Epic · 1320
The Divine Comedy
Dante Alighieri
Aya Saleh · Ink & Ivy
Epic · 1320 · Italian · Medieval
The Divine Comedy
Hell, Purgatory and Paradise in one hundred cantos of terza rima.
Read the book
English reading edition · Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, translator
Full Project Gutenberg text, newly typeset—not a publisher scan. Public-domain status varies by country; check local laws. The source license is included.
Edition and sourceHow to read it
Dante's punishments are metaphors made physical (contrapasso) — the poem argues that character is destiny with a rigour no novel has matched.
Selected section overview
These are selected acts, parts or episodes, not a complete chapter list. Summaries contain spoilers; descriptive headings are editorial.
InfernoNine circles
Descent through appetite, violence and fraud to the frozen betrayal at the centre. Francesca, Ulysses, Ugolino.
PurgatorioThe mountain
The only realm with time and hope; art, dawn light, and the return of Beatrice.
ParadisoLight
Increasing abstraction toward the vision that 'moves the sun and other stars' — and the failure of language, honestly admitted.
