How many lines does The Divine Comedy contain?

The Divine Comedy contains 14,233 lines in its original Italian text.

Those verses are divided among three cantiche: Inferno has 4,720 lines, Purgatorio 4,755, and Paradiso 4,758. Together they form a carefully balanced poem of 100 cantos: Inferno contains 34, including its introductory canto, while Purgatorio and Paradiso each contain 33.

The line count is part of the poem's elaborate numerical architecture. Dante repeatedly emphasizes three, associated with the Trinity, and its multiples: three realms, three cantiche, and tercets made of three lines. The Italian verses are generally hendecasyllabic, with eleven syllables per line, and are connected through terza rima.

Readers should distinguish the original poem's line count from the length of a translation. English translators may alter line lengths, stanza divisions, or even use prose, so page counts and line totals vary widely. The 14,233 figure refers specifically to the complete Italian Comedy and its conventional textual divisions.