Purgatorio

Dante Alighieri

may 2017 · Courier Dover Publications

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The second book in the three-part Divine Comedy finds Dante and his guide, Virgil, halfway between Heaven and Hell. Having portrayed the tortures of the damned in Inferno, Dante resumes his allegory of the soul's journey to God with Purgatorio. A place of pain but also hope, Purgatory allows its suffering souls to reflect upon their sins and to work toward their moral improvement, paving the way for their eventual entry to Paradiso.
Dante transformed the traditional notion of Purgatory by depicting how aspiring souls could undergo moral change, exchanging their human frailty for divine perfection. His exploration of theological issues, especially the role of free will, offers an eloquent and inspiring parable of human possibility and redemption. This edition features the renowned translation by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and serves as a companion volume to the Dover editions of Inferno and Paradiso.

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Florentine poet Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) is best known for The Divine Comedy, a three-part epic poem that progresses from Hell (Inferno) to Purgatory to Paradise. Written in the vernacular, rather than Latin or Greek, Dante's masterpiece immediately found a wide audience; it is considered the greatest work of Italian literature and its author is regarded as the father of modern Italian.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882), author of The Song of Hiawatha and other beloved poems, was Professor of Modern Languages at Harvard University.