"Back in 1964, when we first knew each other in Florence, before we were married, there was a romantic scene by which she took me through the actual great love affair between Paolo and Francesca in Canto Five of 'Hell,' and showed me how the verse worked in Italian, because her Italian of course was perfect already and mine was rudimentary," he remembers. The translation is so similar, the result is a palimpsest, two works, one on top of the other, an original and a performance, difficult to tell apart. Seeing translation in this light, may help decide which Dante to read. That there have been a lot of translations of the Comedy can be seen by glancing at the Wikipedia page "English translations of Dante's Divine Comedy. He's seeking a knowledge that his life has been worthwhile. Hence their eternal torment, with Paolo in a silent stream of tears, Francesca pouring out an ocean of self-defense. My favorite version is by Mark Musa (written in blank verse). Despite her prettiness, her sweetness, and her eloquence, she is like every other sinner in hell: its never their fault, always someone elses. ", James was diagnosed in 2010 with both leukemia and lung disease, and he jokes that both conditions are conspiring to kill him even as he speaks. Longfellows English indeed comes across as Italianate: in surrendering to the letter and spirit of Dantes Tuscan, he loses the quirks and perks of his mother tongue. The Pinsky is usually (maybe exclusively) sold parallel to the original, so you'll get a sense of that as you go along. Albert Russell Ascoli received an NEH summer stipend andfellowshipto do research that resulted in his 2008Dante and the Making of a Modern Author, and a grant to the University of Virginia helped expand teaching resources of theThe World of Dantewebsite. Taking a look at two translations that are 120 years apart can shed light on some of the differences that translators have used when interpreting this famously complex and intricate text. Thus, Longfellow demonstrates the scholarly chops necessary to convey Dantes encyclopedic learning, and the poetic talent needed to reproduce the sound and spiritthe respiro, breathof the original Tuscan. These are the impressions I have of each: Ciardi: uses rhyming three line stanza (ABA) convention and is generally seen as a poetic translation but not necessarily a faithful translation. The surprising historybehind the worlds most famous collection of folk tales. The Divine Comedy, after all, is a poem, and its meanings are contained as much in sound as in "sense." Verse translations require more courage, and more thinking, because they are generally . This format allows freedom to communicate the work without rhyme, yet maintains a metrical structure. The Divine Comedy has a complex rhyme scheme that suits itself well to the rhyme-rich language of Italian (where, unlike English, many words end in vowels). There are a lot of different Best Dantes Divine Comedy Translation in the market, and it can be tough to decide which one is right for you. Provide Feedback Form. Submit your nominations for the 2024 NEH Jefferson Lecturer, NEH Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities nominations. "If you're going to do it in English, you need, I think, another approach, and I used quatrains. by the love that moves the sun and the other stars. I will use this prose translation the next time I do a complete reread of Dante. T. S. Eliot called such poetry the most beautiful ever writtenand yet so few of us have ever read it. He combined a lot of dialects into the thing we now know as Italian. This provides the reader with the sounds of the original as well as Musa's translation, which captures the meaning but reads with a different spirit. Norton - user66974. Prose translations are great for communicating the story and its nuances, however any poetical structure is lost. And the challenge for the translator is to reproduce Dante's fascination with theology, which for him was just as exciting as all that action that he left behind in 'Hell.' Its not easy to break the code of The Divine Comedy, a work steeped in a medieval Christian vision that can cause readers like Victor Hugo to avert their eyes from its more celestial passages. This topic is currently marked as "dormant"the last message is more than 90 days old. Also included are forty-two drawings selected from Botticellis marvelous late-fifteenth-century series of illustrations.Translated in this edition by Allen Mandelbaum, The Divine Comedybegins in a shadowed forest on Good Friday in the year 1300. Inferno, Canto I. I've also heard great thngs about Merwin and Pinsky but