The Divine Comedy is Dante Alighieri's most important work, written between 1307 and 1321, and considered one of the best
epic poems of the universal literature, being responsible besides for the basis of modern Italian language. It’s also considered last great work of literature of the Middle Ages and the first great one in the Renaissance.
The poem portrays the author's 'trip' through the Hell, Purgatory and Paradise, in the search of God. Dante is guided from the Hell to the Purgatory by Virgil's soul (classic roman poet) and tells as, along the eight infernal circles, the sinners'
souls are punished in agreement with what they did in life. The Purgatory is an intermediate space, where the souls that didn't deserve to go to Paradise watch the other souls being punishment in Hell. Once in Purgatory, Dante meets Beatrice, his love in earth, that offers him the Lethe's water of the river Lethe, which makes the soul to forget its sins, making he able to be guided to the Paradise by her. Once He arrives there, he goes through the nine spheres of Heaven and admits that he is trying to show things that even he isn't able to describe. In each one of the spheres the good souls are blessed and then they can go and find God, and from third
sphere on, Beatrice leaves him in company of Saint Bernard, who will proceed ahead until the last Heaven’s sphere and then intercedes with Mary to finally allow Dante to see God.
The title 'comedy' is justified by the ‘happy end’, in opposition to the tragedy, that 'finishes badly', according to the usual conception of the time, and not for being funny.