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The Supreme Poet describes a journey through the afterlife and the great beyond in The Divine Comedy, one of the greatest works of world literature. This English translation brings together Dante Alighieri’s classic in all its poetic glory. Summary of the Book In this poem, Dante describes his fictional journey through the various stages of hell to reach heaven. Also called “the Summa in verse”, the Divine Comedy is split in three: Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso. He descends into Hell after his death, beginning on the night before Good Friday. He encounters Virgil, the Roman poet, who takes him through Hell and Purgatory. In Hell, he discovers that every sin has its own unique punishment befitting the crime. He witnesses various sinners suffering for their misgivings during life, and he passes through the circles of Hell. In Limbo, he discovers that those who did not believe in Christ in life were condemned to a hell of their own, and Satan governed the last circle. After surviving the depths of Hell, Virgil leads Dante up to the Mountain of Purgatory. Dante discovers that the Mountain stands on a solitary island in the Southern Hemisphere. It has seven terraces – one for each of the seven deadly sins. The central motif for the sins on Mt. Purgatory is Love, the supreme force in Christian theology. Dante describes each of the sins as a corruption of the love that originally stemmed from God. However, mankind with its malice and corruption, befouled that love and turned it into seven forms, each of which must be paid for in kind on the mountain. A metaphor for Christian life, Purgatorio describes the ascendance of the soul to Heaven, where they are heralded by an angel who sings In exitu Israel de Aegypto. Finally, after the journey, Virgil hands over Dante to Beatrice, the ideal woman. She leads Dante through the nine celestial spheres of Heaven, described according to Aristotelian and Ptolemaic cosmology. Paradise is structured on the four cardinal virtues and the three theological values. This blank verse edition offers readers the complete text, allowing them to understand the significance and beauty of this poem. This edition also includes an introduction, maps of Dante’s Italy, Hell, Purgatory, the Geocentric Universe and a detailed political panorama of the thirteenth and early fourteenth century, diagrams and notes. It is no small fact that this work is considered to be the Fifth Gospel around the world, for what Dante Alighieri managed was the complete re-imagination of Christianity, inspiring many writers, artists, sculptors and playwrights in the centuries that followed him. About Dante Alighieri Dante Alighieri was an Italian poet of the Middle ages. He is best known for the composition of the Divine Comedy, widely considered the epitome of Italian literature. Known as il Sommo Poeta ("the Supreme Poet"), he is considered the Father of the Italian Language. About the Translator C. H. Sisson was a British poet and translator. He also translated The Aeneid of Virgil and the Song of Roland. This edition also includes an introduction and notes by David H. Higgins.