The Divine Comedy is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun ca. 1308 and completed ca. 1321, shortly before the author’s death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and one of the greatest works of world literature.

The poem’s imaginative vision of the afterlife is representative of the medieval worldview as it existed in the Western Church by the 14th century. It helped establish the Tuscan language, in which it was written, as the standardized Italian language. It is divided into three parts: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso.

The poem discusses “the state of the soul after death and presents an image of divine justice meted out as due punishment or reward,” and describes Dante’s travels through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. Dante draws on medieval Catholic theology and philosophy, especially Thomistic philosophy derived from the Summa Theologica of Thomas Aquinas. Consequently, the Divine Comedy has been called “the Summa in verse.”