Muses

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The Muses appear in the Commedia as figures of invocation, never as characters on stage. In Purgatorio I 8 the poet addresses them with the appellation "sante Muse" ("holy Muses"), declaring himself consecrated to them. In Paradiso II 9 the "nove Muse" ("nine Muses") are mentioned together with Apollo and Minerva in the context of the paradisiacal navigation, in which they represent the art and technique of poetry. The note to the canto recalls how in the Purgatorio Dante invokes in particular Calliope, muse of epic poetry, while in the Paradiso the task extends to all nine and to Apollo himself. In canto II of the Inferno the invocation of the Muses properly opens the poem, taking the form of a classical topos in which the poet asks for strength for his extraordinary literary enterprise. The notes highlight the gradation among the three cantiche: six verses in the Inferno, twelve in the Purgatorio, thirty-six in the Paradiso.