to my mind of what Thou didst appear and make my tongue
so powerful that it may be able to leave one single spark of Thy glory,
for the future people: for by returning to my memory and by sounding a
little in these verses, more of Thy victory shall be conceived" (Par.
XXXIII, 67).

Comedy is the title which Dante gives to his trilogy and posterity has
added the prefix adjective divine. The term comedy however is not used
in the modern sense which suggests to us a light laughable drama written
in a familiar style. "Comedy" Dante himself explains in his dedication
of the poem, "is a certain kind of poetical narrative which differs from
all others. It differs from tragedy in its subject matter in this way,
that tragedy in the beginning is admirable and quiet, in its ending or
catastrophe foul and horrible ... Comedy on the other hand, begins with
adverse conditions, but its theme has a happy termination. Likewise they
differ in their style of language, for tragedy is lofty and sublime,
comedy lowly and humble.

"From this it is evident why the present work is called a comedy, for
if we consider the theme in its beginning it is horrible and foul
because it is Hell; in its ending fortunate, desirable and joyful
because it is Paradise: and if we consider the style of language the
style is lowly and humble because it is the vulgar tongue in which even
housewives hold converse."

The theme of the poem Dante himself explains: "The subject of the work
literally taken is the state of souls after death; this is the pivotal
idea of the poem throughout its entire course. In the allegorical sense
the poet treats of the hell of this world through which we are
journeying as pilgrims, with the power of meriting and demeriting, and
the subject is man, in as much as by his merits and demerits he is
subject to divine Justice, remunerative or retributive" (Epis. dedicat.
ad Can Grande).

One of the earliest commentators amplifies the poet's statement.
Benvenuto da Imola writes: "The matter or subject of this book is the
state of the human soul both as connected with the human body and as
separated from it. As the state of the whole is threefold, so does the
author divide his work into three parts. A soul may be in sin; such a
one even while it lives with the body, is morally speaking dead, and
hence it is in moral Hell; when separated from the body, if it died
incurably obstinate, it is in the actual Hell. Again a soul may be
receding f