Long narrative poem originally titled Commedia (about 1555 printed as La divina commedia) written about 1310-14 by Dante. The work is divided into three major sections--Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso--which trace the journey of a man from darkness and error to the revelation of the divine light, culminating in the beatific vision of God. It is usually held to be one of the world's greatest works of literature. The plot of The Divine Comedy is simple: a man is miraculously enabled to visit the souls in Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. He has two guides: Virgil, who leads him through the Inferno and Purgatorio, and Beatrice, who introduces him to Paradiso. Through these fictional encounters taking place from Good Friday evening in 1300 through Easter Sunday and slightly beyond, Dante the character learns of the exile that is awaiting him (an actual exile that had already occurred at the time of writing). This device allowed Dante not only to create a story out of his exile but also to explain how he came to cope with personal calamity and to offer suggestions for the resolution of Italy's troubles as well.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
Long narrative poem originally titled Commedia (about 1555 printed as La divina commedia) written about 1310-14 by Dante. The work is divided into three major sections--Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso--which trace the journey of a man from darkness and error to the revelation of the divine light, culminating in the beatific vision of God. It is usually held to be one of the world's greatest works of literature. The plot of The Divine Comedy is simple: a man is miraculously enabled to visit the souls in Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. He has two guides: Virgil, who leads him through the Inferno and Purgatorio, and Beatrice, who introduces him to Paradiso. Through these fictional encounters taking place from Good Friday evening in 1300 through Easter Sunday and slightly beyond, Dante the character learns of the exile that is awaiting him (an actual exile that had already occurred at the time of writing). This device allowed Dante not only to create a story out of his exile but also to explain how he came to cope with personal calamity and to offer suggestions for the resolution of Italy's troubles as well. Thus, Dante's story is historically specific as well as paradigmatic; his exile serves as a microcosm of the problems of a country, and it also becomes representative of the Fall of Man. The basic structural component of The Divine Comedy is the canto. The poem consists of 100 cantos, which are grouped into the three major sections, or canticles. Technically there are 33 cantos in each canticle and one additional canto, contained in the Inferno, that serves as an introduction to the entire poem. For the most part the cantos range from 136 to 151 lines. The poem's rhyme scheme is the terza rima (aba, bcb, cdc, etc.) Thus, the divine number three is present in every part of the work. Dante adopts the classical convention of a visit to the land of the dead, but he adapts it to a Christian worldview by beginning his journey there. The Inferno represents a false start during which Dante, the character, must be disabused of harmful values that somehow prevent him from rising above his fallen world. Despite the regressive nature of the Inferno, Dante's meetings with the damned are among the most memorable moments of the poem: the Neutrals, the virtuous pagans, Francesca da Rimini, Filipo Argenti, Farinata degli Uberti, Piero delle Vigne, Brunetto Latini, the simoniacal popes, Ulysses, and Ugolino impose themselves upon the reader's imagination with tremendous force. Nonetheless, the journey through the Inferno primarily signifies a process of separation and thus is only the initial step in a fuller development. In the Purgatorio the protagonist's spiritual rehabilitation commences. There Dante subdues his own personality so that he will be able to ascend. He comes to accept the essential Christian image of life as a pilgrimage, and he joins the other penitents on the road of life. At the summit of Purgatory, where repentant sinners are purged of their sins, Virgil departs, having led Dante as far as human knowledge is able--to the threshold of Paradise. Beatrice, who embodies the knowledge of divine mysteries bestowed by Grace, continues Dante's tour. In the Paradiso true heroic fulfillment is achieved. Dante's poem gives expression to those figures from the past who seem to defy death and who inspire in their followers a feeling of exaltation and a desire for identification. The Paradiso is consequently a poem of fulfillment and of completion. --The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
About the Author
Dante Alighieri was born in Florence Italy in 1265. In 1301, a political dispute lead to his exile from Florence. Over the next few years he made his home in Verona, Lucca and other cities. By 1310 he had written Inferno and Purgatorio, the first two books of his Divine Comedy. He wrote the third and concluding book, Paradiso, in the years after he found sanctuary in Ravenna in 1318. An allegorical account of his wanderings in a spiritual wilderness and eventual salvation under the guidance of his beloved Beatrice, The Divine Comedy is recognised as Dante's masterwork and a landmark of world literature. He died in exile in 1321 and was buried in Ravenna.
--This text refers to an alternate
Hardcover
edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
40 of 42 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I must confess that the large format makes reading the formal translations a bit easier on the eyes. The volume also includes a preface and section introductions/interpretations in contemporary english which make the text much more approachable. And the woodcut illustrations are simply gorgeous - it's worth getting the book just for these. They really bring to life the imaginations from when they were created in the 19th century all the way back several hundred years more to when Dante wrote the text. They also help to explain the perceptions that our predecessors had of religion, sin, and piety. This is a terrific volume - highly recommended.
One tangential note - if you like the illustrations in this you should also check out "Barlow's Inferno", published a few years ago. Wayne Douglas Barlow synthesizes interpretations of hell from many cultures and periods into illustrations of terror and frightful beauty. Barlow is the spiritual inheritor of Dore's vision.
