The Divine Comedy (The Inferno, The Purgatorio, and The Paradiso)

The Divine Comedy is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun c.
1308 and completed around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is
widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and one of the
greatest works of world literature. 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 helped establish the Tuscan language,
in which it is written, as the standardized Italian language. It is divided
into three parts: Inferno, Purgatorio, and 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. 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 Thomistic philosophy derived from the
Summa Theologica of Thomas Aquinas. Consequently, the Divine Comedy has been
called "the Summa in verse".