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{{Short description|Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri}}
{{Redirect|The Divine Comedy}}
{{Redirect|La Divina Commedia||Commedia (disambiguation)}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}}
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{{Divine Comedy}}

The '''''Divine Comedy''''' ({{langx|it|Divina Commedia}}, {{IPA|it|diˈviːna komˈmɛːdja|pron}}) is an Italian [[narrative poetry|narrative poem]] by [[Dante Alighieri]], begun {{circa|1308}} and completed around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in [[Italian literature]]<ref>For example, ''Encyclopedia Americana'', 2006, Vol. 30. p.&nbsp;605: "the greatest single work of Italian literature"; John Julius Norwich, ''The Italians: History, Art, and the Genius of a People'', Abrams, 1983, p.&nbsp;27: "his tremendous poem, still after six and a half centuries the supreme work of Italian literature, remains&nbsp;– after the legacy of ancient Rome&nbsp;– the grandest single element in the Italian heritage"; and Robert Reinhold Ergang, ''The Renaissance'', Van Nostrand, 1967, p.&nbsp;103: "Many literary historians regard the Divine Comedy as the greatest work of Italian literature. In world literature it is ranked as an epic poem of the highest order."</ref> and one of the greatest works of [[Western literature]]. The poem's imaginative vision of the [[afterlife]] is representative of the [[medieval philosophy|medieval worldview]] as it existed in the [[Western Christianity|Western Church]] by the 14th century. It helped establish the [[Tuscan dialect|Tuscan language]], in which it is written, as the standardized [[Italian language]].<ref>See {{Cite book |last=Lepschy |first=Laura |author2=Lepschy, Giulio |title=The Italian Language Today |year=1977}} Or any other history of [[Italian language]].</ref> It is divided into three parts: ''[[Inferno (Dante)|Inferno]]'', ''[[Purgatorio]]'', and ''[[Paradiso (Dante)|Paradiso]]''.

The poem explores the condition of the soul following death and portrays a vision of divine justice, in which individuals receive appropriate punishment or reward based on their actions.<ref name="commedia">Vallone, Aldo. "Commedia" (trans. Robin Treasure). In: Lansing (ed.), ''The Dante Encyclopedia'', pp. 181–184.</ref> It describes Dante's travels through [[Hell in Christianity|Hell]], [[Purgatory]], and [[Heaven in Christianity|Heaven]]. [[allegory in the Middle Ages|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''). Dante draws on medieval Catholic theology and philosophy, especially [[Thomism|Thomistic philosophy]] derived from the ''[[Summa Theologica]]'' of [[Thomas Aquinas]].

In the poem, the pilgrim Dante is accompanied by three guides: [[Virgil]], who represents [[human reason]], and who guides him for all of ''Inferno'' and most of ''Purgatorio''; [[Beatrice Portinari|Beatrice]], who represents [[Revelation|divine revelation]]<ref name="revelation">Emmerson, Richard K., and Ronald B. Herzman. "Revelation". In: Lansing (ed.), ''The Dante Encyclopedia'', pp. 742–744.</ref> in addition to theology, grace, and faith; and guides him from the end of ''Purgatorio'' onwards; and [[Saint Bernard of Clairvaux]], who represents [[Christian contemplation|contemplative mysticism]] and [[Marian devotions|devotion to Mary the Mother]], guiding him in the final cantos of ''Paradiso''.

The work was originally simply titled '''''Comedìa''''' ({{IPA|it|komeˈdiːa|pron}}, [[Tuscan dialect|Tuscan]] for "Comedy") – so also in the first printed edition, published in 1472 – later adjusted to the modern Italian {{lang|it|Commedia}}. The earliest known use of the adjective {{lang|it|Divina}} appears in [[Giovanni Boccaccio]]'s<ref name="Treccani_Divina">{{cite web |url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/divina-commedia/ |access-date=19 February 2021 |title=Divina Commedia |last= |first= |author=|author-link= |last2= |first2= |author2= |date= |year=|orig-date= |editor-first= |department= |website=[[Enciclopedia Italiana]] |series= |agency= |location= |page= |pages= |at= |language=it |script-title= |trans-title= |type= |format= |arxiv= |asin= |bibcode= |doi= |isbn= |issn= |jfm= |jstor= |lccn= |mr= |oclc= |ol= |osti= |pmc= |pmid= |rfc= |ssrn= |zbl= |id=|url-status= |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210218225636/https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/divina-commedia/ |archive-date=18 February 2021 |via= |quote=}}</ref> biographical work ''Trattatello in laude di Dante'' ("Treatise in Praise of Dante"),<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Cleaver |first=Natalie Ann |title=Authorizing the Reader: Dante and the Ends of the Decameron |date=2012 |publisher=UC Berkeley |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6rk1152f |language=en}}</ref> which was written between 1351 and 1355<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gross |first=Karen Elizabeth |date=2009 |title=Scholar Saints and Boccaccio's ''Trattatello in laude di Dante'' |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/261991 |journal=MLN |volume=124 |issue=1 |pages=66–85 |issn=1080-6598}}</ref> –  the adjective likely referring to the poem's profound subject matter and elevated style. The first edition to name the poem ''Divina Comedia'' in the title was that of the Venetian [[Renaissance humanism|humanist]] [[Lodovico Dolce]],<ref>[[Ron Terpening|Ronnie H. Terpening]], ''Lodovico Dolce, Renaissance Man of Letters'' (Toronto, Buffalo, London: University of Toronto Press, 1997), p.&nbsp;166.</ref> published in 1555 by [[Gabriele Giolito de' Ferrari]].

== Structure and story ==
{{clear}}
[[File:Dante03.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Dante gazes at Mount Purgatory in an allegorical portrait by [[Agnolo Bronzino]], painted {{circa|1530}}]]

The ''Divine Comedy'' is composed of 14,233 lines that are divided into three ''cantiche'' (singular ''cantica'')&nbsp;– ''Inferno'' ([[Hell]]), ''Purgatorio'' ([[Purgatory]]), and ''Paradiso'' ([[Heaven|Paradise]])&nbsp;– each consisting of 33 [[canto]]s (Italian plural ''canti'')<!--NOTE: BEFORE ADDING "Inferno has 34" (AGAIN) READ THE NEXT SENTENCE-->. An initial canto, serving as an introduction to the poem and generally considered to be part of the first ''cantica'', brings the total number of cantos to 100. It is generally accepted, however, that the first two cantos serve as a unitary prologue to the entire epic, and that the opening two cantos of each ''cantica'' serve as prologues to each of the three ''cantiche''.<ref>Dante The Inferno A Verse Translation, by Professor Robert and Jean Hollander, p.&nbsp;43.</ref><ref>Epist. XIII, 43–48.</ref><ref>Wilkins, E.&nbsp;H., The Prologue to the Divine Comedy Annual Report of the Dante Society, pp.&nbsp;1–7.</ref>

The number three is prominent in the work, represented in part by the number of ''cantiche'' and their lengths. Additionally, the verse scheme used, ''[[terza rima]]'', is [[hendecasyllabic]] (lines of eleven syllables), with the lines composing [[tercet]]s according to the [[rhyme scheme]] ABA BCB CDC DED{{nbsp}}...<ref>[[Robert Kaske|Kaske, Robert Earl]], et al. ''Medieval Christian Literary Imagery: A Guide to Interpretation''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1988. p. 164.</ref> The total number of syllables in each tercet is thus 33, the same as the number of cantos in each ''cantica''.

