The Inferno from The Divine Comedy

"Abandon all hope you who enter here." Dante's Hell is one of the most remarkable visions in Western literature. An allegory for his and future ages, it is, at the same time, an account of terrifying realism. Passing under a lintel emblazoned with these frightening words, the poet is lead down into the depths by Virgil and shown those doomed to suffer eternal torment for vices exhibited and sins committed on earth. The Inferno is the first part of the long journey which continues through redemption to revelation - through Purgatory and Paradise - and, in this translation prepared especially for audio, his images are as vivid as when the poem was first written in the early years of the 14th century.

To supplement this reading of Dante's Inferno, listen to The SparkNotes Guide to Dante's Inferno.