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Canto 1
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Purgatorio, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Purgatory and the Heavenward Journey
Love, Sin, and God
Free Will
Spiritual Power vs. Earthly Power
Time
Summary
Analysis
It’s now sunrise, and Virgil and Dante walk along the shore. Suddenly, Dante sees a light moving swiftly across the sea, growing brighter as it draws near. Virgil points out that the approaching ship is being piloted by an angel with upraised wings. The ship contains 100 spirits, all singing “In exitu Israel de Aegypto” in unison. The angel makes the sign of the cross over the group of spirits and departs.
The ship bears souls newly arrived in Purgatory. This arrival contrasts with the ferrying of damned souls into Hell in Dante’s Inferno; while those souls arrived individually, weeping and cursing, these souls arrive singing in unison—suggesting that the journey toward salvation is communal, marked by fellowship, and that all of these souls have hope because they will eventually get to Heaven. The song they sing is Psalm 114, “When Israel went out of Egypt…”
Themes
The souls huddle on the shore, taking in their new surroundings. They ask Virgil and Dante for directions to Mount Purgatory, but Virgil explains that they, too, are pilgrims. Awed, the souls notice that Dante is still living, and one figure steps forward from the crowd to embrace him. Dante realizes it is his friend Casella and asks Casella to sing one of the love songs he used to compose to soothe Dante’s weariness. Casella does, to everyone’s enjoyment. As the group stands still, Cato returns and scolds them all for loitering. The souls scatter like a flock of startled birds.
Little is known of Casella except that he was a real-life musician friend of Dante’s, and the song he sings, “Love that speaks reasons in my mind to me,” was based on Dante’s own poetry. Cato’s rebuke, however, reminds everyone that Purgatory is not a place for leisured enjoyment, but for active striving.
Themes
