Divine Comedy

The Divine Comedy is an epic poem written by Dante Alighieri. It is about a trip through the afterlife. The poem has three parts: Inferno (Hell), Purgatorio (Purgatory), and Paradiso (Paradise, or Heaven). The Divine Comedy is a piece of world literature.^[1]

Inferno is the most famous section of the poem. The poem is about the travels of a man through Christian hell, purgatory, and heaven. Note that "comedy" does not mean funny here, but rather that it has a positive ending.

↑ For example, Encyclopedia Americana, 2006, Vol. 30. p. 605: "the greatest single work of Italian literature;" John Julius Norwich, The Italians: History, Art, and the Genius of a People, Abrams, 1983, p. 27: "his tremendous poem, still after six and a half centuries the supreme work of Italian literature, remains – after the legacy of ancient Rome – the grandest single element in the Italian heritage;" and Robert Reinhold Ergang, The Renaissance, Van Nostrand, 1967, p. 103: "Many literary historians regard the Divine Comedy as the greatest work of Italian literature. In world literature it is ranked as an epic poem of the highest order."

[1] For example, Encyclopedia Americana, 2006, Vol. 30. p. 605: "the greatest single work of Italian literature;" John Julius Norwich, The Italians: History, Art, and the Genius of a People, Abrams, 1983, p. 27: "his tremendous poem, still after six and a half centuries the supreme work of Italian literature, remains – after the legacy of ancient Rome – the grandest single element in the Italian heritage;" and Robert Reinhold Ergang, The Renaissance, Van Nostrand, 1967, p. 103: "Many literary historians regard the Divine Comedy as the greatest work of Italian literature. In world literature it is ranked as an epic poem of the highest order."

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Divine Comedy

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