One tangential note - if you like the illustrations in this you should also check out "Barlow's Inferno", published a few years ago. Wayne Douglas Barlow synthesizes interpretations of hell from many cultures and periods into illustrations of terror and frightful beauty. Barlow is the spiritual inheritor of Dore's vision.
35 of 37 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
"Midway life's journey I was made aware/that I had strayed into a dark forest..."
Those eerie words open the first cantica of Dante Alighieri's "Divine Comedy," the legendary poem that takes its author through the eerie depths of hell, heaven and purgatory. It's a haunting, almost hallucinatory experience, full of the the metaphorical and supernatural horrors of the inferno, and joys of paradise.
The date is Good Friday of the year 1300, and Dante is lost in a creepy dark forest, being assaulted by a trio of beasts who symbolize his own sins. But suddenly he is rescued ("Not man; man I once was") by the legendary poet Virgil, who takes the despondent Dante under his wing -- and down into Hell.
But this isn't a straightforward hell of flames and dancing devils. Instead, it's a multi-tiered carnival of horrors, where different sins are punished with different means. Opportunists are forever stung by insects, the lustful are trapped in a storm, the greedy are forced to battle against each other, and the violent lie in a river of boiling blood, are transformed into thorn bushes, and are trapped on a volcanic desert.
Well, that was fun. But after passing through hell, Dante gets the guided tour of Purgatory, where the souls of the not-that-bad-but-not-pure-either get cleansed. He and Virgil emerge at the base of a vast mountain, and an angel orders him to "wash you those wounds within," then lets them in.
As Virgil and Dante climb the mountain, they observe the seven terraces that sinners stay on, representing the seven deadly sins -- the angry, the proud, the envious, the lazy, the greedy, the lustful and the gluttons. It's a one-way trip, and you don't even get to look back.
The road up the mountain leads to the gates of Heaven, and soon Dante has been purified to the point where he's allowed to go inside. Virgil doesn't get to enter Heaven, so he passes Dante on to the beautiful Beatrice, the woman he loved in his younger years.
She whisks him up to the spheres of those who are now pure of soul -- the wise, the loving, the people who fought for their religion, the just, the contemplative, the saints, and finally even the angels. And after passing through heaven's nine spheres, he passes out of the physical realm and human understanding -- and sees God, the incomprehensible, represented by three circles inside each other, but all the same size.
Needless to say, it's a pretty wild trip.And admittedly "Purgatorio" and "Paradiso" aren't quite on the writing level of "Inferno," which has the most visceral, skin-crawling imagery and lines ("Fixed in the slime, groan they, 'We were sullen and wroth...'"), and a wicked sense of irony. It makes the angels and saints seem a bit tame.
But there's plenty of power in the second two books, particularly when Dante tries to comprehend God, and almost blows out his brain in the process -- "my desire and my will were turned like a wheel, all at one speed by the Love that turns the sun and all the other stars." It's haunting, and sticks with you long after the story has ended.
More impressive still is his ability to weave the poetry out of symbolism and allegory, without it ever seeming preachy or annoying. Even at the start, Dante sees lion, a leopard and a wolf, which symbolize different sins, and a dark forest that indicates suicidal thoughts. Not to mention Purgatory as a mountain that must be climbed, or Hell as a Hadesian underworld.
Dante's vivid writing and wildly imaginative journey makes the "Divine Comedy" a timeless, spellbinding read, and hauntingly powerful from inferno to paradiso.
Those eerie words open the first cantica of Dante Alighieri's "Divine Comedy," the legendary poem that takes its author through the eerie depths of hell, heaven and purgatory. It's a haunting, almost hallucinatory experience, full of the the metaphorical and supernatural horrors of the inferno, and joys of paradise.
The date is Good Friday of the year 1300, and Dante is lost in a creepy dark forest, being assaulted by a trio of beasts who symbolize his own sins. But suddenly he is rescued ("Not man; man I once was") by the legendary poet Virgil, who takes the despondent Dante under his wing -- and down into Hell.
But this isn't a straightforward hell of flames and dancing devils. Instead, it's a multi-tiered carnival of horrors, where different sins are punished with different means. Opportunists are forever stung by insects, the lustful are trapped in a storm, the greedy are forced to battle against each other, and the violent lie in a river of boiling blood, are transformed into thorn bushes, and are trapped on a volcanic desert.
Well, that was fun. But after passing through hell, Dante gets the guided tour of Purgatory, where the souls of the not-that-bad-but-not-pure-either get cleansed. He and Virgil emerge at the base of a vast mountain, and an angel orders him to "wash you those wounds within," then lets them in.
As Virgil and Dante climb the mountain, they observe the seven terraces that sinners stay on, representing the seven deadly sins -- the angry, the proud, the envious, the lazy, the greedy, the lustful and the gluttons. It's a one-way trip, and you don't even get to look back.
The road up the mountain leads to the gates of Heaven, and soon Dante has been purified to the point where he's allowed to go inside. Virgil doesn't get to enter Heaven, so he passes Dante on to the beautiful Beatrice, the woman he loved in his younger years.
