"The Divine Comedy: Purgatory" by Dante Alighieri, Canto VI-Canto X

Dr. Callaway (United Kingdom)
The 14th-century narrative poem Paradise Lost describes a fictionalized version of the author traveling through Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory; the second of three parts describes the journey through Purgatory.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Canto I-Canto V, Canto VI-Canto X, Canto XI-Canto XV, Canto XVI-Canto XXI, Canto XXII-Canto XXVII, Canto XXVIII-Canto XXXIII
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. constancy
    the quality of being enduring and free from change
    Here Frederic Novello, with his hand
    Stretch’d forth, entreated; and of Pisa he,
    Who put the good Marzuco to such proof
    Of constancy.
  2. sojourn
    a temporary stay
    ...in their hope, if well Thy mind consider, that the sacred height Of judgment doth not stoop, because love’s flame In a short moment all fulfils, which he Who sojourns here, in right should satisfy. Besides, when I this point concluded thus, By praying no defect could be supplied; Because the pray’r had none access to God. Yet in...
  3. entreaty
    earnest or urgent request
    But Virgil with entreaty mild advanc’d,
    Requesting it to show the best ascent.
  4. factious
    dissenting with the majority opinion
    So are the’ Italian cities all o’erthrong’d
    With tyrants, and a great Marcellus made
    Of every petty factious villager.
  5. cloister
    residence that is a place of religious seclusion
    ...what desert Of mine, what favour rather undeserv’d, Shows thee to me? If I to hear that voice Am worthy, say if from below thou com’st And from what cloister’s pale?”—“Through every orb Of that sad region,” he reply’d, “thus far Am I arriv’d, by heav’nly influence led And with such aid I come. There is a place There...
  6. refulgent
    radiating or as if radiating light
    Refulgent gold, and silver thrice refin’d,
    And scarlet grain and ceruse, Indian wood
    Of lucid dye serene, fresh emeralds
    But newly broken, by the herbs and flowers
    Plac’d in that fair recess, in color all
    Had been surpass’d, as great surpasses less.
  7. vale
    a valley
    For from this eminence ye shall discern
    Better the acts and visages of all,
    Than in the nether vale among them mix’d.
  8. rend
    tear or be torn violently
    They are the father and the father-in-law
    Of Gallia’s bane: his vicious life they know
    And foul; thence comes the grief that rends them thus.
  9. stripling
    a person who is older than 12 but younger than 20
    “He, so robust of limb, who measure keeps In song, with him of feature prominent, With ev’ry virtue bore his girdle brac’d. And if that stripling who behinds him sits, King after him had liv’d, his virtue then From vessel to like vessel had been pour’d; Which may not of the other heirs be said....
  10. descry
    catch sight of
    Well I descried the whiteness on their heads;
    But in their visages the dazzled eye
    Was lost, as faculty that by too much
    Is overpower’d.
  11. resplendent
    having great beauty
    He then to me:
    “The four resplendent stars, thou saw’st this morn
    Are there beneath, and these ris’n in their stead.”
  12. tarry
    leave slowly and hesitantly
    Sordello and the other gentle shapes
    Tarrying, she bare thee up: and, as day shone,
    This summit reach’d: and I pursued her steps.
  13. prostrate
    stretched out and lying at full length along the ground
    Piously at his holy feet devolv’d
    I cast me, praying him for pity’s sake
    That he would open to me: but first fell
    Thrice on my bosom prostrate.
  14. sagacity
    the trait of having wisdom and good judgment
    “One is more precious: but the other needs
    Skill and sagacity, large share of each,
    Ere its good task to disengage the knot
    Be worthily perform’d. From Peter these
    I hold, of him instructed, that I err
    Rather in opening than in keeping fast;
    So but the suppliant at my feet implore.”
  15. suppliant
    humbly entreating
    “One is more precious: but the other needs
    Skill and sagacity, large share of each,
    Ere its good task to disengage the knot
    Be worthily perform’d. From Peter these
    I hold, of him instructed, that I err
    Rather in opening than in keeping fast;
    So but the suppliant at my feet implore.”
  16. vacuity
    the absence of matter
    From whence the brink
    Borders upon vacuity, to foot
    Of the steep bank, that rises still, the space
    Had measur’d thrice the stature of a man:
    And, distant as mine eye could wing its flight,
    To leftward now and now to right dispatch’d,
    That cornice equal in extent appear’d.
  17. beholder
    a person who becomes aware through the senses
    As, to support incumbent floor or roof,
    For corbel is a figure sometimes seen,
    That crumples up its knees unto its breast,
    With the feign’d posture stirring ruth unfeign’d
    In the beholder’s fancy; so I saw
    These fashion’d, when I noted well their guise.
Created on Wed May 06 08:35:14 EDT 2026 (updated Wed May 06 08:44:28 EDT 2026)

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