like a wheel in perfect motion, The setting allows him to utilise the past symbolically, exploit the present politically, and anticipate the future in . with Rutgers web sites to accessibility@rutgers.edu or complete the Report Accessibility Barrier or 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. I just went for the most heavily annotated versions of Purgatorio and Paradiso. 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 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. Best Translation of The Divine Comedy? - LibraryThing 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. When Dante wrote the poem we call "The Divine Comedy," he called it simply the "Commedia": a story, beginning in sorrow and ending in joy, of one man's journey from hell . As Victor Hugo wrote about The Divine Comedys blessed realms, The human eye was not made to look upon so much light, and when the poem becomes happy, it becomes boring.. A Comparison of Charles Rogers's (1782) and Charles Eliot Norton's Dante requires what Nietzsche called slow readingattentive, profound, patient readingbecause Francescas sparse, seemingly innocent-sounding words speak volumes about the kind of sinner she is. 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. It did not hurt that Longfellow had also experienced the kind of traumatic lossthe death of his young wife after her dress caught firethat brought him closer to the melancholy spirit of Dantes writing, shaped by the lacerating exile from his beloved Florence in 1302. Oct 19, 2015 at 21:03 . She is beloved for her sweeping Wolf Hall trilogy, for which she won two Booker Prizes. The latest has been undertaken by a writer who is perhaps best known for his pointed and funny criticisms of culture. Dante's Inferno -The Webpage of Author David Lafferty. You can opt-out of the sale or sharing of personal information anytime. with Rutgers web sites to accessibility@rutgers.edu or complete the Report Accessibility Barrier or Please try again later. Copyright 2023, Rutgers, The State University of Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Having been a bookseller for more than a decade, I know that one of the most frequently asked questions from readers is, Which translation should I read of DantesDivine Comedy? | Rogers Dayman kept the terza rima, but in doing so he had to be more free with his translation. Best Translation of Divine Comedy - online literature His translation of the Divine Comedy (especially Inferno and Purgatorio) is one of my favorite translations of anything. The best translation I've found -- end to end -- is by John Ciardi. So deeply did the other mourn, that I | ISBN 9780679433132 This topic is not marked as primarily about any work, author or other topic. laltro pianga; s che di pietade When, out of nowhere, I heard: "Watch your step! now my will and my desire were turned, 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. 12> I agree that Ciardi is the most readable. These lines have the virtue of being faithful to the original content, and then the next line continues with a rhyme (The keening sound . Rutgers is an equal access/equal opportunity institution. Three passages are from the Inferno, one from Purgatory, and the last from Paradise. 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. For more information about the Divine Comedy, view our Divine Comedy Page Enjoy! 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). Rutgers is an equal access/equal opportunity institution. That's why we've put together this ultimate guide to help you make a decision. The Divine Comedy in translation (what to look for, comparison of opening lines) - YouTube The vlog form of a blog I did in July 2021, discussing translations of The Divine Comedy. Which in the very thought renews the fear. Book of the week: The Divine Comedy, By Dante, translated by Clive When translating the Divine Comedy, the translator often has to choose between capturing the original meaning or capturing the poetry, often choosing an intermediate between the two. Her methodology comes from picking up a book of poems by Caroline Bergvall and reading Via (48 Dante Variations), a found poem, she writes, composed entirely of the first three lines of theInfernoculled from forty-seven translations archived in the British Library as of May 2000). Both versions are vibrant and deal adroitly with some enigmatic aspects of the original text. 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. 5 "There is no young man's version of this translation. . Despite her prettiness, her sweetness, and her eloquence, she is like every other sinner in hell: its never their fault, always someone elses. But Hugos attack suggests the particular challenge in reading Dante, whose writing can seem remote and impenetrable to modern tastes. For the straightforward pathway had been lost. