The Divine Comedy. Hell. Purgatory. Paradise in One Volume

«The Divine Comedy» – a grand monument of poetic culture and a true encyclopedia of medieval worldview. In it, the poet makes a journey through the three realms of the afterlife and, with astonishing clarity and vividness of depiction, provides a living, memorable picture of what is happening there.
The common people perceived Dante's poem literally. Boccaccio told of two women from Verona who, noticing Dante passing by, exchanged significant remarks. «Look, – said one, – there goes the one who descends to Hell and, when he wishes, brings news of the sinners residing there. The other replied: «You must be right: look how curly his beard is, and his face is black from the smoke and soot of infernal fire». In our days, historians and critics continue to debate what this great work is: a «guide» to the afterlife or an attempt to understand the unknowable, to find the rational in the irrational, to show people the way from darkness and sorrow to light and joy.