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Another book in verse that I read and it did not make me scream as in the pains of hell. Pun intended.

The divine Comedy is a post-classical epic poem, apparently. It is an epic because it is long (such as the Iliad and Aeneid), it talks about heroic deeds, it is an allegory and it does have history elements, of Florence to be precise. What makes this poem different from others is that the narrator is inside the story instead of omniscient, as in other epics. Moreover, elements of Christianity are introduced in the mix.

The Divine Comedy is structured in three parts ( Hell, Purgatory and Heaven) which is expected if I think about the Holy Trinity and the meaning of number 3 in Christianity. I only read Inferno so I will only discuss that part. Our hero finds himself in a forest which apparently is the symbol of a life of sin. He tries to climb a mountain but it is attacked by wild beasts. The poet Virgilius, who else, comes to his aid and convinces the narrator to follow him on journey through Hell and beyond in order to find salvation. Dante's Hell has 9 levels, representing 9 sins. I might not have chosen the same order, for example the sins of violence are less important than fraud but I took them as they came.

I listened to Robert Pinsky's translation, a modernised version, which I think made the poem bearable for me. After failing to read The Iliad, I believe it is very important to find a decent translation, one that makes the text more accessible to a novices to this genre, like me.