Written in the first person, the poem tells of Dante's journey through the three realms of the dead, lasting from [[Maundy Thursday|the night before]] [[Good Friday]] to the Wednesday after [[Easter]] in the spring of 1300. The Roman poet [[Virgil]] guides him through Hell and Purgatory; [[Beatrice Portinari|Beatrice]], Dante's ideal woman, guides him through Heaven.<ref>Ferrante, Joan M. "Beatrice". In: Lansing (ed.), The Dante Encyclopedia, pp. 87–94.</ref> Beatrice was a Florentine woman he had met in childhood and admired from afar in the mode of the then-fashionable [[courtly love]] tradition, which is highlighted in Dante's earlier work ''[[La Vita Nuova]]''.{{sfn|Shaw|2014|pp=xx, 100–101, 108}} The Cistercian abbot Bernard of Clairvaux guides Dante through the last three cantos.<ref>Picone, Michelangelo. "Bernard, St." (trans. Robin Treasure). In: Lansing (ed.), ''The Dante Encyclopedia'', pp. 99–100.</ref>

{{multiple image
 | align = right
 | direction = horizontal
 | total_width = 400
 | header = Dante's guides in the poem
 | image1 = Virgil .jpg
 | alt1 = Virgil
 | caption1 = [[Virgil]]
 | image2 = Marie Spartali Stillman - Beatrice (1896).jpg
 | alt2 = 
 | caption2 = [[Beatrice Portinari|Beatrice]]
 | image3 = Bernard of Clairvaux - Gutenburg - 13206.jpg
 | alt3 = 
 | caption3 = [[Bernard of Clairvaux|Saint Bernard]]
}}

The structure of the three realms follows a common [[numerology|numerical pattern]] of 9 plus 1, for a total of 10. There are nine  circles of the Inferno, followed by Lucifer contained at its bottom; nine rings of Mount Purgatory, followed by the [[Garden of Eden]] crowning its summit; and the nine celestial bodies of Paradiso, followed by the [[Empyrean]] containing the very essence of God. Within each group of nine, seven elements correspond to a specific moral scheme, subdivided into three subcategories, while two others of greater particularity are added to total nine. For example, the [[seven deadly sins]] that are cleansed in Purgatory are joined by special realms for the late repentant and the [[excommunication|excommunicated]]. The core seven sins within Purgatory correspond to a moral scheme of love perverted, subdivided into three groups corresponding to excessive love ([[Lust]], [[Gluttony]], [[Greed]]), deficient love ([[Sloth (sin)|Sloth]]), and malicious love ([[Wrath]], [[Envy]], [[Pride]]).{{sfn|Eiss|2017|p=8}}

In central Italy's political struggle between [[Guelphs and Ghibellines]], Dante was part of the Guelphs, who in general favoured the [[papacy]] over the [[Holy Roman Emperor]]. Florence's Guelphs split into factions around 1300{{snd}}the White Guelphs and the Black Guelphs. Dante was among the White Guelphs who were exiled in 1302 by the Lord-Mayor [[Cante dei Gabrielli|Cante de' Gabrielli di Gubbio]], after troops under [[Charles of Valois]] entered the city, at the request of [[Pope Boniface&nbsp;VIII]], who supported the Black Guelphs. This exile, which lasted the rest of Dante's life, shows its influence in many parts of the ''Comedy'', from prophecies of Dante's exile to Dante's views of politics, to the eternal damnation of some of his opponents.{{sfn|Trone|2000|pp=362–364}}

The last word in each of the three ''cantiche'' is ''stelle'' ("stars").
{{clear}}

=== ''Inferno'' ===
[[File:Gustave Doré - Dante Alighieri - Inferno - Plate 9 (Canto III - Charon).jpg|thumb|[[Gustave Doré]]'s engravings illustrated the ''Divine Comedy'' (1861–1868); here [[Charon (mythology)|Charon]] comes to ferry souls across the river [[Acheron]] to Hell.]]
{{Main|Inferno (Dante)}}
The poem begins on the [[Maundy Thursday|night before Good Friday]] in the year 1300, "halfway along our life's path" (''Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita''). Dante is thirty-five years old, half of the biblical lifespan of seventy ([[Psalms]] 89:10<!-- do not change to Ps. 90; in the Vulgate, as specified, the chapter is 89 -->, Vulgate), lost in a dark [[forest|wood]] (understood as sin),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.abebooks.it/INFERNO-DIVINA-COMMEDIA-ANNOTATA-COMMENTATA-TOMMASO/590245816/bd |title=Inferno, la Divina Commedia annotata e commentata da Tommaso Di Salvo, Zanichelli, Bologna, 1985 |publisher=Abebooks.it |access-date=16 January 2010 |archive-date=25 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225073127/https://www.abebooks.it/INFERNO-DIVINA-COMMEDIA-ANNOTATA-COMMENTATA-TOMMASO/590245816/bd |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>''Lectura Dantis'', Società dantesca italiana.</ref><ref>Online sources include [http://www.ladante.it/DanteAlighieri/hochfeiler/inferno/naviga/selva.htm] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141111113326/http://www.ladante.it/DanteAlighieri/hochfeiler/inferno/naviga/selva.htm|date=11 November 2014}}, [http://www.operare.net/news.php?id=55] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723233122/http://www.operare.net/news.php?id=55|date=23 July 2011}}, [https://web.archive.org/web/20061113164331/http://www.learnitaly.com/selva.htm] [http://balbruno.altervista.org/index-182.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040223202105/http://balbruno.altervista.org/index-182.html|date=23 February 2004}}, {{cite web |title=Le caratteristiche dell'opera |url=http://www.primocircolopotenza.it/DivinaCommedia/Dante/caratteristiche.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091202062524/http://www.primocircolopotenza.it/DivinaCommedia/Dante/caratteristiche.htm |archive-date=2 December 2009 |access-date=1 December 2009}},    {{Cite web |title=Selva Oscura |url=http://www.ladante.it/DanteAlighieri/hochfeiler/inferno/naviga/selva.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304052503/http://www.ladante.it/DanteAlighieri/hochfeiler/inferno/naviga/selva.htm |archive-date=4 March 2016 |access-date=20 February 2010}}</ref> assailed by beasts (a [[lion]], a [[leopard]], and a [[wolf|she-wolf]]) he cannot evade and unable to find the "straight way" (''diritta via'') to salvation (symbolised by the sun behind the mountain). Conscious that he is ruining himself and that he is falling into a "low place" (''basso loco'') where the sun is silent ('''l sol tace''), Dante is at last rescued by Virgil, and the two of them begin their journey to the underworld. Each sin's punishment in ''Inferno'' is a ''[[contrapasso]]'', a symbolic instance of [[poetic justice]]; for example, in Canto XX, [[Fortune-telling|fortune-tellers]] and [[Divination|soothsayers]] must walk with their heads on backwards, unable to see what is ahead, because that was what they had tried to do in life:

{{poemquote|they had their faces twisted toward their haunches
and found it necessary to walk backward,
because they could not see ahead of them.
... and since he wanted so to see ahead,
he looks behind and walks a backward path.<ref>''Inferno'', Canto&nbsp;XX, lines 13–15 and 38–39, Mandelbaum translation.</ref>}}

Allegorically, the ''Inferno'' represents the Christian soul seeing sin for what it really is, and the three beasts represent three types of sin: the self-indulgent, the violent, and the malicious.<ref>[[Dorothy L. Sayers]], ''Purgatory'', notes on p.&nbsp;75.</ref> These three types of sin also provide the three main divisions of Dante's Hell: Upper Hell, outside the city of Dis, for the four sins of indulgence ([[lust]], [[gluttony]], [[avarice]], [[anger]]); Circle 7 for the sins of violence against one's neighbor, against oneself, and against God, art, and nature; and Circles 8 and 9 for the sins of fraud and treachery. Added to these are two dissimilar, spiritual categories: Limbo, in Circle 1, contains the [[Virtuous pagan|virtuous pagans]] who were not sinful but were ignorant of Christ, and Circle 6 contains the heretics who contradicted the doctrine and confused the spirit of Christ.<ref>Carlyle-Okey-Wicksteed, ''Divine Comedy'', "Notes to Dante's Inferno".</ref>