they've only done the Purgatorio and Inferno respectively. We'll go over the different features and what to look for when you're shopping. Which I still am. When, out of nowhere, I heard: "Watch your step! Oddly enough, and at least in the United States, we seem to know more about Dante the manhis exile, his political struggles, his eternal love for Beatricethan his poetry. Privacy Policy, Photo-illustration from Sandro Botticelli's portrait of Dante by Stephanie Bastek (Wikimedia Commons), Hilary Mantel, one of Britains most revered novelists, died last year at the age of 70. " It took nearly five hundred years from Dante's death for there to be a translation of all three parts of the poem. Yet Dante has the unenviable fate of having become more known than read: his name is immediately recognizable, his achievements justly acknowledged, but outside the classroom or graduate seminar, only the hardiest of literary enthusiasts pick up his Divine Comedy. Alighieri Dante. Comment * document.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id", "a8f4a384ba33ac344b9ce9fe46addd00" );document.getElementById("dbe0089594").setAttribute( "id", "comment" ); Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Both translations by Rogers and Dayman, are kept in poem style. It brings together literary and theological expression, pagan and Christian, that came before it while also containing the DNA of the modern. Just as, there where its Maker shed His blood, As the first rays were trembling in the dawn, As when his earliest shaft of light assails, It was the hour the sun's first rays shine down, As when it strikes its first vibrating rays, Now was the sun so stationed, as when first. The following version appears to be in Terza Rima: La Divina Commedia / The Divine Comedy - A Translation into English in Iambic Pentameter, Terza Rima Form. Taking a look at two translations that are 120 years apart can shed light on some of the differences that translators have used when interpreting this famously complex and intricate text. Lacqua chio prendo gi mai non si corse; The sea I sail has never yet been passed: Emulating Dantes talent for internal rhymes laced with hypnotic sonic patterns, Longfellow expertly repeats the ss to give his line a sinuous, propulsive feel, which is exactly what Dante aims for in his line, as he gestures toward the originality and joy of embarking on the final leg of a divinely sanctioned journey. I'm going to be reading The Divine Comedy soonactually, re-reading Inferno and re-starting Purgatorio and finally getting to La Paradiso.I've opted to go with the Robert and Jean Hollander translation. Compare translation samples from the Divine Comedy, specifically Inferno, Canto I: 1-12 blank tercets blank verse defective terza rime free verse prose terza rime Dante Alighieri John Ciardi Robert Durling Anthony M. Esolen Robert and Jean Hollander Robin Kirkpatrick Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Allen Mandelbaum Mark Musa Robert Pinsky Dorothy L . At the other end of the spectrum are straight prose (spoken word) translations. He first met Bice Portinari, whom he called Beatrice, in 1274; she inspired his most famous poetry, including the Vita Nuova, which More about Dante Alighieri, The English Dante of choice. Hugh KennerExactly what we have waited for these years, a Dante with clarity, eloquence, terror, and profoundly moving depths. Robert Fagles, Princeton UniversityA marvel of fidelity to the original, of sobriety, and truly, of inspired poetry. Henri Peyre, Yale University, Sign up for news about books, authors, and more from Penguin Random House, Visit other sites in the Penguin Random House Network. Theyre easily the most accessible and enjoyable of the translations Ive seen. In the first place, shes not speaking to Dante in a natural voice; shes alluding to poetry. When he hears Francescas words, Dante faintscaddi come corpo morto cade, I fell as a dead body falls. A friend of mine once said of Shakespeare that everything you need to read him is right there on the surface, in the language of his plays. The Divine Comedy (Italian: Divina Commedia; Italian pronunciation: [divina kommdja]) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun c. 1308 and completed around 1321, shortly before the author's death. The Divine Comedy is a 14th century poem that has never lost its edge. io venni men cos com io morisse. This page allows you to compare five passages from seven verse translations side by side. But what makes this an interesting comparison is that Daymans translation maintains the terza rima, while Rogers does not. Such extreme faithfulness can