Dante Alighieri wrote La Divina Commedia in the early fourteenth century. Edgar Allan Poe wrote the “Adventure of Hans Pfaall” in the early nineteenth century. Two works with more than five hundred years of separation in creation yet, two works whose central theme is one in the same, the idea of transcending the confines of this world and rising to the unknown. The dictionary defines transcendence as 1: a state of being or existence above and beyond the limits of material experience, or 2: the state of excelling or surpassing or going beyond usual limits. In the course of these two works the main characters both make journeys to the moon, but both for plainly different reasons. One could also argue that the two works parallel the two definitions given just above. The purpose of this essay is to compare the idea of transcendence as it is presented in Dante’s “Paradiso” with the way it is presented in Poe’s “Adventure of Hans Pfaall”.

In the “Paradiso” Dante is a traveler of sorts making a journey not of the body, but more of the mind. One could argue that the first part of the definition given above is the type of transcendence that Dante is partaking in. For Dante the reason for going to the moon was not one of travel or exploration, but one of knowledge. A way to get closer to the creator himself, the beginning of all knowledge. In Dante’s travel to the moon indeed as he is rising off the material world in canto 1 he is transcending more toward his goal of rising to immortality and the chance to come face to face with the creator of all knowledge. In lines sixty-seven to seventy two of canto 1 it states:

“And as I looked, I felt begin within me
what Glaucus felt eating the herb that made him
a god among the others in the sea.
How speak trans-human change to human sense?
Let the example speak until God’s grace
grants the pure spirit the experience.

The ideas presented there in describe in detail the very essence of the first definition of transcendence. In the first stanza quoted Dante is talking of Glaucus, a fisherman, whose catch suddenly revived and leapt into the ocean after eating some of the herb it had been set on and turned into a god. He is describing himself becoming more of an immortal and leaving more of his material self behind. He is also stating the difficulty in translating this experience, which is beyond material scope, into a form that the non-enlightened can understand. Dante ends this section saying this inadequate example is going to have to suffice until God sees fit that the common man can witness this journey. In lines thirty-seven to forty two of canto II it states:

If I was a body (nor need we in this case
conceive how one dimension can bear another,
which must be if two bodies fill one space)
the more should my desire burn like the sun
to see that Essence in which one may see
how human nature and God blend into one.

These stanzas state Dante’s urge to be one with god. In the first stanza he is describing the phenomena that two bodies cannot occupy the same space at the same time. Yet as he ascends toward God, his being becomes one with the creator of all that he seeks. This in itself speaks of existence beyond the material experience as in the first part of the definition.

The work by Edgar Allan Poe entitled “Adventure of Hans Pfaall” is definitely a journey of the body and not that of the mind as was the case in Dante. In this story Poe’s character Hans Pfaall intends to distance himself from his problems by travelling to the moon where none of the creditors that are after him can remotely come close. Hans Pfaall decides that the best course of action for a man in his position it to remove himself from the problem. He sets to doing this through a trip to the moon and subsequent letter back to his “Excellencies” asking to be pardoned for his crimes. As should be obvious the reason for Hans Pfaall to make the journey to the moon is much more material than intellectual although it does take much intellect to get to the moon. The second definition of transcendence states: the state of excelling or surpassing or going beyond usual limits. In the story this is exactly what Hans Pfaall accomplishes. He travels to the moon where no one to this date has been thus surpassing or going beyond usual limits. The end of the story leaves the inhabitants of Rotterdam skeptical of his ever making the journey for different reasons none the least of which that he had been seen in a different town in a local pub. The story though whether true or not still describes a transcendence to the before unattainable moon.

Transcendence, a state of being or existence above and beyond the limits of material experience, or the state of excelling or surpassing or going beyond usual limits, as described in both of these stories is a trip of a journey to the moon. Although the characters of the stories leave the earth for different reasons and goals the end result is the same, a journey to the moon. For one it is a journey of spiritual enlightenment and for the other it is a journey for freedom from material worth.