Dante’s Inferno is a peek inside the thoroughly medieval mindset. Most have read Dante’s Inferno and enjoy the psychological illustrations of punishment fitting the crime. "Inferno" is followed by "Purgatorio" and "Paradiso." For Dante, his encounters with individuals point to the freely chosen nature of their sins. It is living writing.” —James Richardson, Princeton University “Professor Esolen’s translation of Dante’s Inferno is the best one I have seen, for two reasons. Dante’s concept of religion is firmly entrenched in the Middle Ages, where there was only one church, and the pre-Reformation church was a far cry from any form of the Christian church today. Dante 's Inferno Vs. Milton 's Paradise Lost The two stories, Inferno by Dante and Paradise Lost by Milton, were written about the biblical hell and its keeper: Satan. Dante's statue also closely recalls the statue appearing in King Nebuchadnezzar's dream in the Bible; this dream is revealed in a vision to Daniel, who informs the king that the composition of the statue signifies a declining succession of kingdoms all inferior to the eternal kingdom of God (Daniel 2:31-45). Those approaching "Inferno" for the first time might benefit from a brief structural description. Both of these authors had different views about the hell and Satan. The author and protagonist of Inferno; the focus of all action and interaction with other characters.Because Dante chose to present his fictional poem as a record of events that actually happened to him, a wide gulf between Dante the poet and Dante the character pervades the poem. Virgil (70–19 BCE), best known for the Aeneid, was born is a village near Mantua and lived in Rome during the reign of Julius Caesar and, later, Augustus Caesar. Virgil supplies an eye-witness account, from his partially informed perspective, in Inferno 4.52-63. In Paradis Lost, … Virgil, because he recounted Aeneas' journey through the underworld in the Aeniad, is an appropriate guide for Dante on the … The punishments which Dante envisions for the myriad sinners who have been confined to the underworld are fitting images which highlight the blight upon our souls which sin incurs. This Inferno gives us Dante’s vivid drama and his verbal inventiveness. But few have read the entire Divine Comedy: which comprises of Purgatory and Paradise. Inferno opens on the evening of Good Friday in the year 1300. Dante’s "Inferno" is the first part of his three-part epic poem "The Divine Comedy," written in the 14 th century and considered one of the world’s great works of literature. This is the first appearance of the Roman poet Virgil, Dante's guide to the Inferno and Purgatorio. The sun shines down on a mountain above him, and he attempts to climb up to it but finds his way blocked by three beasts—a leopard, a lion, and a she-wolf. Though Inferno drags everyone down into itself—it takes little effort to fall—the stories Dante creates point unambiguously in the direction of human … Inferno is not about divine revenge upon the wicked, it’s primarily about the stories of those who choose sin as its own destiny. Traveling through a dark wood, Dante Alighieri has lost his path and now wanders fearfully through the forest. Detailing Dante’s allegorical descent into hell, the Inferno is both strikingly timeless as well as a clear product of its time. Of Dante's many translators, three stand out as the best: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), himself a poet; Henry Francis Cary (December 6, 1772 - August 14, 1844),an English author and translator; and Charles Eliot Norton (November 16, 1827 - October 21, 1908), an American scholar and man of letters. Dante. Since, according to Dante's reckoning, Christ's earthly life spanned thirty-four years, the harrowing can be dated to 34 C.E.