In 1867, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow completed the first American
translation of Inferno and thus introduced Dante's literary genius
to the New World. In the Inferno, the spirit of the classical poet
Virgil leads Dante through the nine circles of Hell on the initial stage
of his journey toward Heaven. Along the way Dante encounters and
describes in vivid detail the various types of sinners in the throes of
their eternal torment.