In Dante’s long poem The Divine Comedy, Beatrice is the woman who meets him and guides him through Paradise (Heaven). Before that, the Roman poet Virgil has led him through Hell and Purgatory; Beatrice takes over for the last, holy part. Dante based her on a real Florentine woman, Beatrice Portinari, whom he loved from a distance. In the poem she is not only a person he loved: she also stands for grace, wisdom and the love that leads a soul toward God. English speakers also use Beatrice as an ordinary woman’s name, but this entry is the literary one. You will meet her in literature class, not in everyday chat, unless someone is named Beatrice.