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our, http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2007/09/03/070903crbo_books_acocella, Dante; (Translators) Jean & Robert Hollander. This nineteenth-century blank-verse version by Longfellow sounds surprisingly modern: For the straightforward pathway had been lost. Alighieri, Dante (1265-1321) - The Divine Comedy - Poetry In Translation Which never yet a living person left. By Liliana Leuzzi | Dante's Commedia. This page allows you to compare five passages from seven verse translations side by side. View all posts by Dave. Clive James is both an Officer of the Order of Australia and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Best English Translations of The Divine Comedy? : r/books - Reddit Best English Translations of The Divine Comedy. A tough call. Also, Anthony Esolen has an interesting article published: Esolen, Anthony. 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. He did most of the translation work before becoming seriously ill, "but I could feel the end of my life coming. By Sergio M. Brattich | Dante's Commedia. Report Accessibility Barrier or . Mandelbaum, will, in fact, interject rhyme if its not forced (as he does with way and stray). In comparing these two translations, the Sayers version seems to win out in two waysit matches Dante in form and, to a degree, in content. Long translations from the Divine Comedyare provided following the original Italian verse, and where necessary in the analysis the Italian is referenced. The Divine Comedy is the most well-known piece in Italian literature. Paolo and Francesca are technically together, as they whirl around like doves summoned by desire in Infernos punishing winds. While it is true that Rogerss translation is more faithful from a structural standpoint there are some instances in which such an adherence forces other content-related translation loss which is not present in Nortons. In comparing translations, you notice quickly if theres an attempt to duplicate Dantes terza rima, in which the first and third lines rhyme, and the second line rhymes with the first line of the following stanza. That's why we've put together this ultimate guide to help you make a decision. Then one day, the young woman, Beatrice, in reaction to rumors of the poets increasingly worldly ways, refrained from the greeting, causing anguish in the young Dante. But what makes this an interesting comparison is that Daymans translation maintains the terza rima, while Rogers does not. His metered language often seems more natural than Sayers and more in keeping with the diction of Dante, which favored solid vocabulary and straight-forward syntax. A former U.S. Senate chief of staff makes the humanities accessible. Copyright 2023, Rutgers, The State University of Clive Jamess 2013Comedyuses quatrains and augmented quatrains as its building blocks, while Mary Jo Bangs 2012 translation of theInfernoin colloquial American English, carries elements of her own style, and is unrhymed. Such extreme faithfulness can make the language of the translation feel unnaturalas though the source were shaping the translation into its own alien image. For example, he translates Dantes beautifully compact Paradiso 2.7. I also read from the same passage in Mark Musa and Longfellow to compare, as well as thirteen versions of the famous opening twelve lines.Index of Dantean posts: https://carrieannebrownian.wordpress.com/index-of-dantean-posts/Where to find my book and author pages:https://carrieannebrownian.wordpress.com/where-to-find-my-books-and-author-pages/Handy index of my posts by topic: https://carrieannebrownian.wordpress.com/index-of-posts-by-topic/My main blog: https://carrieannebrownian.wordpress.comMy names blog: https://onomasticsoutsidethebox.wordpress.comMy Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ursulasoddsandsods/ . 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 . with disabilities are encouraged to direct suggestions, comments, or complaints concerning any Sayers adds bound upon (not, strictly speaking, in the original), which allows her to make the rhyme in the third line with gone. But Mandelbaum is more faithful to the directness of the original, not stretching the meaning or introducing words to make the rhyme. Provide Feedback Form. As of 2021, Dante's magnum opus has been translated into English . Because Dayman chose to maintain the terza rima, he had to form sentences with the same meaning in order to get the rhyme at the end of the line, maintaining the style, but losing faithfulness to the source text. Which I still am. "That will, of course, be clear to you," he said. While Rogers does not maintain a rhyme scheme, nor Dantes famous hendecasyllable structure per se, he does opt for using a classical English poetic meter, the iambic pentameter. Just like a musical score to someone who cant read music. With pity swooned, and fell like a dead corpse. Any translation involves balancing the meaning, feel, and artistry of the work, normally at the expense of at least one of these qualities. Phi Beta Kappa And go from well-read to best read with book recs, deals and more in your inbox every week. Translations that attempt to maintain any type of rhyme scheme often sound forced and usually compromise the meaning of the text. The Italian language the Italians speak today is largely Dante's invention. I've also heard great thngs about Merwin and Pinsky but they've only done the Purgatorio and Inferno respectively. Trickled the tear-drops and the bloody drivel. 