The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri

The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri

This epic narrative poem is Dante's account of his fictional journey through hell, purgatory, and heaven with his guide, the ancient Roman poet Virgil. It consists of a trio of canticas-Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso-which represent each stage of his journey as well as the importance of the number three throughout the work. Each cantica, or book, consists of thirty-three cantos, which added to an introductory canto, results in a total of one-hundred cantos. Each cantica follows a pattern of nine phases, plus one for a total of ten: nine circles of hell followed by Lucifer; nine rings of Mount Purgatory followed by the Garden of Eden; and, nine celestial bodies of Paradise followed by the Empyrean essence of God. Widely considered to be the preeminent work in Italian literature, this masterpiece helped establish the Tuscan dialect as standard Italian.

`The pleasingly plain, readable English well reflects Dante's original eloquence' The Times
What is amazing about Dante's language is the fluency, the plainness, the simplicity - the sheer approachability - of his words. The sheer formal mastery of the man is quite amazing. * Michael Glover, New Statesman & Society *

Charles H. Sisson is a well-known poet and translator, and editor of Poetry Nation Review. David Higgins is Head of Italian Studies at the University of Bristol, and is the author of Dante and the Bible (1992).

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780199535644
ISBN 10	0199535647
Title	The Divine Comedy
Author	Dante Alighieri
Series	Oxford World's Classics
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Year published	2008-04-17
Number of pages	752
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.