The long stretch of the Middle Ages boasts many great works of literature, from Beowulf to the Song of Roland, from Malory’s “Le Morte d’Arthur” to “El Cantar de Mio Cid”. But we have to wait until the cusp of the Renaissance for the supreme masterpiece – Danté Alighieri’s Commedia.
After writing “Vita Nuova”, a collection of poetry and autobiography in which we learn about Beatrice, the muse for whom he nurtured an unrequited love, Danté wrote the three volumes of “The Divine Comedy” (“Divina Commedia”). Hell (Inferno) is the most famous and interesting of the three, followed by Purgatory (Purgatorio), and finally Heaven (Paradiso) in which Beatrice was one of his guides. It is encyclopaedic in its mythological and Christian references – that’s the Medieval habit of categorizing everything – so you really need a study guide to make the most of it.
In the Inferno, Dante journeys through the underworld in the company of Virgil, descending through the nine circles to the centre of hell where Satan is devouring Judas, Brutus and Cassius. The inscription above the gates of Hell in Canto 3 reading “Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch’entrate” (“Abandon all hope, ye who enter here”) is probably the most well-known line of the poem. The Inferno is conveniently divided into 33 self-contained cantos, so it’s easy to just pick up and read one canto by itself.
The poem is written in terza rima in the Italian of Medieval Florence. It is still comprehensible to the modern reader, but slight shifts in connotation or grammar (“di nostra vita” rather than “della nostra vita” etc) might put some Italian learners off. We can however enjoy a multitude of English translations. My favourite is probably the Penguin Classics translation of Dorothy Sayers whose opening is unmatched: “Midway this way of life we’re bound upon, I woke to find myself in a dark wood, Where the right road was wholly lost and gone”, although I also treasure a coffee-table sized book of Cary’s translation just for the illustrations by Gustave Doré. Doré illustrated many works in the nineteenth century including Rabelais, “Les Contes de Perrault” and “Paradise Lost” – but he was made for Danté!
Blake produced his own idiosyncratic illustrations for the work, but Doré is realistic and captures that peculiar unworldly atmosphere that Danté strikes up right from the very first line. It can be enjoyable to read the same canto multiple times with different versions. There’s no denying that the world of Dante is heavy, with no irony, humour or compassion. The fascination in the details of Hell was not unique to Danté, it was a general preoccupation of the times, as also reflected in the popularity of the Middle English poem “The Prick of Conscience” which appeared around the same time.