The end of the second movement, line 105 in the original numbering, is now line 60. Where his experiences in the Inferno and Purgatorio were arduous and harrowing, this is a journey of comfort, revelation, and, above all, love-both romantic and divine. The terse contemporary feel of the line, unhampered by translator's awe, captures Virgil's character, his no-nonsense, patrician contempt, perfectly. It's hard to find a bad Dante translation. Think on the seed ye spring from! So it's amazing that Carson, who in 2000 "was almost completely unfamiliar with Dante's work", has produced this version - in terza rima. Proffer to thee, and pray they come not short. In my last post I compared John Ciardi and Allen Mandelbaums translation of the Inferno by looking at how they handled Canto XXVI, lines 112-120. Dante's Paradise other editions or translations of 'The Divine Comedy.' Please refer to the end of this file for supplemental materials. From that time forward what I saw was greater The First Heaven, the Moon: Spirits who, having taken Sacred Vows, were forced to . A Free Online Course on Dante's - Open Culture These one hundred lines, verses 46-145, if renumbered with verse 46 as verse 1, confirm the three circular movements suggested above, by giving them numerological significance. a wheel revolving uniformlyby. are unsurpassed. The 15 translations are those of Ciaran Carson, John Ciardi, Anthony Esolen, Robert and Jean Hollander, Robin Kirkpatrick, Stanley Lombardo, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Allen Mandelbaum, Mark Musa, J. G. Nicholls, Robert Pinsky, Tom Simone, John D. Sinclair, Charles Singleton, and C. H. Sisson. To me was ever changing as I changed. Then I took his full-term course on the entire Commedia, again with Sinclair. Thank you for this exercise. List of English translations of the Divine Comedy - Wikipedia Here vigour failed the lofty fantasy: La Commedia Colorata. See my expanded version of this post here: That thou wouldst scatter from him every cloud ISBN 0873383737. Im confused by this comment: the three prose translations score highest in terms of fidelity, with Allen Mandelbaum close on their heels as the most accurate of the 12 verse translations. In your evaluation, Longfellows blank verse ranks with Singletons prose as the most accurate. I picked up the Ciardi from a library, didnt like it, and was very glad I had not wasted any money on it. 87ci che per luniverso si squaderna: 88sustanze e accidenti e lor costume I was surprised to see a prose translation (I didnt know there was such a thing) and wanted to find out how Singletons translation was viewed. In the deep and bright. Moreover, details of the action which had escaped me before, having been translated into a kind of over-cautious, archaic rhetoric, now become vivid. desire and will were moved alreadylike And the poems last line is now, by virtue of divine renumbering in Gods invisible ink, line 100. That circlewhich, begotten so, appeared I always find myself greatly indecisive when it comes to book translations! With a hundred thousand dangers overcome, My only criticism of your translation of this passage would be the attachment ambiguity arising from come through a hundred thousand dangers to the west, which might easily be misunderstood as dangers to the west rather than come through to the west.. Good enough, but ho hum. Pp. Very grateful for your work. Recently, I took another course on Inferno that used the Esolen translation. It is in terza rima. Is Longfellow's translation of Dante the best? | The Book Haven Barolini, Teodolinda. the way in which our human effigy Or rather, it is being revolved: by the Love that moves everything, including him. This is probably the Italian-scholarship question I get asked most often by people who are not Italian scholars. 91La forma universal di questo nodo These can also be considered three circulate melodie, three jumps by which the poet zeroes in on his poems climax. 75pi si conceper di tua vittoria. Dante believes in a transcendent One, but his One is indelibly characterized by the multiplicity, difference, and sheer otherness embodied in the altre stelle an otherness by which he is still unrepentantly captivated in his poems last breath. Dante goes to Heaven. Let me interject that the reference to Gerard Manley Hopkins sprung rhythm in the previous sentence is deliberate: not in order to suggest that Hopkins rhetorical techniques were akin to Dantes, but as a nod to the shared recognition that a poet must look for technical aids to achieve the unachievable in language. Of the uninhabited world behind the sun. to set my eyes on the Eternal Light 56che l parlar mostra, cha tal vista cede, The Divine Comedy: The Inferno, The Purgatorio, and The Paradiso (John Within the luminous substance there appeared three circles of three colors and one dimension, two reflecting each other like rainbows and the third mediating equally in between: But the effort to sustain the narrative line is too great, and the poet breaks in, first to exclaim again about the shortness of his speech (121-23) and then to address the eternal light that alone knows itself, is known by itself, and, knowing, loves itself (124-26). One question: is translation faithfulness proportionately or inversely related to readability, or are they not necessarily related? The Neptune analogy is thus the culmination of other moments devoted to human creativity in Paradiso: for instance Adams discussion of language-making in Paradiso 26. And since Robert Hollander's achievements as a Dante scholar are unsurpassed in the English-speaking . If we analyze Paradiso 33 by dividing it, searching for the narrative line that it resists, we begin by distinguishing the oratorical prelude of the cantos first third, its first 45 verses, from the ensuing story of the pilgrims final ascent. The effect