=== ''Purgatorio'' ===
{{Main|Purgatorio}}
[[File:Hippolyte Flandrin - Le Dante, conduit par Virgile, offre des consolations aux âmes des Envieux.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Dante, accompanied by Virgil, consoles the souls of the envious, from the Canto III of ''Purgatorio'']]
Having survived the depths of Hell, Dante and Virgil ascend out of the undergloom to the Mountain of [[Purgatory]] on the far side of the world. The Mountain is on an island, the only land in the [[Southern Hemisphere]], created by the displacement of rock which resulted when [[Satan]]'s fall created Hell<ref>''Inferno'', Canto 34, lines 121–126.</ref> (which Dante portrays as existing underneath [[Jerusalem]]<ref>Barolini, Teodolinda. "Hell." In: Lansing (ed.), ''The Dante Encyclopedia'', pp. 472–477.</ref>). The mountain has seven terraces, corresponding to the [[seven deadly sins]] or "seven roots of sinfulness".<ref>[[Dorothy L. Sayers]], ''Purgatory'', Introduction, pp.&nbsp;65–67 (Penguin, 1955).</ref> The classification of sin here is more psychological than that of the ''Inferno'', being based on motives, rather than actions. It is also drawn primarily from Christian theology, rather than from classical sources.<ref>Robin Kirkpatrick, ''Purgatorio'', Introduction, p.&nbsp;xiv (Penguin, 2007).</ref> However, Dante's illustrative examples of sin and virtue draw on classical sources as well as on the Bible and on contemporary events.

Love, a theme throughout the ''Divine Comedy'', is particularly important for the framing of sin on the Mountain of Purgatory. While the love that flows from God is pure, it can become sinful as it flows through humanity. Humans can sin by using love towards improper or malicious ends ([[Wrath]], [[Envy]], [[Pride]]), or using it to proper ends but with love that is either not strong enough ([[Sloth (sin)|Sloth]]) or love that is too strong ([[Lust]], [[Gluttony]], [[Greed]]). Below the seven purges of the soul is the Ante-Purgatory, containing the Excommunicated from the church and the Late repentant who died, often violently, before receiving rites. Thus the total comes to nine, with the addition of the Garden of Eden at the summit, equaling ten.<ref>Carlyle-Oakey-Wickstead, ''Divine Comedy'', "Notes on Dante's Purgatory.</ref> <!-- 7 + 2 = 9 not 10 -->

Allegorically, the ''Purgatorio'' represents the Christian life. Christian souls arrive escorted by an angel, singing ''[[Psalm 114|In exitu Israel de Aegypto]]''. In his [[Epistle to Cangrande|letter to Cangrande]] (the authenticity of which is disputed<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Kelly |first=Henry Ansgar |author-link=Henry Ansgar Kelly |date=2018-09-18 |title=Epistle to Cangrande Updated |url=https://www.dantesociety.org/publicationsdante-notes/epistle-cangrande-updated |access-date=2024-06-10 |website=Dante Society |publisher=[[Dante Society of America]]}}</ref>), Dante explains that this reference to Israel leaving Egypt refers both to the [[redemption (religious)|redemption]] of [[Christ]] and to "the conversion of the soul from the sorrow and misery of sin to the state of grace."<ref>"The Letter to Can Grande," in ''Literary Criticism of Dante Alighieri'', translated and edited by Robert S. Haller (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1973), p. 99.</ref> Appropriately, therefore, it is [[Easter Sunday]] when Dante and Virgil arrive.

The ''Purgatorio'' demonstrates the medieval knowledge of a [[spherical Earth]]. During the poem, Dante discusses the different stars visible in the [[Southern Hemisphere]], the altered position of the Sun, and the various [[time zone]]s of the Earth. At this stage it is, Dante says, sunset at Jerusalem, midnight on the River [[Ganges]], and sunrise in Purgatory.

=== ''Paradiso'' ===
{{Main|Paradiso (Dante)}}
[[File:Philipp Veit 004.jpg|thumb|''Paradiso'', Canto III: Dante and Beatrice speak to [[Piccarda]] and [[Constance I of Sicily|Constance of Sicily]], in a fresco by [[Philipp Veit]].]]

After an initial ascension, Beatrice guides Dante through the nine [[celestial spheres]] of [[Heaven]]. These are concentric and spherical, as in [[Aristotle|Aristotelian]] and [[Ptolemy|Ptolemaic]] cosmology. While the structures of the ''Inferno'' and ''Purgatorio'' were based on different classifications of sin, the structure of the ''Paradiso'' is based on the [[four cardinal virtues]] and the [[three theological virtues]].

The seven lowest spheres of Heaven deal solely with the cardinal virtues of [[Prudence]], [[Courage|Fortitude]], [[Justice]] and [[Temperance (virtue)|Temperance]]. The first three spheres involve a deficiency of one of the cardinal virtues&nbsp;– the [[Moon]], containing the inconstant, whose vows to God waned as the moon and thus lack fortitude; [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]], containing the ambitious, who were virtuous for glory and thus lacked justice; and [[Venus]], containing the lovers, whose love was directed towards another than God and thus lacked temperance. The final four incidentally are positive examples of the cardinal virtues, all led on by the [[Sun]], containing the prudent, whose wisdom lighted the way for the other virtues, to which the others are bound (constituting a category on its own). [[Mars]] contains the men of fortitude who died in the cause of Christianity; [[Jupiter]] contains the kings of justice; and [[Saturn]] contains the temperate, the monks. The seven subdivided into three are raised further by two more categories: the eighth sphere of the fixed stars that contain those who achieved the theological virtues of [[faith]], [[hope]], and [[love]], and represent the [[Church Triumphant]]&nbsp;– the total perfection of humanity, cleansed of all the sins and carrying all the virtues of heaven; and the ninth circle, or [[Primum Mobile]] (corresponding to the geocentricism of medieval astronomy), which contains the angels, creatures never poisoned by original sin. Topping them all is the [[Empyrean]], which contains the essence of God, completing the nine-fold division to ten.

Dante meets and converses with several great saints of the Church, including [[Thomas Aquinas]], [[Bonaventure]], [[Saint Peter]], and [[John the Apostle|St. John]]. Near the end, Beatrice departs and Bernard of Clairvaux takes over as the guide.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Botterill |first=Steven |date=1990 |title=Life after Beatrice: Bernard of Clairvaux in Paradiso XXXI |journal=Texas Studies in Literature and Language |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=123}}</ref> The ''Paradiso'' is more theological in nature than the ''Inferno'' and the ''[[Purgatorio]]''. However, Dante admits that the vision of heaven he receives is merely the one his human eyes permit him to see, and thus Dante's personal vision.

The ''Divine Comedy'' finishes with Dante seeing the [[Trinity|Triune God]]. In a flash of understanding that he cannot express, Dante finally understands the mystery of [[Christ]]'s divinity and humanity, and his soul becomes aligned with God's love:<ref name="DLS33">[[Dorothy L. Sayers]], ''Paradise'', notes on Canto&nbsp;XXXIII.</ref>

{{poemquote|But already my desire and my will
were being turned like a wheel, all at one speed,
by the Love which moves the sun and the other stars.<ref>''Paradiso'', Canto&nbsp;XXXIII, lines 142–145, [[C. H. Sisson]] translation.</ref>}}

== History ==

=== Manuscripts ===
According to the Italian Dante Society, no [[holograph|original manuscript]] written by Dante has survived, although there are many manuscript copies from the 14th and 15th centuries&nbsp;– some 800 are listed on their site.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.danteonline.it/english/codici_frames/elencocodici.asp |title=Elenco Codici |website=Dante Online |access-date=5 August 2009 |archive-date=3 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090603100920/http://www.danteonline.it/english/codici_frames/elencocodici.asp |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Early translations ===
[[Coluccio Salutati]] translated some quotations from the ''Comedy'' into [[Latin]] for his ''De fato et fortuna'' in 1396–1397. The first complete translation of the ''Comedy'' was made into Latin prose by [[Giovanni da Serravalle]] in 1416 for two English bishops, [[Robert Hallam]] and [[Nicholas Bubwith]], and an Italian cardinal, [[Amedeo di Saluzzo]]. It was made during the [[Council of Constance]]. The first verse translation, into Latin [[hexameter]]s, was made in 1427–1431 by {{ill|Matteo Ronto|fr}}.<ref>Michele Zanobini, [https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/bitstream/handle/1774.2/40398/ZANOBINI-DISSERTATION-2016.pdf ''"Per Un Dante Latino": The Latin Translations of the Divine Comedy in Nineteenth-Century Italy''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221120011254/https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/bitstream/handle/1774.2/40398/ZANOBINI-DISSERTATION-2016.pdf|date=20 November 2022}}, PhD dissertation. (Johns Hopkins University, 2016), pp. 16–17, 21–22.</ref>

