The vision of hell. 
 By Dante Alighieri.
 Translated by Rev. Henry Francis Cary, M.A.
 and illustrated with the seventy-five designs of Gustave Doré.

by Dante Alighieri

"The vision of hell." by Dante Alighieri is a narrative poem written in the 14th century. It follows a fictionalized Dante through Hell, guided by the Roman poet Virgil. Hell appears as nine concentric circles of torment within the Earth, where souls suffer punishments fitting their sins. The journey begins when Dante finds himself lost in a dark wood, blocked by three symbolic beasts. As an allegory, the poem represents the soul's journey toward God through recognition and rejection of sin.