Wash All My Sins Away

As Dante enters Purgatory, Longfellow steps inside the cathedral. Both are now inside the church – the realm of the saved. Like the first sonnet, the third sonnet is somber and reflective. This is Purgatory, and here the souls mourn their sins.

To create the solemn mood, the octave of the sonnet sets up an atmosphere of sanctity. There is an otherworldly quality that greets all the senses – the smell of incense, the light of the candles, and the sound of whispered Latin prayers. In the book of Revelation, incense symbolizes the prayers of the saints. In Catholic churches, votive candles are often lit as prayers are offered. The incense, candles, and whisperings are the prayers of the souls as they gradually ascend the mount of Purgatory.

Inside the church, Longfellow is surrounded by the dead souls who are buried in tombs along the aisles and down below in the crypt. Longfellow pictures himself as hearing the life stories of the Christians in his cathedral, who are still working their way into heaven. This is like Dante, who is encircled by a cloud of souls in Purgatory—souls who are gradually being released from the weight of sin.

Longfellow’s mood invites contemplation and introspection. For him, Purgatory is the place of repentance, not of rejoicing. His rejoicing will be saved for the time when the burden of sin is lifted and the soul is free to rise to God.

In the sestet, Longfellow describes the process of repentance more specifically. He hears “rehearsals of forgotten tragedies / And lamentations from the crypt below.” (10-11) The dead souls confess their sins to Longfellow, just like they do to Dante. Longfellow learns and profits from by their example. Additionally, these confessions may serve a similar purpose as the whip and the rein found on each step of Purgatory. The rein shows negative examples of each of the seven deadly sins, warning Dante not to commit these sins; the whip displays positive examples of the corresponding virtues, spurring the poet on to love and good works.

While the dead souls confess their sins, their confessions and prayers rise upwards to God. This parallels the soul’s ascent in Purgatory: as each sin is rubbed away, the soul rises higher to God, love, and holiness.

This sonnet ends with the emotional announcement of God’s pardon (13-14). Longfellow is quoting Isaiah 1:18, but he is also referring to Dante’s “baptism” in the garden. As Matilda plunges Dante into Lethe, he hears her quote from Psalm 51: “Asperges me hyssopo, et mundabor; lavabis me, et super nivem dealbabor” (Ciardi 560). Like the poet David, Dante is washed clean as he repents from his sins. Once the poet has confessed, God grants his pardon. Rejoicing now replaces repentance.