Rating: 
Summary: The greatest poem ever written
Review: Of course this is a highly subjective opinion. But the Comedy has everything--humor, tragedy, comedy, piety, irreverence, knotty philosphical problems, unparalleled flights of lyricism--no other poem I know approaches its range and depth. Especially if you are a Christian (or if you want to understand Christianity--its dark side as well as its truth and beauty, since there is hatred and self-righteousness here as well), this is the one long poem you should read even if you never read another one. I think the Comedy is best read as an allegory--on the literal level it describes hell, purgatory, and heaven, but on the symbolic level it is about a journey inside oneself. Dante begins in the wood of error, lost in his own sinfulness and confusion. But God's grace (mediated by the dead woman Beatrice, whom he had loved from afar) reaches him in the somewhat attenuated form of the ancient poet Virgil, who represents everything that's good and noble in "natural," pagan humanity. Under Virgil's guidance, Dante has to undergo a horrific journey, plumbing the depths of his own capacity for evil, until, in the icy depths of hell, he discovers Lucifer--the ultimate rejection of grace--burrowed through the earth (and through Dante's soul) like a worm at an apple's core. But the Inferno is not the end, though many people stop there (both in reading Dante and in their own lives). Next Dante, still guided by Virgil, has to climb the mountain of Purgatory, stripping away by prayer and self-examination the evil that he has discovered in himself. Only there is he ready to meet Beatrice and fly up with her (in the most ambitious attempt to describe ultimate happiness ever made) to Paradise and the ultimate encounter with God. Ciardi's translation perhaps errs on the side of being too crude and colloquial, but this makes it accessible for modern readers. I also highly recommend Dorothy Sayers's translation, and her essays about Dante.
Rating: 
Summary: read it if you must
Review: possibly the most overrated work of literature in the western cannon. Dante in his writings emerge as a provincial moralist. The tale is tedious at best, the Inferno being the most readable of the three parts.
Read this work if you feel morally and culturally obligated, but not for enjoyment.
Rating:
Summary: More Than Gorgeous
Review: Seven centuries after Dante Alighieri wrote La Divina Commedia, it remains one of the most spectacularly amazing literary masterpieces in any language of any time.The story of a spiritual journey, The Divine Comedy is essentially an allegory which began on Good Friday 1300 (when Dante was thirty-five) and lasted for just seven days. It is also a bitter political polemic, directed against all in authority in Italy at the time, but particularly those in Dante's native Florence, and also serves as a denouncement of the wealth and corruption of the papacy. The Divine Comedy embraces the celestial and the terrestrial, the mythological and the historical, the practical and the ethical. It is a discourse on the role of reason in faith and the individual in society. The Divine Comedy is a poem in which Dante views himself as a pilgrim, representative of all mankind, who is led on a journey through the various circles of Hell, Purgatory and Heaven. It is written in three volumes (Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso), each composed of thirty-three cantos (there is one introductory canto serving as an overview). Originally written in Italian, The Divine Comedy uses a rhyming scheme known as terza rima, which was invented by Dante, himself. Many translations attempt to adhere to this rhyming scheme, however this only confines and constrains the translator in his ability to capture the meaning and nuance of the original text. Anyone not able to read The Divine Comedy in its original Italian would be far better off in choosing a blank verse translation. Dante's first guide is the poet, Virgil, who leads him through Hell and Purgatory. As Dante and Virgil descend through the ever-deepening circles, they speak with the damned, who are being punished according to their sins on earth. Some of these denizens of Hell are mythological, some are historical and some are Florentines who were Dante's contemporaries. Within Inferno, the condemned sinners are referred to as "shades." Virgil, himself, is first introduced as a shade. Although this can be confusing to some readers, the confusion can be easily cleared up once we realize Dante is employing the image of shades because, in his eyes, dead souls have grown faint through the absence of God's light. Once Dante begins to work his way upwards, towards Paradise, Virgil, who is, himself, a resident in limbo, must take his leave and Dante finds his guide to be Beatrice (Bice Portinari, a woman Dante met and fell in love with in 1274 and who died in 1290). It is Beatrice who leads Dante on to Paradiso and his final vision of God. The name, The Divine Comedy, is derived from two words, comus and oda, which, in their literal translation mean, "rustic song." Dante, in a letter to a Ghibellinline Captain in Verona, said he was attempting to separate his work from a pure tragedy (that which begins in tranquility and ends in sadness, e.g., Romeo and Juliet), from a comedy, which can begin in sadness but, by its very nature, ends in love, joy or perfection. The term, "divine" was suggested to Dante by Giovanni Boccaccio as a way of representing the content of the poem and the beauty that it holds. The Divine Comedy is, without a doubt, one of the greatest masterpieces of world literature. In a literal sense, it is Dante's own depiction of the state of souls after death, but allegorically, it is so much more. On this deeper level, the poem investigates mankind's eternal search for salvation in which he must first descend to the depths of hell before rising to the heights of Paradise. The Divine Comedy is a masterpiece of subject matter but it is also a masterpiece of Dante's Tuscan dialect (which eventually became the literary language of the whole of Italy). Those lucky enough to read it in the original Italian will find the language gorgeous beyond compare; a limpid and ethereal Italian that remains so fresh and invigorating it could have been written yesterday. The Divine Comedy is not the easiest work in literature, either to read or to understand. But, for those who are prepared to make the effort, the rewards are far greater than could ever have been anticipated.
Rating:
Summary: What is the best edition?
