"The Divine Comedy" is the epic Italian classical poem composed by philosopher and author Dante Alighieri detailing the author's account of a trip through the afterlife.

Universally regarded as one of the greatest works of Italian literature, "The Divine Comedy" is broken up into three sections: Inferno (Hell), Purgatorio (Purgatory) and Paradiso (Paradise), each of which contain thirty-three chapters or "cantos."

In this, the first volume, Dante first takes the reader on a trip to the land of the damned, guided by the poet Virgil, where he encounters the nine rings of Hell, each of which contains (and punishes) a separate group of sinners. Sins of indulgence, of violence, sins against God and man, each specific transgression comes with its own appropriate - often ironic - punishment.

Considered one of the greatest works of Western literature, "The Divine Comedy" is presented here in its original and unabridged format, as translated from the Italian by the great English poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.