A poem about life after death. The inferno (hell) is a conical funnel, purgatory a mountain with circular ledges for repentant sinners, and at the top is earthly paradise. Dante's guide in both hell and purgatory is Virgilis as he speaks to lost friends and foes. But in paradise his guide is the love of his life, Beatrice.
Dante Alighieri was born in 1265 in Florence, Italy, within the Guelf family. He died in 1321. As a boy he fell in love with a local girl called Beatrice but each of them ended up marrying separately. He was sent to work in the embassy in Rome after a family feud. This masterpiece of literature is a poem of symbolism and allusion, encampassing Dante's thoughts on theology, philosophy, astronomy, natural science and history. The visual imagery has the power to make the spiritual visible.