Commentary Par XI 1-12

In sharp contrast to both the opening six and concluding nine verses of the preceding canto, with their visionary taste of a Trinitarian and ordered love and then the sound made by the singing souls in the Sun (compared to the harmonious chiming of matins calling monks to prayer), the opening nine verses of this canto summon images of ceaseless and futile human activity, from which Dante is happy to have been, at least temporarily, liberated.  Defending both the importance and power of this introductory passage, disliked by some for delaying Francis's appearance in Thomas's narrative, see Aversano, 'S. Francesco nel canto XI del Paradiso' (in Aver.1984.1, pp. 169-77).