Who is the author of 'The Divine Comedy'?

"The Divine Comedy" ("Divina Commedia") is a long narrative poem by the Italian poet Dante Alighieri, written between about 1308 and 1321, the year of his death.

About the poem:

It describes Dante's imaginary journey through the three realms of the afterlife, beginning on the night before Good Friday in the year 1300.

It is divided into three parts, called "canticles":

• "Inferno" (Hell): Dante is guided by the Roman poet Virgil through nine circles of Hell, where sinners are punished according to their sins.
• "Purgatorio" (Purgatory): Virgil guides him up the mountain of Purgatory, where souls are purified.
• "Paradiso" (Paradise): Beatrice, the woman Dante loved, guides him through the heavenly spheres to the vision of God.
• It has 100 cantos in all (one introductory canto plus 33 in each part) and uses a rhyme scheme called "terza rima", which Dante invented.
• Dante called it simply "Commedia" because it moves from sorrow to a happy ending; the word "Divina" was added later by Boccaccio.
• The famous inscription on the gate of Hell reads: "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here."

About Dante Alighieri (1265-1321):

• He was born in Florence, Italy.
• He was exiled from Florence in 1302 because of political conflicts and died in exile in Ravenna.

He wrote the Commedia in the Tuscan dialect rather than Latin. This helped make Tuscan the basis of modern Italian, and Dante is called the "Father of the Italian language".

His other works include "La Vita Nuova", about his love for Beatrice.

Other early Italian writers:

• Giovanni Boccaccio: "The Decameron".
• Francesco Petrarch: sonnets to Laura; called the "Father of Humanism".
• John Milton (English): "Paradise Lost" (1667), another great Christian epic.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Giovanni Boccaccio wrote "The Decameron".
• ✗Francesco Petrarch is known for his sonnets.
• ✗John Milton wrote "Paradise Lost".