The Inferno

Belonging in the immortal company of Homer, Virgil, Milton, and Shakespeare, Dante Alighieri's poetic masterpiece is a moving human drama, an unforgettable visionary journey through the infinite torment of Hell, a supreme expression of the Middle Ages, a glorification of the ways of God, and a magnificent protest at the ways in which men have thwarted the divine plan. One of the few literary works which has enjoyed a fame that was both immediate and enduring, The Inferno's power has not been lessened or obscured after six centuries. It confronts the most universal values—good and evil, free will and predestination—while remaining intensely personal and ferociously political, for it was born out of the anguish of a man who saw human life blighted by the injustice and corruption of his times. "Dante and Shakespeare divide the world between them, there is no third." —T.S. Eliot

"This translation of The Inferno is the most lucid one I've read…a version definitive for our time." —Dudley Fitts

"It is Mr. Ciardi's great merit to be one of the first American translators to have…reproduced [The Inferno] successfully in English. A text with the clarity and sobriety of a first-rate prose translation which at the same time suggests in powerful and unmistakable ways the run and rhythm of the great original…a spectacular achievement." —Archibald MacLeish

"Fresh and sharp…I think this version of Dante will be in many respects the best we have seen." —John Crowe Ransom