Showing results for "Purgatory" in Themes & Styles

Purgatory is the second part of Dante's Divine Comedy, following the Inferno, and preceding the Paradiso. The poem was written in the early 14th century. It is an allegory telling of the climb of Dante up the Mount of Purgatory, guided by the Roman poet Virgil, except for the last four cantos at which point Beatrice takes over as Dante's guide.

In this second volume of Dante Alighieri's ageless classic, the *Comedie* (*Commedia*), Vergil and Dante emerge from their upward climb out the lower depths of Hell, at the center of the earth, to find themselves at the shores of the Mountain of Purgatory, exactly opposite Jerusalem in the Hemisphere of Water, where it is the only land below the Equator. Here they encounter other newcome souls and those who are awaiting entry into the punishments.