No words can describe the greatness of this work, a greatness both of theme and artistry. Dante's theme is universal; it involves the greatest concepts that man has ever attained. Only a genius could have found the loftiness of tone and the splendor and variety of images that are presented in The Divine Comedy.

The story is an allegory, representing mankind as, by its merits or demerits, it exposes itself to the rewards or the punishments of justice. In its three parts, Inferno is a description of hell, Purgatorio a description of purgatory, and Paradiso a vision of a world of beauty, light, and song.

In this translation by Carlyle-Okey-Wicksteed, a single listening will reveal its universality as well as Dante's visual imagination and power to make the spiritual visible.

To supplement this reading of Dante's Divine Comedy, listen to The SparkNotes Guide to Dante's Inferno.