Unlike earlier classical works of literature in which the protagonist’s visit to the underworld occurs mid-poem, Dante’s Inferno starts with it. The Inferno is the first section of his long narrative poem The Divine Comedy (c. 1308–21), which traces Dante’s fictional journey from darkness and error to the revelation of the divine light, culminating in his beatific vision of God. In this way, the poem’s theme is Christian rather than classical: Dante’s journey to Hell represents a spiritual act of dying to the world, and hence it coincides with the season of Christ’s own death.
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