Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (Free Audio Book)

This poem tells of a man’s journey through the three realms of the dead.  Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven.  It begins with Dante feeling lost and unable to find the straight path. He is rescued by Virgil, a poet who has passed on, and they begin their journey through the Inferno. Dante gets to meet souls as they experience the different circles of Hell. Based on how you lived your life, your soul may go to the Inferno and the circle chosen for you is based on your actions in life and you suffer the consequences of those actions.

After getting through all of that, Virgil and Dante ascend from Hell to the Mountain of Purgatory.  In Purgatory he experiences the different terraces of sin.  These are based more on a person’s motives during their life and the seven deadly sins.  So again, the terrace they are placed on is chosen by how they lived during their life.

Finally, Beatrice, someone he has admired since childhood, and Dante ascend to Heaven and she guides him through the nine celestial spheres. Again, the principle is the same. Depending on how pure your devotion to God was, would determine which sphere you ranked here.

This poem will definitely get the spiritual side of your brain churning. The audio was clear and the speakers did a great job.  However, since the entire poem was written in the first person, it may have been better to have been read entirely by the same male reader.  That way it would have felt like you were listening to Dante tell his tale.

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