Selayang pandang, puisi ini melukiskan perjalanan Dante melintasi Neraka, Purgatorium, dan Firdaus atau Surga;[4] tetapi, pada suatu tingkatan yang lebih dalam, puisi ini secara alegoris merepresentasikan perjalanan jiwa menuju Allah.[5] Pada tingkat yang lebih dalam itu, Dante merujuk pada filsafat dan teologi Kristen, khususnya fisafat Thomistik dan Summa Theologica karya Santo Thomas Aquinas.[6] Akibatnya, Divina Commedia menjadi disebut "Summa dalam rupa puisi".[7]
Karya ini pada awalnya hanya berjudul Comedìa dan kata Divina ditambahkan oleh Giovanni Boccaccio. Edisi cetak pertama yang menambahkan kata divina pada judulnya adalah yang dihasilkan seorang humanis Venesia bernama Lodovico Dolce,[8] diterbitkan pada tahun 1555 oleh Gabriele Giolito de' Ferrari.
Galeri
Serangkaian cukil kayu yang mengilustrasikan Neraka-nya Dante, karya Antonio Manetti (1423–1497): Dari Dialogo di Antonio Manetti, cittadino fiorentino, circa al sito, forma, et misure dello inferno di Dante Alighieri poeta excellentissimo (Firenze: F. Giunta, 1510?)
"Segalanya Disusutkan menjadi Satu Rencana", 1506
"Bilik Neraka", 1506
"Sekilas Neraka", 1506
"Lingkaran Enam dan Tujuh", 1506
"Sarang Gerion", 1506
"Makam Lucifer", 1506
La materia della Divina commedia di Dante Alighieri, dichiarata in VI tavole, karya Michelangelo Caetani (1804–1882)
^(Inggris) For example, Encyclopedia Americana, 2006, Vol. 30. p. 605: "the greatest single work of Italian literature;" John Julius Norwich, The Italians: History, Art, and the Genius of a People, Abrams, 1983, p. 27: "his tremendous poem, still after six and a half centuries the supreme work of Italian literature, remains – after the legacy of ancient Rome – the grandest single element in the Italian heritage;" and Robert Reinhold Ergang, The Renaissance, Van Nostrand, 1967, p. 103: "Many literary historians regard the Divine Comedy as the greatest work of Italian literature. In world literature it is ranked as an epic poem of the highest order."
^(Inggris) Peter E. Bondanella, The Inferno, Introduction, p. xliii, Barnes & Noble Classics, 2003, ISBN1-59308-051-4: "the key fiction of the Divine Comedy is that the poem is true."
(Inggris)Templat:ItaPrinceton Dante ProjectDiarsipkan 2009-06-03 di Wayback Machine. Website that offers the complete text of the Divine Comedy (and Dante's other works) in Italian and English along with audio accompaniment in both languages. Includes historical and interpretive annotation.
(Inggris)(Latin)(Italia)Dante Dartmouth Project: Full text of more than 70 Italian, Latin, and English commentaries on the Commedia, ranging in date from 1322 (Iacopo Alighieri) to the 2000s (Robert Hollander)
(Inggris)Danteworlds, multimedia presentation of the Divine Comedy for students by Guy Raffa of the University of Texas
(Inggris)(Italia)World of Dante Multimedia website that offers Italian text of Divine Comedy, Allen Mandelbaum's translation, gallery, interactive maps, timeline, musical recordings, and searchable database for students and teachers by Deborah Parker and IATH (Institute for Advanced Technologies in the Humanities) of the University of Virginia