Review: So what is the best edition of this tremendous work upon which hyperbole could fail? Dorothy Sayers rendered the work into a stylistically matched slightly archaic version in three volumes through Penguin Classics. These volumes have the advantage of dedication from the author, a Christian with a precision of language and handy illustrations and extensive notes. I found Mark Musa's versions simpler and less poetic (he refused to imitate the rhythms as Sayers had attempted) and scholars may have their own favourite version. But for people on the go, who would like it all in one the radio (BBC) recommended the translation by C. H. Sisson with notes by Higgins published under World's Classics which may also feature as Oxford World's Classics around 1993. This contains practically all the elements a reader will need including figures and illustrations mapping the voyage and notes on the history and context. The translated verses are numbered and readable though they maintain their depth. The first book in the most exciting but by the time Dante was writing paradiso his views had softened and he admits at least one "heathen" into his paradise clearly indicating that "works" is just as good if not better than "grace & faith" alone.
Rating:
Summary: One of the main sources of Western culture
Review: The all-encompassing mind of Dante has produced indeed one of the main sources of Western culture. It is a rich poem, full of interesting stories and commentary and which, like all true classics, can be read from different standpoints and has different dimensions. It tells Dante's travel to Hell, Purgatory and Heaven. Daniel Boorstin has called it "Adventures in Death". It is also one of the main bridges between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Like other works from this period, it mixes classical mythology and tradition with Christian history. The first evidence of this is the fact that although Dante travels to the Christian underworld, his guide is the Roman poet Virgil, no less. Dante's work is thus multi-layered: it is an exploration of virtue and sin and their consequences; a profound criticism of the state of the Catholic Church at the time, attacking fiercely the institution of the Papacy and Boniface VIII in particular, for their corruption; a reelaboration of old Medieval themes; a bitter analysis of Italian and especially Florentine politics of his day, whose effects he so cruelly suffered. During his trip, Dante meets and speaks with Biblical characters, Greco-Roman ones, and contemporaries of him. These people tell their stories and explain why they are where they are. Dante touches practically on all relevant and controversial subjects of his time, as well as many of our own. Although in any translation we miss the lyricism of his verse, we can still appreciate the quality and dignity of his writing. It is not, of course, an easy reading. It is not "light" literature and it demands intelligent, cultivated and also demanding readers. But the reward is infinite. Dante's work has had any number of repercussions in subsequent culture. I think, for example, of Tchaikovsky's "Francesca di Rimini", based on one of the fascinating stories told to Dante in Hell, Purgatory and Heaven. Dante's images are powerful, terrorific in Hell and purely Divine in Heaven. His imagination is truly remarkable, in the way he describes the punsihments and rewards, as well as the characters and their situations. Lose the fear and plunge into this greatest tour de force. It is really Dantesque.
Rating: 
Summary: Very nice translation
Review: The book is a bit bulky as a paperback, with a third of the bulk being footnotes and extraneous writings. Why not go ahead and include etchings, too? I don't need that. I already have the books in separate with all the historical info I need, and if I hadn't, I have the library within a few minutes drive. I was looking for a compact version of the trilogy to carry around (I don't know why) or keep beside my bed. Anyway, the translation compared to others I've leafed through is superb. No nonsense and very straight-forward, but at the same time betraying a certain depth. You can choose to read between the lines or not. The translation warrants a 5-star rating, but the book's fuction as a paperback brings that rating down.
Rating:
Summary: Very nice translation
Review: The book is a bit bulky as a paperback, with a third of the bulk being footnotes and extraneous writings. Why not go ahead and include etchings, too? I don't need that. I already have the books in separate with all the historical info I need, and if I hadn't, I have the library within a few minutes drive. I was looking for a compact version of the trilogy to carry around (I don't know why) or keep beside my bed. Anyway, the translation compared to others I've leafed through is superb. No nonsense and very straight-forward, but at the same time betraying a certain depth. You can choose to read between the lines or not. The translation warrants a 5-star rating, but the book's fuction as a paperback brings that rating down.
Rating:
Summary: the book was excellent
Review: The book leaves you with "is this all real". It describes some of the scenes very good and it helps you at the end feel calm after knowing what the character has gone through.You feel like you are Dante, and that your the one going through all the levels, as I call them.
Rating:
Summary: Best Translation of Which I Know
Review: The John Ciardi translation of The Divine Comedy is the best I've found. I was struggling to finish the Inferno until I stumbled upon the Ciardi translation in my library. Ciardi's translation is easy-to-read but maintains a beauty and fluidity that Pinsky's translation lacks. As far as Dante goes, I consider him to be the best poet ever and his vision of the afterlife is remarkably vivid and at many points inspirational. You owe it to yourself to read the best piece of literature ever written.
Rating:
Summary: Not the Book You Think It Is
Review: The rating has to do with casual readability, not with the innate worth of the book, of course. I've experienced other classics (The Aeneid, Beowulf, etc.) that turned out to be plain good reads on their own terms. Not this one. It's a darling of that branch of philosophy that has to do with logic, so there are all these careful arguments as to why things are the way they are, all plodding and ponderous. A book like this is not without its moments (the "morning after" the trip through Hell, the fact that Beatrice was not able to smile at Dante for fear of overwhelming him, etc.), but it does drag on for the most part. Try to find a translation that is clear and informal. The Blackstone Audio's translator (not identified!) retained the thee's and thou's and the stilted modes of expression, and it made it that much harder to get through. But even with a sympathetic translation don't for a moment believe you'll get swept away by the plot.
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