These seven essays are intended to serve as an introduction to the study of Dante's Paradiso; six of them deal directly with the Paradiso itself, while the seventh touches upon certain of Dante's Letters, which illustrate his frame of mind in that epoch of his life during which the Divina Commedia was composed, or, at least, took final shape. Contents: Dante's Paradise; Within Earth's Shadow; Prudence and Fortitude; Empire and Cloister; Above the Celestial Stairway; Empyrean; Dante's Letters.