make the language of the translation feel unnaturalas though the source were shaping the translation into its own alien image. Dante Alighieri (12651321), Italys greatest poet, was born in Florence and belonged to a noble but impoverished family. Translated by Charles Rogers, London Printed by J. Nichols, 1782. https://archive.org/details/infernoofdantetr00dantuoft. In the Inferno, it is well known, Dante singled out corrupt leaders and political enemies, but the poem as a whole was actually inspired by unrequited love. New Jersey. Any other translations you'd like to recommend are fine with me. The grading is as follows: 3 = perfectly faithful, 2 = defensible paraphrase (same basic meaning), 1 = dodgy paraphrase, 0 = unforgivable paraphrase (putting words in Dante's mouth). In her own time she was better known for her hydrangeas. Unlike the other author he supposedly shared the world with, Shakespeare, Dante was self-consciously scholarly and intellectual, filling his verses with allusions to ancient, biblical, and contemporary medieval writing, and tackling a range of theological, philosophical, political, and historical issues. It may be grossly unfair, I admit, to try to judge merely on the first canto or even the first or second stanza, but decisions made in the first few stanzas determine the shape of the rest of the work. Perhaps nowhere is this economy of expression more evident than in the justly celebrated canto of the star-crossed lovers, Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta. During one Spirit was relating this, Best English Translations of The Divine Comedy. I have no vested interest in selling a particular authors work, my recommendations are just my personal opinion. Sinclair's is a prose translation from the thirties. The Divine Comedy is a 14th century poem that has never lost its edge. The content of Dantes writing presents an even bigger problem. A little less structured than the original (although differences in the languages are responsible for that) It's a recent translation, so you don't run into the archaic usages you'd find in Longfellow. Nichols, Hollander and Sinclair are the best translations I have come across, They all combine accuracy with poetry and readability. And its a very famous poem, Al cor gentil rempaira sempre amore, Love always returns to the gentle heart, a gorgeous medieval lyric by Guido Guinizelli, one of Dantes poetic mentors in the Sweet New Style, a movement in the late 1200s that nurtured Dantes emerging artistic sensibilities. I've also heard great thngs about Merwin and Pinsky but they've only done the Purgatorio and Inferno respectively. He remains faithful to the wording, but for reasons of meter he delves into unnatural word order, inverting what Palma has as dark wood to become forest dark. Palma or Longfellow? Daymans translation reads When that we read so true-hearted/ Kissing the smile so coveted before,/ And he who wrotethat day we read no more which is a more romantic way of writing the story, and it feels to be more in the spirit of the source text. Compare limitless combinations of the poem, translations, and commentaries; Filter over 300,000 lines of text; Perform up to four individual searches simultaneously; Browse 700 years' worth of commentaries; Read the poem with facing-page translation This particular translation is characterized by a rather faithful adherence to the the original source texts physical structure. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. This is why one of the few truly successful English translations comes from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, a professor of Italian at Harvard and an acclaimed poet. Want to know what people are actually reading right now? I believe there are many points on which Dante had disagreed with the Church teachings of his times. Unto the clawing, for sometimes the spine. Permission required for reprinting, reproducing, or other uses. Trickled the tear-drops and the bloody drivel. It proceeds on a journey that, in its intense recreation of the depths and the heights of human experience, has become the key with which Western civilization has sought to unlock the mystery of its own identity. Three passages are from the Inferno, one from Purgatory, and the last from Paradise. As a one-time admirer of the troubadour poets, Dante was well versed, pardon the pun, in the intricate forms then in practice, such as the sestina, but his paean to Beatrice called for something new and even more demanding, a flexible and muscular form he invented precisely for the new undertaking, theterza rima. . James says that in order to achieve that