She whisks him up to the spheres of those who are now pure of soul -- the wise, the loving, the people who fought for their religion, the just, the contemplative, the saints, and finally even the angels. And after passing through heaven's nine spheres, he passes out of the physical realm and human understanding -- and sees God, the incomprehensible, represented by three circles inside each other, but all the same size.
Needless to say, it's a pretty wild trip.And admittedly "Purgatorio" and "Paradiso" aren't quite on the writing level of "Inferno," which has the most visceral, skin-crawling imagery and lines ("Fixed in the slime, groan they, 'We were sullen and wroth...'"), and a wicked sense of irony. It makes the angels and saints seem a bit tame.
But there's plenty of power in the second two books, particularly when Dante tries to comprehend God, and almost blows out his brain in the process -- "my desire and my will were turned like a wheel, all at one speed by the Love that turns the sun and all the other stars." It's haunting, and sticks with you long after the story has ended.
More impressive still is his ability to weave the poetry out of symbolism and allegory, without it ever seeming preachy or annoying. Even at the start, Dante sees lion, a leopard and a wolf, which symbolize different sins, and a dark forest that indicates suicidal thoughts. Not to mention Purgatory as a mountain that must be climbed, or Hell as a Hadesian underworld.
Dante's vivid writing and wildly imaginative journey makes the "Divine Comedy" a timeless, spellbinding read, and hauntingly powerful from inferno to paradiso.
35 of 38 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I will try to keep this short since long reviews are often given little consideration.
PROS:
Chapter Summaries at the start of each chapter assist in the understanding of the text as it is read.
Illustrations are very interesting and engaging, helping to bring the story to life.
The ratio of the actual text to the page space is very low making it a nice version to take notes if you feel so inclined.
CONS:
The Longfellow translation is not very fluent which makes it very difficult to read and comprehend.
Binding is of poor quality.
The book itself is very large, I prefer to read from smaller books (smaller being something I can hold with one hand).
Recommendation:
If you have to read the Longfellow translation, I would recommend this print. Lots of room for notes, pictures, and the full Divine Comedy is in one book.
However, I would not recommend the Longfellow translation in general to anyone who is not reading the Divine Comedy with a class or group. The text is very difficult to read and understand if no one is explaining some of the finer points (and some of the key points for that matter) to you.
PROS:
Chapter Summaries at the start of each chapter assist in the understanding of the text as it is read.
Illustrations are very interesting and engaging, helping to bring the story to life.
The ratio of the actual text to the page space is very low making it a nice version to take notes if you feel so inclined.
CONS:
The Longfellow translation is not very fluent which makes it very difficult to read and comprehend.
Binding is of poor quality.
The book itself is very large, I prefer to read from smaller books (smaller being something I can hold with one hand).
Recommendation:
If you have to read the Longfellow translation, I would recommend this print. Lots of room for notes, pictures, and the full Divine Comedy is in one book.
However, I would not recommend the Longfellow translation in general to anyone who is not reading the Divine Comedy with a class or group. The text is very difficult to read and understand if no one is explaining some of the finer points (and some of the key points for that matter) to you.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Worth reading every page.
Imagination and creativity are two of the most important aspects of the book, also the most entertaining. Read more
Published 17 days ago by T. Gonzalez
5.0 out of 5 stars
The translator makes a difference
And in this case, it's the British poet Alexander Pope. An excellent read.for a long trip and it's free on top of that.
Published 23 days ago by David Parker
2.0 out of 5 stars
Poor translation
It is a terrible translation. It reads as if a poor translation was made to German and then a terrible translation to English. Whole paragraphs are unintelligible.
Published 1 month ago by G. M. Downing
5.0 out of 5 stars
The poetic translation of the Divine Comedy
There are two ways to rate a translation. The first is whether the spirit and the flavour of the original text is captured. The second is the completeness is captured i.e. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Theoni Lussos
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great condition
Book arrived in large form great condition. Gift for son. He loved it. Hope that he enjoys reading it and the story.
Published 2 months ago by Dish1
5.0 out of 5 stars
Nicely Surprised
I thought I was purchasing a paperback edition of this three-in-one volume, but was delighted to receive a hardbound, library-type edition. Read more
Published 4 months ago by City Boy
5.0 out of 5 stars
the book to own if you're wanting your own copy of dante's devine...
the illustrations in this book are incredible and insightful! without them i know i couldn't make it through this type of book. Read more
Published 4 months ago by oberlater
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Book
This is a great book and has some great art illustrations.My teacher had one in literature and I had to get one.
Published 4 months ago by John D. Mayberry
5.0 out of 5 stars
Divine Comedy Book
I was not expecting such a great copy for such a low price. Beautiful drawings inside and excellent cover outside.
Published 4 months ago by Mary J Papp
5.0 out of 5 stars
No wonder it's a classic...
I don't have much to say about this book since volumes have been written to praise its name. All I can say is that it truly sticks with you and makes you think about life and death... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Atarkiss