The first translation of the ''Comedy'' into another vernacular was the prose translation into [[Old Spanish|Castilian]] completed by [[Enrique de Villena]] in 1428. The first vernacular verse translation was that of [[Andreu Febrer]] into [[Old Catalan|Catalan]] in 1429.<ref name=commedia />

=== Early printed editions ===
[[File:Alighieri - Divina Commedia, Nel mille quatro cento septe et due nel quarto mese adi cinque et sei - 2384293 id00022000 Scan00006.jpg|thumb|right|[[Title page]] of the first printed edition ([[Foligno]], 11 April 1472)]]
[[File:Divina Commedia 1555 Edition.png|thumb|First edition to name the poem ''Divina Comedia'', 1555]]
[[File:Lucifer from Petrus de Plasiis Divine Comedy 1491.png|thumb|right|Illustration of [[Lucifer]] in the first fully illustrated print edition. Woodcut for ''Inferno'', canto 34. Pietro di Piasi, Venice, 1491.]]

The first printed edition was published in [[Foligno]], Italy, by Johann Numeister and Evangelista Angelini da [[Trevi, Umbria|Trevi]] on {{nowrap|11 April}} 1472.<ref>Christopher Kleinhenz, ''Medieval Italy: An Encyclopedia'', Volume 1, Routledge, 2004, {{ISBN|0-415-93930-5}}, p.&nbsp;360.</ref> Of the 300 copies printed, fourteen still survive. The original printing press is on display in the ''Oratorio della Nunziatella'' in Foligno.

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Early printed editions
! Date !! Title !! Place !! Publisher !! Notes
|-
| 1472 || ''La Comedia di Dante Alleghieri'' || Foligno || Johann Numeister and Evangelista Angelini da Trevi || First printed edition (or ''[[editio princeps]]'')
|-
| 1477 || ''La Commedia'' || Venice || [[Johann and Wendelin of Speyer|Wendelin of Speyer]] ||
|-
| 1481 || ''Comento di Christophoro Landino fiorentino sopra la Comedia di Dante Alighieri'' || Florence || [[Nicolaus Laurentii]] || With [[Cristoforo Landino]]'s commentary in Italian, and some engraved illustrations by [[Baccio Baldini]] after designs by [[Sandro Botticelli]]
|-
| 1491 || ''Comento di Christophoro Landino fiorentino sopra la Comedia di Dante Alighieri'' || Venice || Pietro di Piasi || First fully illustrated edition
|-
| 1502 || ''Le terze rime di Dante'' || Venice || [[Aldus Manutius]] ||
|-
| 1506 || ''Commedia di Dante insieme con uno diagolo circa el sito forma et misure dello inferno'' || Florence || Philippo di Giunta ||
|-
| 1555 || ''La Divina Comedia di Dante'' || Venice || Gabriel Giolito || First use of "Divine" in title<!--
|-
| date || ''title'' || place || publisher || notes
-->
|}

== Thematic concerns ==
The ''Divine Comedy'' can be described simply as an [[Allegory in the Middle Ages|allegory]]: each canto, and the episodes therein, can contain many alternative meanings. Dante's allegory, however, is more complex, and, in explaining how to read the poem&nbsp;(see the ''Letter to [[Cangrande I della Scala|Cangrande]]'')<ref>{{cite web |url=http://faculty.georgetown.edu/jod/cangrande.english.html |title=Epistle to Can Grande |work=faculty.georgetown.edu |access-date=20 October 2014 |archive-date=29 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150129065524/http://faculty.georgetown.edu/jod/cangrande.english.html |url-status=live}}</ref> he outlines other levels of meaning besides the allegory: the historical, the moral, the literal, and the [[anagoge|anagogical]] (compare to the [[four senses of Scripture]]).

The structure of the poem is also quite complex, with mathematical and numerological patterns distributed throughout the work, particularly threes and nines. The poem is often lauded for its particularly human qualities: Dante's skillful delineation of the characters he encounters in Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise; his bitter denunciations of [[Florence|Florentine]] and Italian politics; and his powerful poetic imagination. Dante's use of real characters, according to [[Dorothy Sayers]] in her introduction to her translation of the ''Inferno'', allows Dante the freedom of not having to involve the reader in description, and allows him to "[make] room in his poem for the discussion of a great many subjects of the utmost importance, thus widening its range and increasing its variety."<ref>[[Dorothy L. Sayers]], ''Hell'', Introduction, p.&nbsp;16 (Penguin, 1955).</ref>

Dante called the poem "Comedy" (the adjective "Divine" was added later, in the 16th century) because poems in the ancient world were classified as High ("Tragedy") or Low ("Comedy").<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.worldhistory.org/Greek_Tragedy/ |title=World History Encyclopedia|access-date = 20 April 2021|archive-date = 21 April 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210421175335/https://www.worldhistory.org/Greek_Tragedy/|url-status = live}}</ref> Low poems had happy endings and were written in everyday language, whereas High poems treated more serious matters and were written in an elevated style. Dante was one of the first in the Middle Ages to write of a serious subject, the Redemption of humanity, in the low and "vulgar" Italian language and not the Latin one might expect for such a serious topic. [[Boccaccio]]'s account that an early version of the poem was begun by Dante in [[Latin]] is still controversial.<ref>Boccaccio also quotes the initial triplet:"Ultima regna canam fluvido contermina mundo, / spiritibus quae lata patent, quae premia solvunt / pro meritis cuicumque suis". For translation and more, see Guyda Armstrong, [https://web.archive.org/web/20130402195337/http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Italian_Studies/heliotropia/02-02/armstrong.shtml Review] of Giovanni Boccaccio. Life of Dante. J. G. Nichols, trans. London: Hesperus Press, 2002.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first=Hiram |last=Peri |title=The Original Plan of the Divine Comedy |journal=Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes |volume=18 |issue=3/4 |year=1955 |pages=189–210 |jstor=750179 |doi=10.2307/750179 |s2cid=244492114}}</ref>

=== Scientific themes ===
Although the ''Divine Comedy'' is primarily a religious poem, discussing sin, virtue, and theology, Dante also discusses several elements of the [[Science in the Middle Ages|science of his day]] (this mixture of science with poetry has received both praise and criticism over the centuries).<ref>Michael Caesar, ''Dante: The Critical Heritage'', Routledge, 1995, pp.&nbsp;288, 383, 412, 631.</ref> The ''Purgatorio'' repeatedly refers to the implications of a [[spherical Earth]], such as the different stars visible in the [[Southern Hemisphere]], the altered position of the [[sun]], and the various [[time zone]]s of the Earth. For example, at sunset in Purgatory it is midnight at the [[Ebro]], dawn in Jerusalem, and noon on the [[Ganges|River Ganges]]:<ref>[[Dorothy L. Sayers]], ''Purgatory'', notes on p.&nbsp;286.</ref>

{{poemquote|Just as, there where its Maker shed His blood,
the sun shed its first rays, and Ebro lay
beneath high Libra, and the ninth hour's rays

were scorching Ganges' waves; so here, the sun
stood at the point of day's departure when
God's angel{{snd}}happy{{snd}}showed himself to us.<ref>''Purgatorio'', Canto&nbsp;XXVII, lines 1–6, Mandelbaum translation.</ref>}}

Dante travels through the centre of the Earth in the ''Inferno'', and comments on the resulting change in the direction of [[gravity]] in Canto&nbsp;XXXIV (lines 76–120). A little earlier (XXXIII, 102–105), he queries the existence of wind in the frozen inner circle of hell, since it has no temperature differentials.<ref>[[Dorothy L. Sayers]], ''Inferno'', notes on p.&nbsp;284.</ref>

[[File:Divina Commedia Galileo.png|thumb|[[Galileo Galilei]]'s copy of the first [[Gabriele Giolito de' Ferrari|Giolito]] edition of the poem (1555)]]
Inevitably, given its setting, the ''Paradiso'' discusses [[astronomy]] extensively, but in the [[Geocentrism|Ptolemaic]] sense. The ''Paradiso'' also discusses the importance of the [[experiment]]al method in science, with a detailed example in lines 94–105 of Canto&nbsp;II:

{{numbered verses|first=94|
Yet an experiment, were you to try it,
could free you from your cavil and the source
of your arts' course springs from experiment.

