Structural

Mars

The Heaven of Mars is the fifth heaven of Dante's Paradise, reached after the passage from the Heaven of the Sun in Canto XIV, where Dante hears a celestial hymn and sees brilliant lights.

Description

The Heaven of Mars is the heaven of Paradise that Dante enters after the passage from the Heaven of the Sun, a transition completed in Canto XIV of the cantica. In this heaven the pilgrim hears a celestial hymn whose words he grasps only in part, sensing that it is a song of praise, and beholds lights that gather into a single melody. The verses highlight how Beatrice's eyes become ever more beautiful as one ascends from heaven to heaven, and Dante himself acknowledges that he has not yet turned to contemplate them in the new heaven. The passage from the Heaven of the Sun to the Heaven of Mars marks the close of one scene and the opening of a new one, in a fullness of light and music.

In the text

Linked verses

9 verses