Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) was a poet and politician. Born into a noble Florentine family in a city torn apart by rival clans, Dante became embroiled in this sectarianism and was banished from the city in 1302. He wrote Divine Comedy while in exile and this translation is by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the American lyric poet.
Gustave Doré (1832-1883) was a French artist and illustrator who worked primarily with wood-engraving. His famed illustrations include those for Milton's Paradise Lost, Dante's Divine Comedy and Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven.