The Divine Comedy
The Inferno, The Purgatorio, and The Paradiso
Checking Availibility...Description
The "Divine Comedy" was entitled by Dante himself merely "Commedia," meaning a poetic composition in a style intermediate between the sustained nobility of tragedy, and the popular tone of elegy. The word had no dramatic implication at that time, though it did involve a happy ending. The poem is the narrative of a journey down through Hell, up the mountain of Purgatory, and through the revolving heavens into the presence of God. In this aspect it belongs to the two familiar medieval literary types of the Journey and the Vision. It is also an allegory, representing under the symbolism of the stages and experiences of the journey, the history of a human soul, painfully struggling from sin through purification to the Beatific Vision. Contained in this volume is the complete "Divine Comedy," from the translation of Charles Eliot Norton.
About this Author
Dante Alighieri was born in 1265. Considered Italy's greatest poet, this scion of a Florentine family mastered the art of lyric poetry at an early age. He is the author of the three canticles, The Inferno, The Purgatorio, and The Paradiso. Politically active in Florence, he was banished to Italy in 1302. In 1274, he met the great love of his life, Beatrice, whom he immortalized in La Vita Nuova (1292) and The Divine Comedy. He died in 1321.
Reviews
"Dante and Shakespeare divide the world between them--there is no third."--T.S. Eliot
"Ciardi has given us...a credible, passionate persona of the poet, stripped of the customary gauds of rhetoric and false decoration, strong and noble in utterance."--Dudley Fitts
"A sensitive and perceptive translation...a spectacular achievement."--Archibald MacLeish
"I think [Ciardi's] version of Dante will be in many respects the best we have seen."--John Crowe Ransom
If the product is in stock at the store nearest you, we suggest you call ahead to have it set aside for you, or you may place an order online and choose in-store pickup.
