The Divine Comedy

The Divine Comedy, a masterpiece of western world poetry, relates Dante’s imaginary trip to Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. The Divine Comedy is one of the longest-running poems in the history of poetry, with a total number of strings reaching 14,233. Dante’s trip, which started on Thursday night, April 7, 1300, lasted one week, with the poet Virgil guiding him. On top of Purgatory, Virgil gives way to Beatrice, who guides Dante in Paradise. When Dante sees Beatrice for the first time, he is nine years old and Beatrice is eight. She was an inspiration for his thoughts during his life. The Divine Comedy, which takes the epic of Virgil’s Aeneis as an example and can be regarded as a lament burned in an extraordinary love supported by mythology, history and scriptures, is an encyclopaedia that sheds light on many sciences. The Divine Comedy (Divina Commedia), written by Dante in Tuscan Italian with a high style, shines like a sun in Italian literature. Dante, who invented his own style and made Italian a literary language, became an example of the Italian language with this work.

Dante makes three journeys in The Divine Comedy. His first journey is the journey to Hell, full of great obstacles. The second journey, the Purgatory travel, is easier and more hopeful. The third journey, Paradise, is a journey accompanied by music, dance, and light. During these travels, Dante is guided by Virgil (Wisdom), Beatrice (Beauty) and Saint Bernard (Power). At the end of his travels, Dante attains the Light. Dante expresses his thoughts as follows: “The power that brings me into being is the highest wisdom, beauty and first love” ... This great poetic work is a depiction of the whole era that beautifully describes the life of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

Keywords: Beatrice, Catholicism, Church, Comedy, Dante, Dante Alighieri, Divine Comedy, Earthly Paradise, Empyrean, Florence, Gothic, Hell, Middle Ages, Paradise, Primium Mobile, Purgatory, Rose, Universe, Virgil.