Purgatorio , Etna, and the Empire of Love

This chapter describes how Dante's Purgatorio can be approached as a poem where interpretation and negotiation are skills that are gradually acquired in aid of progress toward an imperium of the future. As the central canticle in the Divina Commedia, this part of the poem focuses on those who have been saved but cannot immediately enter Paradiso. The mountain of Purgatory is composed of seven terraces, after ante-Purgatory, and the penitents find themselves on the terrace that corresponds to their greatest vice, in the process of redeeming themselves from their sin. Dante's progress up the mountain is marked by two complementary motivations: a force toward redemption and a force toward clarity through poetic echoing and citation. The chapter then considers the strong resonances between Dante's progress and the return of Proserpina.