The Divine Comedy. Aligieri D.

Divine comedy is a grandiose monument of poetic culture and a real encyclopedia of medieval worldview. In it, the poet makes a journey through three kingdoms of the afterlife and with amazing visibility and clarity of the image gives a lively, memorable picture of what is happening there. The ordinary people perceived Dante's poem literally. Bokkaccio talked about two residents of Verona, who, noticing a passing by Dante, exchanged substantial replicas. “Look,” said one, “this is the one who descends to hell and, returning from there, when he wants, brings news of the sinners who are there. The other replied: “You must be right: look how his beard is curly, and his face is black from smoke and soot of hellish fire.” In our days, historians and critics still do not stop disputes about what this great work is: the “guide” in the afterlife or an attempt to know the unknowable, find the rational in the irrational, show people the path from darkness and sorrow to light and joy.