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. The content of Dantes writing presents an even bigger problem. They also both have good notes (a necessity). In honor of Mantels enormous contributions to literature, dive back into her Tudor world with Penelope Rowlandss essay about one of the key power dynamics Mantel explored: that between Cromwell and Sir Thomas More. Out of the Fire. The Divine Comedy. For example Divine Comedy was written around 1308 A.D. to 1321 A.D, in which he has depicted many Popes as suffering eternal damnation in hell namely Pope Anastasius II and Pope Nicholas III. Ultimately, its great to read a few and decide which version you like best, each has strengths and weaknesses. Which leadeth others right by every road. the Flesh. Touchstone (2006): 26-32. September 26, 2019 (Health!). I also prefer Mark Musas version. I will use this prose translation the next time I do a complete reread of Dante. Dante is in a spiritual crisis, and I think you have to have been in one of your own to understand what he's talking about. T. S. Eliot called such poetry the most beautiful ever writtenand yet so few of us have ever read it. Provide Feedback Form, Rutgers, The State University of Jorge Luis Borges said that a modern novel requires hundreds of pages for us to get to know a character, while Dante can lay bare a characters soul in 20 or 30 lines. The Divine Comedy. Prose translations are great for communicating the story and its nuances, however any poetical structure is lost. . Here are Clive Jamess first lines: At the mid-point of the path through life, I found. I heard somebody say: "Watch where you step! So in order to get Dante, a translator has to be both a poet and a scholar, attuned to the poets vertiginous literary experimentalism as well as his superhuman grasp of cultural and intellectual history. Not only are constant rhymes difficult to translate, but Dante also uses rich and ambiguous language in his poems. Dorothy Sayers translation is, in my opinion, one of the finest translations that maintains the original ryhme scheme, is imminently readable and classic and is blessed further by knowledgeable, interesting and useful notes. Inferno, Canto I by Dante Alighieri - Academy of American Poets T. S. Eliot called such poetry the most beautiful ever writtenand yet so few of us have ever read it. NEH had funded many Dante-related projects, including 17summer seminars for schoolteachersto study theDivine Comedywith scholars through the University of Vermont. Noticeably missing in Rogerss version is Dantes comio morisse which had to be dropped to stay within the meter however was able to be kept Nortons prose-style translation along with the repetition of falling in the final line. 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. They both occupy singularly definitive places in their respective languages and literatures as well as in world . How to Read Dante in the 21st Century - The American Scholar Longfellow succeeded in capturing the original brilliance of Dantes lines with a close, sometimes awkwardly literal translation that allows the Tuscan to shine through the English, as though this foreign veneer were merely a protective layer added over the still-visible source. Love absolves no beloved from loving, she explains, adding: Love brought us to one death. It's nice to compare, and if you're interested in learning the language, it's a great way to get some personally meaningful immersion. ed. You dont need to know the background, backstory, allusions, sources. New Jersey, Report Accessibility Barrier or The translators scored as follows: Longfellow, Singleton (27) Sinclair (26) Mandelbaum (25) Simone, Sisson (23) Hollander, Kirkpatrick (22) Lombardo (21) Francesca, by citing the poem and the Sweet New Style, is saying: it wasnt my fault, blame it on love. Henry Boyd produced one of the early English-language translations of The Divine Comedy; it was published in 1802.Notable translations of the 20th and early 21st centuries include those by John D. Sinclair (1939-48), Dorothy L. Sayers and . Divine Comedy (Longfellow 1867)/Volume 1/Canto 34 - Wikisource To him in front the biting was as naught. She is beloved for her sweeping.

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