DIVINE

COMEDY
INTRODUCTION
Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy is a famous Medieval Italian epic poem depicting the
realms of the afterlife. Dante (who was born in 1265) wrote The Divine Comedy somewhere
between 1308 and his death in 1321, while he was in exile from his hometown of Florence,
Italy, which had been enduring civil war.
The Divine Comedy is divided into three separate volumes, each containing 33 cantos (or
chapters). These volumes are Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso.
Dante is both the author and the central character of this trilogy. He travels through all of Hell,
Purgatory, and Heaven to make his way back to God, meeting several characters from history
and literature on his way.