Allegorically, the poem represents the soul's journey towards God, beginning with the recognition and rejection of sin ( Inferno), followed by the penitent Christian life ( Purgatorio), which is then followed by the soul's ascent to God ( Paradiso). The poem discusses 'the state of the soul after death and presents an image of divine justice meted out as due punishment or reward', and describes Dante's travels through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven.

It is divided into three parts: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. It helped establish the Tuscan language, in which it is written, as the standardized Italian language. The poem's imaginative vision of the afterlife is representative of the medieval worldview as it existed in the Western Church by the 14th century. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and one of the greatest works of world literature. 1308 and completed around 1321, shortly before the author's death. From the depths of hell onto the mountain of purgatory and up to the empyrean realms of paradise, Doré's illustrations depict the passion and grandeur of Dante's masterpiece in such famous scenes as the embarkation of the souls for hell, Paolo and Francesca (four plates), the forest of suicides, Thaïs the harlot, Bertram de Born holding his severed head aloft, Ugolino (four plates), the emergence of Dante and Virgil from hell, the ascent up the mountain, the flight of the eagle, Arachne, the lustful sinners being purged in the seventh circle, the appearance of Beatrice, the planet Mercury, and the first splendors of paradise, Christ on the cross, the stairway of Saturn, the final vision of the Queen of Heaven, and many more.Įach plate is accompanied by appropriate lines from the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow translation of Dante's work.The Divine Comedy ( Italian: Divina Commedia Italian pronunciation: ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun c. The present volume reproduces with excellent clarity all 135 plates that Doré produced for The Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise. His illustrations for Dante's Divine Comedy constitute one of his most highly regarded efforts and were Doré's personal favorites. His Doré Bible was a treasured possession in countless homes, and his best-received works continued to appear through the years in edition after edition.

Gustave Doré (1832–83) was perhaps the most successful illustrator of the nineteenth century.

Divine comedy dore