A review by unrealpunk
The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri

I started out reading an old public domain translation, and was so underwhelmed that I nearly gave up, but fortunately I found the Mandelbaum translation, available for free at Columbia University's Digital Dante website, which I HIGHLY recommend.  In Mandelbaum's translation I was able to appreciate the poem as a work of art truly worthy of its eminence.  The only comparison that seems appropriate is to the frescoes of Michelangelo.  Dante seems to have had a high opinion of the poem himself; he may condemn the figures of Classical mythology and history to the Inferno for their paganism, but they would have undoubtedly condemned him for his hubris.  And Dante's pro-Crusade politics are pretty abhorrent, but you may as well deny Homer's Odyssey or Shakespeare's Hamlet as deny the Divine Comedy.

The Digital Dante resource also includes commentary by Teodolinda Barolini, which was especially helpful for understanding Dante's more obscure references.  Readers interested in Dante's craft as a poet will also find it instructive, although it does get a bit repetitive in some places.