Betelguese, a Trip Through Hell is a 1908 lyrical poem book written by Jean Louis De Esque.

Betelguese, a Trip Through Hell opens with a prefatory note by De Esque written on September 22, 1907,[6] in which he reveals that the writing of the poem began when he was "up at [his] desk mauling and drubbing the English language with a vengeance for thirty-six consecutive hours, and that [he] awoke at 12.30 A.M,"[7] and began writing the poem "Betelguese," continuing to work on it until the early morning.

[3] To promote Betelguese, a Trip Through Hell, Connoisseur's Press took out advertisements months before its release in various literary publications.

[1][13] The advertisement also called Betelguese, a Trip Through Hell a unique work with "absolutely nothing like it written since Dante's Inferno.

[b] The main work, "Betelguese", has been called a "study in unconscious parody" by the Manchester Literary Club,[14] a "classic" by Bookseller and Stationer,[18] and a "frabjous poem" by the Saturday Review.

[20] Featured in the section "In the World of Books" of April 18, 1909 edition of the Los Angeles Herald, Betelguese, a Trip Through Hell was likened to George Sterling's poem "The Wine of Wizardry".

[19] On its verbose language, one editor at Manchester Literary Club felt that the "enthusiastic philologist" would "make heaven" of Betelguese, a Trip Through Hell.

[14] However, a review in the March 28, 1909 edition of the Salt Lake Tribune was mixed on De Esque's off-beat use of the English language, stating, "it is plentifully sprinkled with weird words without any particular meaning."