This work is Dante Alighieri’s poem entitled “The Vision; or, Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise, of Dante Alighieri,” or more commonly known as “The Divine Comedy.” It was translated by Reverend H. F. Cary. There is no date given for this book on the copyright page, but the date at the end of the preface is January 1814. Alighieri began working on the poem around 1308 and completed it in 1320. He wrote “The Divine Comedy” as an allegory representing the soul’s journey towards God and absolution. Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso are the three sections of the poem and make up the three destinations that Dante experienced. Using symbolism and drawing upon theology and mythology, Alighieri creates a larger-than-life story describing his experience of finding God.

The popularity of this piece of literature hasn’t diminished throughout the years and is still considered to be the preeminent work in Italian literature and one the greatest works of world literature.