raw poetic thrill, he first had to abandon terza rima, Dante's preferred rhyme scheme, "which is almost impossible to do in English without strain." I agreebut Dante is the opposite. In the very first line it is noticed when Dante writes Cos discesi del cerchio primario(34), Rogers translates it to From the first circle we descended down(17), which is a more faithful translation than Dayman writing So I plunged downwards from that upper ring(35), which is a more communicative way of translating. And then there are all those characters! #4 -- we'll just assume that's tongue-in-cheek. encouraged to direct suggestions, comments, or complaints concerning any accessibility issues The first translation was written by Charles Rogers in 1782. Copyright 2023, Rutgers, The State University of Liveright Publishing Rogers My preference for a rhyming attempt wins out over Mary Jo Bangs exuberant rendering, but only by a smidgen. Both versions are vibrant and deal adroitly with some enigmatic aspects of the original text. For centuries, readers have been isolating greatest hits from The Divine Comedy and swooning over its most memorable characters: muse Beatrice, stalwart guide Virgil, tragic lovers Paolo and Francesca, unbearably eloquent Ulysses, cannibalistic Ugolino. Provide Feedback Form, Rutgers, The State University of "Which is that of the three books of the Comedy that's 'Hell,' 'Purgatory' and 'Heaven, 'Hell' is the most fascinating, in the first instance, 'cause it's full of action, it's got a huge three-headed dog, it's got a flying dragon, it's got men turning into snakes and vice versa, it's got centaurs beside a river of blood; you name it, 'Hell' has got it. SUBSCRIBE FOR HUMANITIES MAGAZINE PRINT EDITION Browse all issuesSign up for HUMANITIES Magazine newsletter. For the straightforward pathway had been lost. Copyright 2021 Famed translators Pevear and Volokhonsky reach another milestone. (I've studied only other Romance languages, and found it useful) Pinsky and Longfellow are both poets, themselves, so you get some artistry from either one. Even though The doctrine of Papal infallibility was defined dogmatically in the First Vatican Council . Phi Beta Kappa Here are Clive Jamess first lines: At the mid-point of the path through life, I found. Available in two English translations as well as the original Italian on the EDSITEment-reviewed Digital Dante site, Dante's The Comedy (or "Divine Comedy") begins with lines that suggest it will be a pilgrimage of a rather different sort than the festive trip to Canterbury: "When I had journeyed half of our life's way, / I found myself . There are a lot of different Best Dante Divine Comedy Translation in the market, and it can be tough to decide which one is right for you. The verse. This Everymans Library editioncontaining in one volume all three cantos, Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradisoincludes an introduction by Nobel Prizewinning poet Eugenio Montale, a chronology, notes, and a bibliography. The Divine Comedy. To redeem, copy and paste the code during the checkout process. For more information about the Divine Comedy, view our Divine Comedy Page Enjoy! You can revive it by posting a reply. By Paul Bruckman . Divine Comedy Comparisons. Just for joining youll get personalized recommendations on your dashboard daily and features only for members. NEH had funded many Dante-related projects, including 17summer seminars for schoolteachersto study theDivine Comedywith scholars through the University of Vermont. Sponsored by Phi Beta Kappa Provide Feedback Form. Another example would be in line 7 8, Dico che quando lanima mal nata li vien dinanzi, tutta si confessa, which it s quite fully translated in Nortons, I mean, that when the ill born soul comes there before him, it confesses itself wholly whereas in Rogerss, Wheneer a guilty soul before him comes It all confesses :: (He the proper place). The Divine Comedy is the most well-known piece in Italian literature. .) that keeps the pattern going forward, naturally to the ear. Hollander: a more contemporary translation of The Divine Comedy that I've heard great things about but it can get pricey with each section in a separate book. September 25, 2019 Two hundred years ago,Pride and Prejudicewas anonymously published. Start by treating The Divine Comedy not as a book, with a coherent, beginning, middle, and end, but rather as a collection of poetry that you can dip into wherever you like. I'm going to third the choice of John Ciardi. Dante wrote his masterpiece on the move, banned from Florence by political enemies.
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