Taking three mirrors, place a pair of them
at equal distance from you; set the third
midway between those two, but farther back.

Then, turning toward them, at your back have placed
a light that kindles those three mirrors and
returns to you, reflected by them all.

Although the image in the farthest glass
will be of lesser size, there you will see
that it must match the brightness of the rest.
| ''Paradiso'', Canto II<ref>''Paradiso'', Canto&nbsp;II, lines 94–105, Mandelbaum translation.</ref>}}

A briefer example occurs in Canto XV of the ''Purgatorio'' (lines 16–21), where Dante points out that both theory and experiment confirm that the [[reflection (physics)|angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection]]. Other references to science in the ''Paradiso'' include descriptions of [[clock]]work in Canto&nbsp;XXIV (lines 13–18), and [[Thales' theorem]] about triangles in Canto&nbsp;XIII (lines 101–102).

[[Galileo Galilei]] is known to have lectured on the ''Inferno'', and it has been suggested that the poem may have influenced some of Galileo's own ideas regarding mechanics.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Peterson |first=Mark A. |title=Galileo's discovery of scaling laws |journal=American Journal of Physics |url=https://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/mpeterso/galileo/scaling8.pdf |publisher=American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) |volume=70 |issue=6 |year=2002 |issn=0002-9505 |doi=10.1119/1.1475329 |pages=575–580 |arxiv=physics/0110031 |bibcode=2002AmJPh..70..575P |s2cid=16106719 | access-date=6 February 2018 | archive-date=11 April 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411151757/https://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/mpeterso/galileo/scaling8.pdf | url-status=dead}}</ref>

== Influences ==
{{clear}}
{{Italian language}}
[[File:Andrea Pierini - Dante alla corte di Guido Novello.jpg|thumb|right|Dante reading the ''Divine Comedy'' at the court of [[Guido Novello]]; painting by Andrea Pierini, 1850 ([[Palazzo Pitti]], Florence)]]

=== Classical ===
Without access to the works of [[Homer]], Dante used Virgil, [[Lucan]], [[Ovid]], and [[Statius]] as the models for the style, history, and mythology of the ''Comedy''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Moore |first=Edward |url=http://archive.org/details/studiesindante0000unse |title=Studies in Dante, First Series: Scripture and Classical Authors in Dante |date=1968 |publisher=Greenwood Press |location=New York |page=4 |orig-date=1896}}</ref> This is most obvious in the case of Virgil, who appears as a mentor character throughout the first two canticles and who has his epic, the ''[[Aeneid]]'', praised with language Dante reserves elsewhere for Scripture.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Jacoff |first1=Rachel |last2=Schnapp |first2=Jeffrey T. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4SLBkMR2-sMC |title=The Poetry of Allusion: Virgil and Ovid in Dante's 'Commedia' |date=1991 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0-8047-1860-8 |pages=1–3 |language=en |access-date=15 March 2023 |archive-date=29 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221129165445/https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Poetry_of_Allusion/4SLBkMR2-sMC?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live}}</ref> Ovid is given less explicit praise in the poem, but besides Virgil, Dante uses Ovid as a source more than any other poet, mostly through metaphors and fantastical episodes based on those in the ''[[Metamorphoses]]''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Van Peteghem |first=Julie |date=19 August 2015 |title=Digital Readers of Allusive Texts: Ovidian Intertextuality in the 'Commedia' and the Digital Concordance on 'Intertextual Dante' |url=https://journals.oregondigital.org/hsda/article/view/5732 |journal=Humanist Studies & the Digital Age |language=en |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=39–59 |doi=10.5399/uo/hsda.4.1.3584 |issn=2158-3846 |access-date=21 March 2024 |archive-date=21 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240321185243/https://journals.oregondigital.org/hsda/article/view/5732 |url-status=live|doi-access=free }}</ref> Less influential than either of the two are Statius and Lucan, the latter of whom has only been given proper recognition as a source in the ''Divine Comedy'' in the twentieth century.<ref>Commentary to Paradiso, IV.90 by Robert and Jean Hollander, ''The Inferno: A Verse Translation'' (New York: Anchor Books, 2002), as found on Dante Lab, http://dantelab.dartmouth.edu {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210614052100/http://dantelab.dartmouth.edu/ |date=14 June 2021 }}</ref>

Besides Dante's fellow poets, the classical figure that most influenced the ''Comedy'' is [[Aristotle]]. Dante built up the philosophy of the ''Comedy'' with the works of Aristotle as a foundation, just as the scholastics used Aristotle as the basis for their thinking. Dante knew Aristotle directly from Latin translations of his works and indirectly from quotations in the works of [[Albertus Magnus]].<ref>Lafferty, Roger. "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/40165857.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A55f6bfc22f02768d5dcdc92005228933 The Philosophy of Dante] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221129165439/https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/40165857.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A55f6bfc22f02768d5dcdc92005228933 |date=29 November 2022 }}", pg. 4</ref> Dante even acknowledges Aristotle's influence explicitly in the poem, specifically when Virgil justifies the Inferno's structure by citing the ''[[Nicomachean Ethics]]''.<ref>''Inferno'', Canto&nbsp;XI, lines 70–115, Mandelbaum translation.</ref> In the same canto, Virgil draws on [[Cicero]]'s ''[[De Officiis]]'' to explain why sins of the intellect are worse than sins of violence, a key point that would be explored from canto XVIII to the end of the ''Inferno''.<ref>Cornell University, [https://rmc.library.cornell.edu/visionsofdante/glossary.php Visions of Dante: Glossary] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221129165441/https://rmc.library.cornell.edu/visionsofdante/glossary.php|date=29 November 2022}}.</ref>

=== Christian ===
The ''Divine Comedy''{{'}}s language is often derived from the phraseology of the [[Vulgate]]. This was the only translation of the Bible Dante had access to, as it was one the vast majority of [[scribe]]s were willing to copy during the Middle Ages. This includes five hundred or so direct quotes and references Dante derives from the Bible (or his memory of it). Dante also treats the Bible as a final authority on any matter, including on subjects scripture only approaches allegorically.<ref>Moore, Edward. [https://books.google.com/books?id=wKzwr0pRzVkC ''Studies in Dante, First Series: Scripture and Classical Authors in Dante''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221129165445/https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/wKzwr0pRzVkC?hl=en&gbpv=1|date=29 November 2022}}, Oxford: Clarendon, 1969 [1896], pp. 4, 8, 47–48.</ref>

