Divine Comedy is a beautiful, long epic poem by the Italian writer Dante Alighieri. Dante began the poem about 1308 and finished it just before his death in 1321. Its main theme is life after death, and Dante himself is the chief character. The Divine Comedy is divided into the Inferno (Hell); the Purgatorio (Purgatory); and the Paradiso (Paradise). Dante called the work simply Commedia (Comedy) because it ended happily. Later generations added the word Divine.