.

[13:14] The root of the problem of unfulfilled vows: potential litigation in heaven's court.

[18:04] A meta-canto possibly about the poet's unfulfilled vows . . . to Beatrice, yes, but perhaps also to his readers.

[24:16] Rereading PARADISO, Canto V, lines 1- 16.

My English translation of PARADISO, Canto V, Lines 1 - 16:

“If I flame you in the heat of love

Beyond the degree seen on earth,

So that I conquer the power of your sight,

“Don’t marvel; for this proceeds

From perfect sight, which as it perceives,

So moves its foot toward the perceived good.

“I see well how the eternal light

Is already resplendent in your mind.

Once seen, [this light] on its own and always ignites love.

“And if anything else seduces your love,

It is nothing more than a vestige of this [light],

Which, poorly understood, still glows in it.

“You want to know if an unfulfilled vow

Can be made whole with another service

So that the spirit is then secure from litigation.”

So Beatrice began this canto.