The ''Divine Comedy'' is also a product of [[Scholasticism]], especially as expressed by St. Thomas Aquinas.<ref>Toynbee, Paget. ''[https://warburg.sas.ac.uk/pdf/enh149b2446413.pdf Dictionary of Dante A Dictionary of the works of Dante] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210525004059/https://warburg.sas.ac.uk/pdf/enh149b2446413.pdf|date=25 May 2021}}'', p. 532.</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Paradiso of Dante Alighieri |url=https://archive.org/details/paradisoofdantea00dantrich |first=Dante |last=Alighieri |editor=Philip Henry Wicksteed, Herman Oelsner |edition=fifth |publisher=J.M. Dent and Company |year=1904 |page=[https://archive.org/details/paradisoofdantea00dantrich/page/126 126]}}</ref> This influence is most pronounced in the ''Paradiso'', where the text's portrayals of God, the beatific vision, and [[substantial form]]s all align with scholastic doctrine.<ref>Commentary to Paradiso, I.1–12 and I.96–112 by John S. Carroll, ''Paradiso: A Verse Translation'' (New York: Anchor Books, 2007), as found on Dante Lab, http://dantelab.dartmouth.edu {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210614052100/http://dantelab.dartmouth.edu/ |date=14 June 2021 }}.</ref> It is also in the ''Paradiso'' that Aquinas and fellow scholastic St. Bonaventure appear as characters, introducing Dante to all of Heaven's wisest souls. Consequently, the ''Divine Comedy'' has been called "the ''Summa'' in verse".<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-AQTAAAAIAAJ&q=%22the+Summa+in+verse%22 |title=Fordham College Monthly |date=December 1921 |publisher=Fordham University |volume=XL |page=76 |language=en-us |access-date=12 December 2015 |archive-date=4 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230804131041/https://books.google.com/books?id=-AQTAAAAIAAJ&q=%22the+Summa+in+verse%22 |url-status=live}}</ref> Despite all this, there are issues on which Dante diverges from the scholastic doctrine, such as in his unbridled praise for poetry.<ref>Commentary to Paradiso, XXXII.31–32 by Robert and Jean Hollander, ''Paradiso: A Verse Translation'' (New York: Anchor Books, 2007), as found on Dante Lab, http://dantelab.dartmouth.edu {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210614052100/http://dantelab.dartmouth.edu/ |date=14 June 2021 }}.</ref> 

The [[Apocalypse of Peter]] is one of the earliest examples of a Christian-Jewish [[katabasis]], a genre of explicit depictions of heaven and hell. Later works inspired by it include the [[Apocalypse of Thomas]] in the 2nd–4th century, and more importantly, the [[Apocalypse of Paul]] in the 4th century. Despite a lack of "official" approval, the Apocalypse of Paul would go on to be popular for centuries, possibly due to its popularity among the medieval monks that copied and preserved manuscripts in the turbulent centuries following the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The ''Divine Comedy'' belongs to the same genre<ref name="nta2">{{cite book |last=Maurer |first=Christian |editor-last=Schneemelcher |editor-first=Wilhelm |editor-link=Wilhelm Schneemelcher |translator-last1=Wilson |translator-first1=Robert McLachlan |translator-link1=R. McL. Wilson |date=1965 |orig-date=1964 |title=New Testament Apocrypha, Volume Two: Writings Relating to the Apostles; Apocalypses and Related Subjects |location=Philadelphia |publisher=Westminster Press |pages=663–668}}</ref> and was influenced by the Apocalypse of Paul.<ref name="silverstein">{{cite book |last=Silverstein |first=Theodore |author-link=Theodore Silverstein |url= |title=Visio Sancti Pauli: The History of the Apocalypse in Latin, Together with Nine Texts |date=1935 |publisher=Christophers |isbn= |location=London |pages=3–5; 91 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Maier2007">{{cite journal |last1=Maier |first1=Harry O. |date=2007 |title=Review of Die Visio Pauli: Wege und Wandlungen einer orientalischen Apokryphe im lateinischen Mittelalter, unter Einschluß der alttschechischen und deutschsprachigen Textzeugen |journal=Speculum |language=de |volume=82 |issue=4 |pages=1000–1002 |doi=10.1017/S0038713400011647 |jstor=20466112}}</ref>

=== Islamic ===
Dante lived in a Europe of substantial literary and philosophical contact with the Muslim world, encouraged by such factors as [[Averroism]] ("Averrois, che'l gran comento feo" Commedia, Inferno, IV, 144, meaning "Averrois, who wrote the great comment") and the patronage of [[Alfonso&nbsp;X of Castile]]. Of the twelve wise men Dante meets in Canto&nbsp;X of the ''Paradiso'', [[Thomas Aquinas]] and, even more so, [[Siger of Brabant]] were strongly influenced by Arabic commentators on [[Aristotle]].<ref name="copleston">{{Cite book |last=Copleston |first=Frederick |title=A History of Philosophy |volume=2 |publisher=Continuum |year=1950 |location=London |page=200}}</ref> Medieval [[Christian mysticism]] also shared the [[Neoplatonism|Neoplatonic]] influence of [[Sufi cosmology|Sufis]] such as [[Ibn Arabi]]. Philosopher [[Frederick Copleston]] argued in 1950 that Dante's respectful treatment of [[Averroes]], [[Avicenna]], and Siger of Brabant indicates his acknowledgement of a "considerable debt" to Islamic philosophy.<ref name="copleston" />

In 1919, [[Miguel Asín Palacios]], a Spanish scholar and a Catholic priest, published ''La Escatología musulmana en la Divina Comedia'' (''Islamic [[Eschatology]] in the Divine Comedy''), an account of parallels between [[early Islamic philosophy]] and the ''Divine Comedy''. Palacios argued that Dante derived many features of and episodes about the hereafter from the spiritual writings of [[Ibn Arabi]] and from the [[Isra and Mi'raj]], or night journey of [[Muhammad]] to heaven. The latter is described in the ''[[ahadith]]'' and the ''[[Kitab al Miraj]]'' (translated into Latin in 1264 or shortly before<ref name="Heullant">I. Heullant-Donat and M.-A. Polo de Beaulieu, "Histoire d'une traduction," in ''Le Livre de l'échelle de Mahomet'', Latin edition and French translation by Gisèle Besson and Michèle Brossard-Dandré, Collection ''Lettres Gothiques'', Le Livre de Poche, 1991, p.&nbsp;22 with note 37.</ref> as ''[[Liber scalae Machometi]]'', "The Book of Muhammad's Ladder"), and has significant similarities to the ''Paradiso'', such as a [[Seven Heavens|sevenfold division of Paradise]], although this is not unique to the ''Kitab al Miraj'' or Islamic cosmology.<ref>{{cite book |title=Ascent to Heaven in Islamic and Jewish Mysticism |last1=Uždavinys |first1=Algis |pages=23, 92–93, 117 |isbn=978-1-908092-02-1 |publisher=Matheson Trust |year=2011}}</ref>

Many scholars have not been satisfied that Dante was influenced by the ''Kitab al Miraj''. The 20th-century Orientalist [[Francesco Gabrieli]] expressed skepticism regarding the claimed similarities, and the lack of evidence of a vehicle through which it could have been transmitted to Dante.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Francesco |last=Gabrieli |title=New Light on Dante and Islam |journal=Diogenes |volume=2 |issue=6 |pages=61–73 |date=1954 |doi=10.1177/039219215400200604 |s2cid=143999655}}</ref> The Italian philologist [[Maria Corti]] pointed out that, during his stay at the court of Alfonso&nbsp;X, Dante's mentor [[Brunetto Latini]] met Bonaventura de Siena, a Tuscan who had translated the ''Kitab al Miraj'' from Arabic into Latin. Corti speculates that Brunetto may have provided a copy of that work to Dante.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.emsf.rai.it/interviste/interviste.asp?d=490#3 |title=Errore|access-date=7 September 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714061911/http://www.emsf.rai.it/interviste/interviste.asp?d=490#3|archive-date=14 July 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[René Guénon]], a Sufi convert and scholar of Ibn Arabi, confirms in ''The Esoterism of Dante'' the theory of the Islamic influence (direct or indirect) on Dante.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Guenon |first=René| author-link=René Guenon |title=The Esoterism of Dante |year=1925}}</ref> Palacios' theory that Dante was influenced by Ibn Arabi was satirised by the Turkish academic [[Orhan Pamuk]] in his novel [[The Black Book (Pamuk novel)|''The Black Book'']].<ref>{{cite journal |journal=Journal of the American Academy of Religion |volume=70 |issue=3 |pages=515–537 |year=2002 |last1=Almond |first1=Ian |title=The Honesty of the Perplexed: Derrida and Ibn 'Arabi on "Bewilderment" |doi=10.1093/jaar/70.3.515 |jstor=1466522}}</ref>

