Waylaid on the Road to Riches

Dante's Inferno

You've read about it in the papers! You've heard about it in the news!! You slept over it while studying for your final exam in World Literature!!! But just what is Dante's Inferno????

The Inferno is part one of Dante's allegorical epic, Divina Commedia (or The Divine Comedy), written around the turn of the 14th century, which describes the protagonist's dream journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. To quote our favorite reference book, The Oxford Companion to English Literature, "the poem is not only an exposition of the future life, but a work of moral edification, replete with symbolism and allusions based on Dante's wide knowledge of philosophy, astronomy, natural science, and history." Not surprisingly, Hell is the most fun, as it contains lots of dead evil guys, suffering eternal torments and stewing in their own juices.

Besides providing lots of useful moral lessons, Dante's Inferno gave the author the opportunity to get back at all sorts of people he didn't like (including a number of popes) by representing their (anticipated) damnation.

To learn more about Dante's Inferno, check out these great sites:

Consult several different English translation of Dante's poem at Dante's Clickable Inferno.
For more general information about Dante and his work--including 'Hellish Humor' (!), check out Luke Kleinberndt's Dante's Inferno site.
Bring the Inferno to life with Seth Groener's collection of pictures.

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