5 Stars for Purgatorio by the Italian writer Dante Alighieri

Upon setting out to read Purgatorio by the Italian writer Dante Alighieri, (with cliff notes, end notes and google) I realized much of it didn't come together, so I took a step back after reading and picked up the BBC version of The Divine Comedy. I suppose one has to go through Hell to get to Heaven, and this is what I did in my journey to understand this fantastical beast breathing fire, redemption and ultimate humility and grace inside a long narrative poem.

Inferno made me sympathize heavily with Virgil, whereas Purgatorio expected me to already understand why he came to reside in Hell.  The fourth circle of Hell paralleled strongly with Dante's darkness inside himself contemplating darker choices. Although every soul coming in contact with Dante saw his breath, and saw he still lived. It was the realms like pride, anger and hopelessness that drew me towards Dante's humanity which came in contact with my own.

Paradiso detailed the art of both Inferno and Purgatorio answering questions of hope, faith and ultimately love. The abstract became concrete in God's light and some Italian opera sounding overwhelmingly angelic. It is a beautiful poem with images both horrific and impressionistic. In the end, there seemed to be two ways to view it: 1. literally 2. as a sermon of ethics and morality. I think I took a little of both, and will be revisiting this poem for years to come.