In addition to that, it has been claimed that ''[[Risalat al-Ghufran|Risālat al-Ghufrān]]'' ("The Epistle of Forgiveness"), a [[satirical]] work mixing [[Arabic poetry]] and [[prose]] written by [[Al-Maʿarri|Abu al-ʿAlaʾ al-Maʿarri]] around 1033 CE, had an influence on, or even inspired, Dante's ''Divine Comedy''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Glassé |first=Cyril |url=https://archive.org/details/newencyclopediao0003glas/mode/2up?q=risalat |title=The New Encyclopedia of Islam, 3rd Volume |publisher=Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-7425-6296-7 |edition=3rd |pages=278 |language=en-us}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Watt |first1=Montgomery W. |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781315083490/history-islamic-spain-montgomery-watt-pierre-cachia |title=A History of Islamic Spain |last2=Cachia |first2=Pierre |year=2017 |pages=125–126 |doi=10.4324/9781315083490 |isbn=978-1-315-08349-0 |access-date=7 August 2022 |archive-date=7 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220807182938/https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781315083490/history-islamic-spain-montgomery-watt-pierre-cachia |url-status=live}}</ref>
{{clear}}

== Criticism and textual history ==
[[File:Sandro Botticelli - Inferno, Canto XVIII (detail) - WGA02855.jpg|thumb|A detail from one of [[Sandro Botticelli]]'s illustrations for ''Inferno'', Canto XVIII, 1480s. Silverpoint on parchment, completed in pen and ink.]]

Critical reception of the ''Divine Comedy'' has varied considerably prior to its universal renown today. Although recognised as a [[masterpiece]] in the centuries immediately following its publication,<ref>[[Chaucer]] wrote in the [https://web.archive.org/web/20080412004255/http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/c/chaucer/canterbury/daniel/chapter13.html Monk's Tale], "Redeth the grete poete of Ytaille /
That highte Dant, for he kan al devyse /
Fro point to point; nat o word wol he faille".</ref> the work largely fell into obscurity during the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]], with some notable exceptions: [[Vittorio Alfieri]]; [[Antoine de Rivarol]], who translated the ''Inferno'' into French; and [[Giambattista Vico]], who in the ''Scienza nuova'' and in the ''Giudizio su Dante'' inaugurated what would later become the romantic reappraisal of Dante, juxtaposing him to Homer.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Auerbach |first=Erich |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R_HofoKY87gC&dq=Vico++Dante&pg=PA101 |title=Dante, Poet of the Secular World |date=1961 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |translator-last1=Manheim |translator-first1=Ralph |isbn=0-226-03205-1 |location=Chicago |oclc=2016697 |access-date=19 March 2023 |archive-date=6 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230906175917/https://books.google.com/books?id=R_HofoKY87gC&dq=Vico++Dante&pg=PA101 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The ''Comedy'' was "rediscovered" in the English-speaking world by [[William Blake]]&nbsp;– who illustrated several passages of the epic&nbsp;– and the [[Romanticism|Romantic]] writers of the 19th century. Later authors such as [[T. S. Eliot]], [[Ezra Pound]], [[Samuel Beckett]], [[C. S. Lewis]] and [[James Joyce]] have drawn on it for inspiration. The poet [[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]] was its first American translator,<ref>Irmscher, Christoph. ''Longfellow Redux''. University of Illinois, 2008: 11. {{ISBN|978-0-252-03063-5}}.</ref> and modern poets, including [[Seamus Heaney]],<ref>Seamus Heaney, "Envies and Identifications: Dante and the Modern Poet." The Poet's Dante: Twentieth-Century Responses. Ed. Peter S. Hawkins and [[Rachel Jacoff]]. New York: Farrar, 2001. pp. 239–258.</ref> [[Robert Pinsky]], [[John Ciardi]], [[W. S. Merwin]], and [[Stanley Lombardo]], have also produced translations of all or parts of the book. In Russia, beyond [[Alexander Pushkin]]'s translation of a few tercets,<ref>Isenberg, Charles. "Dante in Russia." In: Lansing (ed.), ''The Dante Encyclopedia'', pp. 276–278.</ref> [[Osip Mandelstam]]'s late poetry has been said to bear the mark of a "tormented meditation" on the ''Comedy''.<ref>Glazova, Marina (November 1984). "[https://doi.org/10.1007%2FBF00832140 Mandel'štam and Dante: The Divine Comedy in Mandel'štam's Poetry of the 1930s] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221129165500/https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00832140 |date=29 November 2022 }}". ''Studies in Soviet Thought''. '''28''' (4).</ref> In 1934, Mandelstam gave a modern reading of the poem in his labyrinthine "Conversation on Dante".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Fenton |first=James |author-link=James Fenton |date=2005-07-16 |title=Hell set to music |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/jul/16/classics.dantealighieri |access-date=2024-03-21 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077 |archive-date=29 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221129165440/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/jul/16/classics.dantealighieri |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Erich Auerbach]] said Dante was the first writer to depict human beings as the products of a specific time, place and circumstance, as opposed to mythic archetypes or a collection of vices and virtues, concluding that this, along with the fully imagined world of the ''Divine Comedy'', suggests that the ''Divine Comedy'' inaugurated [[literary realism]] and self-portraiture in modern fiction.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Auerbach |first=Erich |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EcvDtEWzHugC |title=Dante: Poet of the Secular World |date=16 January 2007 |publisher=New York Review of Books |isbn=978-1-59017-219-3 |pages=viii–ix |language=en}}</ref> In T. S. Eliot's estimation, "Dante and [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]] divide the world between them. There is no third."<ref>T. S. Eliot (1950) "Dante." ''Selected Essays'', pp.&nbsp;199–237. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company.</ref> For [[Jorge Luis Borges]] the ''Divine Comedy'' was "the best book literature has achieved".<ref>Jorge Luis Borges, "Selected Non-Fictions". Ed. Eliot Weinberger. Trans. [[Esther Allen]] et al. New York: Viking, 1999. p. 303.</ref>

The ''Comedy'' is considered one originator of the [[encyclopedic novel]] across multiple formulations of the concept.<ref>Clark, Hillary A. "Encyclopedic Discourse". ''Sub-stance'' 21.1 (1992): 95–110.</ref> Mendelson's coinage of the term contrasted Dante's initial ostracism with his later importance to Italian national identity, comparing this to the culture-building function of later encyclopedic authors like Shakespeare, [[Cervantes]], or [[Herman Melville|Melville]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mendelson |first1=Edward |title=Encyclopedic Narrative: From Dante to Pynchon |journal=MLN |date=December 1976 |volume=91 |issue=6 |pages=1267–1275 |doi=10.2307/2907136|jstor=2907136 }}</ref>

=== English translations ===
{{Main|List of English translations of the Divine Comedy}}

