Dissertation on Birds of Prey and the Sport - the Falconry Heritage ...

are of course excellent. Dante has used the birds with the best possible eyesight as a
symbol of these divine beings who deliver a speech on vision.
The attitude of the souls that Dante encounters here in Paradiso is one of
cooperation and union. This is shown by their continual coordinated movement and by
their acting, in concord, like different sorts of birds that have very positive connotations
but in reality ought not to get along. As in the previous canto, where the souls spell out
"DILIGITE IUSTITIAM QUI IUDICATIS TERRAM," like cranes flying in formation,
the souls here are again engaged in a group endeavor, representing an eagle that is acting
like a falcon.
Dante's journey records his quest both for the enlightenment of his soul and for
the highest possible guide for poetic inspiration. He progressively develops the
images of falcons and cranes, respectively, to illustrate these processes. In Inferno
he finds wild, unruly, goalless falcons and hawks that reflect the state of the
damned, and his own previous mental state, lost in the selva. He also finds the lost
souls enacting a static parody of the migrationlpilgrimage of cranes, affected by
lustful writing; he ponders the effects of the earthly-inspired writings of his youth.
The pilgrims of Purgatorio, like himself, are, as are the falcons and cranes to whom
they are compared, actively seeking a goal, participating in a quest for fulfillment.
The saved souls of Paradiso act like a heavenly falcon whose goal is clear, and they
rejoice like satisfied birds; their pilgrimage is complete. Their dance imitates the
most perfect crane dance possible: they directly spell out the Word of God. Dante's
poetic powers have risen by this point to be able to record such an experience and
such a message. Dante thus enacts the role of scribe of God. God, the ultimate