The Divine Comedy

A Masterpiece of Medieval Literature

The poem deals with the nature of heaven and hell as conceived by the mindset of the people of the time. It is an allegorical text, and there is a political subtext that none of us will ever understand. Ever read Discworld? Do you understand all the political jokes that Prachett makes about the world WE live in?

But for the medievalist and recreationist, it still offers a lot of insight into the thought processes of the people of the times. It was written in a controversial dialect (literature was supposed to be in LATIN, not this new-fangled Italian), it contained controversial imagery and characters, and it provides us an insight into the era's ideas of good and evil. It is amazing to examine how many things were similar to things that fill us with anger and rage here in our own time. It is also interesting to see what things were completely different.

The entire story for this year's Enduro is based on this great poem. While there are three parts, we're using mostly information from the Inferno section to form the challenges in the quest. If you read and understand that part, you'll probably do well.

They say it takes a poet to translate a poet. Without discussing the merits of that sentiment, we offer Longfellow's translation of the great poem.

We hope you enjoy it.

Wonder who will be playing THIS guy...