One of the absolute summits of western (arguably, world) literature.The general outline is well-enough known: Dante has a vision (on Easter weekend, 1300) in which he visits Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. Despite my personal issues with reading it I am honored to have read such famous and renouned piece of historical literature. There in itself stands testement to how amazing this work has been throughout history. I have to mention that I think it's funny how people get the details of this work confused with The Holy Bible. All-in-all this entire work was beautifully written in the terza rima rhyme scheme which adds a bit of romance to every line read. When all of the action is over in the 1st portion of the book it becomes a chore to finish reading it. Don't get me wrong, I give credit to the absolute classic that this work is, however I think there are some issues with it from a reader's standpoint. Lucifer's appearance was more awe inspiring than God's. I figured that the Canto with God in it would have been a bit more powerful & profound. It is then that Dante seems to loose his focus on his surroundings and turns toward fauning over Beatrice's beauty. In Paradiso we switch guides from Virgil to Beatrice. Dante certainly had the gift of making Purgatory feel not too bad but also not too good. Perhaps the subject matter was not as captivating as well.

Purgatorio was still able to paint the pictures but not quite as vividly. However Purgatorio & Paradiso seemed to lack this each in their own way. The Inferno is captivating and paints vivid pictures of what Dante &. In finally sitting down and reading the entire Divine Comedy, I can now see why The Inferno is usually separated from Purgatorio & Paradiso.

The divine comedy mandelbaum