Visioni bibliche e investitura poetica. Spunti per una riflessione sulla poesia di Dante a partire dall’Epistola a Cangrande

The essay analyses paragraphs 77-82 of Dante’s Epistle to Cangrande della Scala. After a discussion of the three typologies of divine vision acknowledged by medieval culture since Augustine, the essay shows how the biblical examples recalled in the Epistle in relation to the visionary experience of Paradiso correspond to them: the raptus of Paul (visio intellectualis), the vision of the Apostles on Mount Tabor (visio corporalis), the vision of the prophet Ezekiel (visio imaginaria or spiritualis). Finally, the essay analyses how the choice of these unusual examples establishes a deep relationship with what the poet says about his own experience in the final cantos of Purgatorio and in Paradiso.