The ''Divine Comedy'' has been translated into English more times than any other language, and new English translations of the ''Divine Comedy'' continue to be published regularly. Notable English translations of the complete poem include the following.<ref>A comprehensive listing and criticism, covering the period 1782–1966, of English translations of at least one of the three ''cantiche'' is given by Gilbert F. Cunningham, ''The Divine Comedy in English: A Critical Bibliography'', 2 vols. (New York: Barnes & Noble, 1965–1967), esp. vol.&nbsp;2, pp.&nbsp;5–9.</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Year !! Translator(s) !! Notes
|-
|1805–1814 || [[Henry Francis Cary]] || An older translation, widely available [https://web.archive.org/web/19990420170609/http://www.divinecomedy.org/divine_comedy.html online].
|-
|1867 || [[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]] || Unrhymed terzines. The first U.S. translation, raising American interest in the poem. It is still widely available, including [[s:The Divine Comedy|online]].
|-
|1891–1892 || [[Charles Eliot Norton]] || Prose translation used by [[Great Books of the Western World]]. Available online in three parts ([[gutenberg:1995|Hell]], [[gutenberg:1996|Purgatory]], [[gutenberg:1997|Paradise]]) at [[Project Gutenberg]].
|-
|1933–1943 || [[Laurence Binyon]] || ''[[Terza rima]]''. Translated with assistance from [[Ezra Pound]]. Used in ''The Portable Dante'' (Viking, 1947).
|-
|1949–1962 || [[Dorothy L. Sayers]] || Translated for [[Penguin Classics]], intended for a wider audience, and completed by [[Barbara Reynolds]] after Sayers's death.
|-
|1969 || [[Thomas G. Bergin]] || Cast in [[blank verse]] with illustrations by [[Leonard Baskin]].<ref>Dante Alighieri. Bergin, Thomas G. trans. ''Divine Comedy''. Grossman Publishers; 1st edition (1969) .</ref>
|-
|1954–1970 || [[John Ciardi]] || His ''Inferno'' was recorded and released by [[Folkways Records]] in 1954.
|-
|1970–1991 || [[Charles S. Singleton]] || Literal prose version with extensive commentary; 6 vols.
|-
|1981 || [[C. H. Sisson]] || Available in [[Oxford World's Classics]].
|-
|1980–1984 || [[Allen Mandelbaum]] || Available online at [http://www.worldofdante.org/about.html World of Dante] and alongside [[Teodolinda Barolini]]'s commentary at [https://digitaldante.columbia.edu/dante/divine-comedy/ Digital Dante].
|-
|1967–2002|| [[Mark Musa]] || An alternative [[Penguin Classics]] version.
|-
|2000–2007|| [[Robert Hollander|Robert]] and Jean Hollander || [https://dante.princeton.edu/ Online] as part of the Princeton Dante Project. Contains extensive scholarly footnotes.
|-
|2002–2004|| [[Anthony M. Esolen]] || [[Modern Library]] Classics edition.
|-
|2006–2007|| Robin Kirkpatrick || A third [[Penguin Classics]] version, replacing Musa's.
|-
|2010|| [[Burton Raffel]] || A Northwestern World Classics version.
|-
|2013|| [[Clive James]] || A poetic version in [[quatrain]]s.
|-
|2018–2021|| [[Alasdair Gray]] || "a verse translation that is modern, lyrical, yet faithful to the original" — the ''New Statesman''
|-
|2013–2025|| [[Mary Jo Bang]] || A colloquial translation using [[free verse]].
|}

A number of other translators, such as [[Robert Pinsky]], have translated the ''Inferno'' only.

== In popular culture ==
{{Main|The Divine Comedy in popular culture}}
[[File:William Bouguereau - Dante and Virgile - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|''[[Dante and Virgil]]'', a painting by [[William-Adolphe Bouguereau]] (1850), which depicts Dante and Virgil in the eighth circle of Hell, observing two damned souls in eternal combat<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dante et Virgile – William Bouguereau |author= |work=[[Musée d'Orsay]] |date=|access-date=1 December 2022 |url=https://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/artworks/dante-et-virgile-153692 |archive-date=1 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221201154231/https://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/artworks/dante-et-virgile-153692 |url-status=live}}</ref>]]
The ''Divine Comedy'' has been a source of inspiration for countless artists for almost seven centuries. There are many references to Dante's work in [[The Divine Comedy in popular culture#Literature|literature]]. In [[The Divine Comedy in popular culture#Classical music|music]], [[Franz Liszt]] was one of many composers to write [[Dante Symphony|works]] based on the ''Divine Comedy''. In contemporary music, [[Hozier]]'s 2023 album [[Unreal Unearth]] also draws inspiration from Dante's epic.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Inside Hozier's 'Unreal Unearth': How the Singer Flipped Dante's 'Inferno' & the Irish Language into His Latest Album |url=https://www.grammy.com/news/hozier-unreal-unearth-interview-dante-inferno-poem-inspirations-irish |access-date=22 October 2024 |website=grammy.com}}</ref> In [[The Divine Comedy in popular culture#Sculpture|sculpture]], the work of [[Auguste Rodin]] includes themes from Dante. Sculptor [[Timothy Schmalz]] created a series of 100 sculptures, one for each canto, on the 700th anniversary of the date of Dante's death,<ref name="Farrell 2021">{{Cite news |last=Farrell |first=Jane |title=The Divine Comedy in sculpture: Timothy Schmalz |url=https://www.theflorentine.net/2021/09/08/dante-sculpture-divine-comedy-timothy-schmalz-florence/ |work=[[The Florentine]] |date=8 September 2021 |access-date=11 July 2022 |archive-date=4 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230604113959/https://www.theflorentine.net/2021/09/08/dante-sculpture-divine-comedy-timothy-schmalz-florence/ |url-status=live}}</ref> and many [[The Divine Comedy in popular culture#Visual arts|visual artists]] have illustrated Dante's work, as shown by the examples above. There have also been many references to the ''Divine Comedy'' in [[The Divine Comedy in popular culture#Film|cinema]], [[The Divine Comedy in popular culture#Television|television]], [[The Divine Comedy in popular culture#Graphic media|comics and video games]].

== See also ==
* [[Allegory in the Middle Ages]]
* [[Dream vision]]
* [[List of cultural references in Divine Comedy|List of cultural references in ''Divine Comedy'']]
* [[Seven Heavens]]
* [[Theological fiction]]
* ''[[Risalat al-Ghufran]]''

== Citations ==
{{Reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===
* {{cite book |last=Eiss |first=Harry |year=2017 |title=Seeking God in the Works of T. S. Eliot and Michelangelo |publisher=Cambridge Scholars |location=New Castle upon Tyne |isbn=978-1-4438-4390-4}}
* {{cite book |last=Shaw |first=Prue |year=2014 |title=Reading Dante: From Here to Eternity |publisher=Liveright Publishing |location=New York |isbn=978-1-63149-006-4}}
* {{cite book |last=Trone |first=George Andrew |language=en |chapter=Exile |editor1-last=Lansing |editor1-first=Richard |year=2000 |title=The Dante Encyclopedia |location=London and New York |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-87611-7}}

== Further reading ==
* Ziolkowski, Jan M. (2015). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=hk4nDAAAQBAJ Dante and Islam]''. Fordham University Press, New York. {{ISBN|0823263878}}.

== External links ==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Commons category|The Divine Comedy}}
{{Wikisource|Divine Comedy}}
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/dante-alighieri/the-divine-comedy/henry-wadsworth-longfellow}}
* [https://dante.princeton.edu/ Princeton Dante Project]: website that offers the complete text of the ''Divine Comedy'' (and Dante's other works) in Italian and English along with audio accompaniment in both languages. Includes historical and interpretive annotation.
* {{in lang|it}} [http://www.letteraturaitaliana.net/pdf/Volume_1/t317.pdf Full text of the ''Commedia''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227015651/http://www.letteraturaitaliana.net/pdf/Volume_1/t317.pdf |date=27 February 2021 }}
* [https://dante.dartmouth.edu/ Dante Dartmouth Project]: full text of more than 70 Italian, Latin, and English commentaries on the ''Commedia'', ranging in date from 1322 ([[Jacopo Alighieri|Iacopo Alighieri]]) to the 2000s (Robert Hollander)
* ''[https://archive.org/details/adictionaryprop00toyngoog A Dictionary of the Proper Names and Notable Matters in the Works of Dante]'' by Paget Toynbee (Oxford: Clarendon, 1898)
* [[Columbia University]]'s [https://digitaldante.columbia.edu/ Digital Dante]: features the full text in Italian alongside English translations from [[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]] and [[Allen Mandelbaum]]. Includes English commentary from [[Teodolinda Barolini]] as well as multimedia resources relating to the Divine Comedy.
* {{librivox book | dtitle=Divine Comedy |stitle=Divin|author=Dante Alighieri}} {{in lang|en|it}}
* [https://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2023/going-through-hell-divine-dante.html Going Through Hell: The Divine Dante]: exhibition at the National Gallery of Art, 9 April – 16 July 2023

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