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'''The Divine Comedy''' is an epic [[poem]] by [[Dante Alighieri]], written between 1308 and 1321. In [[Italian]] it is known as '''La Divina Comedia'''. The poem is thick with allegory, and was highly regarded by the poets of the [[Renaissance]]. Elements of ''The Divine Comedy'' have made their way into popular culture and remain there to this day, including the phrase ''Abandon all hope ye who enter here.''

==Structure==

The poem is written in hendecasyllabic lines (ie lines of 11 syllables), with a [[terza rima]] structure. These are grouped into cantos and these cantos into three large canticas.

===Inferno===

Dante travels through the nine levels of [[hell]], starting from the outermost ring, limbo. This ring is inhabited by those who lead blameless lives, but were not [[baptise]]d. As he progresses to the central circle the sins of the damned become more serious as are their sufferings.

===Purgatorio===

Dante ascends the seven terraces of [[Purgatory]]. Each terrace represents one of the [[seven deadly sins]] which must be overcome by the sinner before entering [[heaven]].

===Paradiso===

Dante is guided through the nine spheres of heaven, based roughly on [[Aristotelean cosmology]]. He then meets [[God]], who grants him the understanding of human nature.

[[category:poetry]]