The Divine Comedy (Italian: La Divina Commedia) is an epic poem written by Dante Alighieri between 1308 and his death in 1321. It is widely considered the preeminent work of Italian literature, and is seen as one of the greatest works of world literature. The poems imaginative and allegorical vision of the Christian afterlife is a culmination of the medieval world-view as it had developed in the Western Church. It helped establish the Tuscan dialect in which it is written as the Italian st...

Dantes Hell is one of the most remarkable visions in Western literature. An allegory for his and future ages, it is, at the same time, an account of terrifying realism. Passing under a lintel emblazoned with these frightening words, the poet is led down into the depths by Virgil and shown those doomed to suffer eternal torment for vices exhibited and sins committed on earth. The Inferno is the first part of the long journey which continues through redemption to revelation through Purgatory a...

Purgatory is the second part of Dantes The Divine Comedy. We find the Poet, with his guide Virgil, ascending the terraces of the Mount of Purgatory inhabited by those doing penance to expiate their sins on earth. There are the proud forced to circle their terrace for aeons bent double in humility; the slothful running around crying out examples of zeal and sloth; while the lustful are purged by fire.

Led by his guide Beatrice, Dante leaves the Earth behind and soars through the heavenly spheres of Paradise. In this third and final part of the Divine Comedy, he encounters the just rulers and holy saints of the Church. The horrors of the Inferno and the trials of Purgatory are left far behind. Ultimately, in Paradise, Dante is granted a vision of Gods heavenly court the angels, the Blessed Virgin and God Himself.

This file includes the original (Inferno, Purgatorio, and Inferno) in Italian, plus an English translation by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. According to Wikipedia: "Durante degli Alighieri ( c.1265 - 1321), commonly known as Dante Alighieri, was a Florentine poet of the Middle Ages. His central work, the Divina Commedia (originally called "Commedia" and later called "Divina" (divine) by Boccaccio hence "Divina Commedia"), is often considered the greatest literary work composed in the Italian...

De vulgari eloquentia, written by Dante in the early years of the fourteenth century, is the only known work of medieval literary theory to have been produced by a practising poet, and the first to assert the intrinsic superiority of living, vernacular languages over Latin. Its opening consideration of language as a sign-system includes foreshadowings of twentieth-century semiotics, and later sections contain the first serious effort at literary criticism based on close analytical reading ...

Discover Dante's original Inferno in this modern and acclaimed Penguin translation.Describing Dante's descent into Hell with Virgil as a guide, Inferno depicts a cruel underworld in which desperate figures are condemned to eternal damnation for committing one or more of seven deadly sins. As he descends through nine concentric circles of increasingly agonising torture, Dante encounters many doomed souls before he is finally ready to meet the ultimate evil in the h...

On the night before Good Friday, Dante finds himself lost in a dark wood and pursued by beasts. Rescued by the poet Virgil, the young man is guided through the underworld, travelling through the nine circles of Hell before ascending to Purgatory. Scaling the seven terraces of the mountain, the poet is reunited with his love Beatrice, who guides him through Heaven’s nine celestial spheres.Completed shortly before the author’s death in 1321, Dante Alighieri’s epic poem is considered ...

Illustrated by Gustave Dore. According to Wikipedia: "Durante degli Alighieri (c.1265 - 1321), commonly known as Dante Alighieri, was a Florentine poet of the Middle Ages. His central work, the Divina Commedia (originally called "Commedia" and later called "Divina" (divine) by Boccaccio hence "Divina Commedia"), is often considered the greatest literary work composed in the Italian language and a masterpiece of world literature." ... Paul" Gustave Doré (January 6, 1832 – January 23, 1883) ...

The Inferno, the first section of the 14th century poem The Divine Comedy, tells of the passage of Dante through Hell, guided by the Roman poet Virgil.Hell is described as nine circles of suffering beneath the Earth.Allegorically, the epic grandeur of Dante’s masterpieceThe Divine Comedy represents the journey of the soul towards God, with the Inferno describing the recognition and ultimate rejection of sin.“Dante and Shakespeare divide the world between them...

The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, written in the early 14th century, is one of the most influential works of Western literature, an epic poem that takes readers on an allegorical journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. Structured as three parts—Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso—the poem follows Dante himself, led by the Roman poet Virgil and later by his idealized love, Beatrice, as he travels to these realms to attain spiritual redemption....

Describing Dante's descent into Hell midway through his life with Virgil as a guide, Inferno depicts a cruel underworld in which desperate figures are condemned to eternal damnation for committing one or more of seven deadly sins. As he descends through nine concentric circles of increasingly agonising torture, Dante encounters doomed souls including the pagan Aeneas, the liar Odysseus, the suicide Cleopatra, and his own political enemies, damned for their deceit. Led by leering demons, th...