Divine Comedy
<p >The <i><b>Divine Comedy</b></i> (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_language" title="Italian language" >Italian</a>: <i>Divina Commedia</i>) is an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_poetry" title="Epic poetry" >epic poem</a> written by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dante_Alighieri" title="Dante Alighieri" >Dante Alighieri</a> between c. 1308 and his death in 1321. It is widely considered the preeminent work of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_literature" title="Italian literature" >Italian literature</a>,<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_Comedy#cite_note-1" >[1]</a></sup> and is seen as one of the greatest works of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_literature" title="World literature" >world literature</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_Comedy#cite_note-2" >[2]</a></sup> The poem's imaginative and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory" title="Allegory" >allegorical</a> vision of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afterlife" title="Afterlife" >afterlife</a> is representative of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_philosophy" title="Medieval philosophy" >medieval world-view</a> as it had developed in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Catholic_Church" title="Roman Catholic Church" class="mw-redirect" >Western Church</a> by the 14th century. It helped establish the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuscan_dialect" title="Tuscan dialect" class="mw-redirect" >Tuscan dialect</a>, in which it is written, as the standardized <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_language" title="Italian language" >Italian language</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_Comedy#cite_note-3" >[3]</a></sup>It is divided into three parts: <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inferno(Dante)" title="Inferno (Dante)" >Inferno</a></i>, <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purgatorio" title="Purgatorio" >Purgatorio</a></i>, and <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradiso(Dante)" title="Paradiso (Dante)" >Paradiso</a></i>.
On the surface, the poem describes Dante's travels through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven;<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_Comedy#cite_note-4" >[4]</a></sup> but at a deeper level, it represents, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_in_the_Middle_Ages" title="Allegory in the Middle Ages" >allegorically</a>, the soul's journey towards God.<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_Comedy#cite_note-5" >[5]</a></sup> At this deeper level, Dante draws on medieval Christian theology and philosophy, especially <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomism" title="Thomism" >Thomistic philosophy</a> and the <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summa_Theologica" title="Summa Theologica" >Summa Theologica</a></i> of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas" title="Thomas Aquinas" >Thomas Aquinas</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_Comedy#cite_note-6" >[6]</a></sup> Consequently, the <i>Divine Comedy</i> has been called "the <i>Summa</i> in verse".<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_Comedy#cite_note-7" >[7]</a></sup>
The work was originally simply titled <i>Commedìa</i> and was later christened <i>Divina</i> by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Boccaccio" title="Giovanni Boccaccio" >Giovanni Boccaccio</a>. The first printed edition to add the word <i>divina</i> to the title was that of the Venetian <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_Humanism" title="Renaissance Humanism" class="mw-redirect" >humanist</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lodovico_Dolce" title="Lodovico Dolce" >Lodovico Dolce</a>,<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_Comedy#cite_note-8" >[8]</a></sup> published in 1555 by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriele_Giolito_de%27_Ferrari" title="Gabriele Giolito de' Ferrari" >Gabriele Giolito de' Ferrari</a>.
 
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