Dante Alighieri 
Inferno 

The Inferno is the first part of The Divine Comedy, Dante’s epic poem describing man’s progress from hell to paradise. In it, the author is lost in a dark wood, threatened by wild beasts and unable to find the right path to salvation. Notable for its nine circles of hell, the poem vividly illustrates the poetic justice of punishments faced by earthly sinners. The Inferno is perhaps the most popular of the three books of The Divine Comedy, which is widely considered the preeminent work in Italian literature.

About the author

Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), a major Italian poet of the late Middle Ages, has been called the father of the Italian language. His classic masterpiece, The Divine Comedy, is widely considered to be the greatest literary work ever composed in Italian, and his writing has inspired a wide range of artists including sculptor Auguste Rodin, composer Franz Liszt, and numerous authors, such as Geoffrey Chaucer, John Milton, and T.S. Eliot.