Fields of the Blessed

Sheltered fields, unfailing fruit, and a garden made of souls

A sheltered landscape can make happiness visible. Homer gives Menelaus a future without harsh weather and Alcinous fruit in every season. Virgil places blessed souls in green country. Dante moves from Eden’s first innocence to a heaven whose flowers are people.

1. Odyssey 4.561–569
2. Odyssey 7.112–121
3. Aeneid 6.637–644
4. Purgatorio 28.139–144
5. Paradiso 23.70–75