of gazing on that light is to make impossible any dis-conversion, any consenting to turn from it toward another sight: che volgersi da lei per altro aspetto / impossibil che mai si consenta (it would be impossible for him to set that Light aside for other sight [101-02]). The chances of your moving on to Purgatory, let alone Heaven, are slim unless you are a student or preternaturally dogged. all of the clouds of his mortality 124O luce etterna che sola in te sidi, Even such was I at that new apparition; You will come away with the idea that Capaneus, so proud that he refuses to allow God the satisfaction of knowing that hellfire burns him, had an ugly face. How to Read Dante's Divine Comedy - Henry Center for Theological [7] This was over 300 years after the first Latin (1416),[8] Spanish (1515),[4] and French (1500s)[9] translations had been written. Dante himself only referred to it as a Comedy; the "Divine" characterisation was added later. As the geometer intently seeks Each of these circular movements is made up of three textual building blocks used by the poet to keep the text jumping, to prevent a narrative line from forming. to square the circle, but he cannot reach, 94Un punto solo m maggior letargo Understandably, some of the rhymes are a little free. You will not let yourselves now be denied 50perch io guardassi suso; ma io era 133Qual l geomtra che tutto saffige Im returning to another translation project (the Iliad in the epic hexameter) for a while; and Im also about to start a new chapter in my professional life, which is soaking up a lot of my time. Bound up with love together in one volume, Afraid to look away lest he be lost smarrito (77) , the pilgrim is daring ardito (79) enough to sustain the light, and so he reaches his journeys end: i giunsi / laspetto mio col valore infinito (my vision reached the Infinite Goodness [80-81]). Lines create patterns of sound that seduce our ears, making us linger over sonic fragments, while the ongoing sentences lure our brains forward. gleam of the glory that is Yours, for by. Recently, the poet Robert Pinsky offered us an English Inferno; W. S. Merwin translated the Purgatorio. Robert and Jean Hollander have made the whole journey: their Paradiso completes their verse translation of the entire Commedia.. When Dante fixes his eyes on her . Shorter henceforward will my language fall 131mi parve pinta de la nostra effige: This voume contains the English translation only. Thus the Sibyls oracles, on weightless leaves, lifted by the wind, were swept away. I read the Sayers translations of Inferno and Purgatorio when I was fifteen. But now was turning my desire and will, As you point out, any attempt at terza rima in English is doomed by lack of rhymes. By almost any standard, Bang's translation is the most liberal interpretation of Dante available in English. And after dreaming the imprinted passion experience (Ciardi, Lombardo) 3, do not deny yourselves the chance to know (Hollander) 1, Do not deny your will to win experience (Kirkpatrick) 2, be ye unwilling to deny, the experience (Longfellow) 3, you must not deny experience (Mandelbaum) 2, do not deny yourself experience (Musa) 2, you should not choose to deny it the experience (Pinsky) 2, do not be content to deny yourselves experience (Simone) 2, choose not to deny experience (Sinclair) 3, wish not to deny the experience (Singleton) 3, following the sun (Hollander, Longfellow, Singleton) 2, that lies beyond the setting sun (Lombardo) 0, of that which lies beyond the sun (Mandelbaum) 3, of what there is beyond, behind the sun (Musa) 2, following the track of Phoebus (Nicholls) 1, behind the sun leading us onward (Pinsky) 0, Follow the sun into the west (Simone) 0, following the course of the sun (Sission) 1, the world where no one dwells (Esolen) 2, the land where no one lives (Hollander) 2, of worlds where no man dwells (Kirkpatrick) 2, of the unpeopled world (Lombardo, Nicholls, Sinclair) 3, of the world that hath no people (Longfellow) 3, and of the world that is unpeopled (Mandelbaum) 3, in the world they call unpeopled (Musa) 0, of the world which has no people in it (Pinsky) 3, of the world that has no people (Singleton) 3, of that world which has no inhabitants (Sisson) 2, Think well upon your nation and your seed (Esolen) 1, Consider how your souls were sown (Hollander) 1, Hold clear in thought your seed and origin (Kirkpatrick) 1, Consider the seed from which you were born (Lombardo) 2, Consider well the seed that gave you birth (Mandelbaum) 2, Consider what you came from: you are Greeks (Musa) 0, Call to mind from whence we sprang (Nicholls) 2, Consider your seed and heritage (Simone) 1, Take thought of the seed from which you spring (Sinclair) 2, Consider then the race from which you have sprung (Sisson) 1, what you were made for: not to live like brutes (Carson) 2, You were not born to live like brutes (Ciardi) 2, For you were never made to live like brutes (Esolen) 2, you were not made to live like brutes or beasts (Hollander) 2, You were not made to live as mindless brutes (Kirkpatrick) 2, You were not made to live like brute animals (Lombardo) 2, ye were not made to live as brutes (Longfellow, Singleton) 3, you were not made to live your lives as brutes (Mandelbaum) 2, You were not born to live like mindless brutes (Musa) 2, Ye were not formd to live the life of brutes (Nicholls) 2, You were not born to live as a mere brute does (Pinsky) 2, you were not made to live like brutes (Simone) 3, You were not born to live as brutes (Sinclair) 2, You were not made to live like animals (Sisson) 3, but for the quest of knowledge and the good (Carson) 1, but to press on toward manhood and recognition (Ciardi) 0, but to pursue the good in mind and deed (Esolen) 0, but to pursue virtue and knowledge (Hollander, Singleton) 3, but go in search of virtue and true knowledge (Kirkpatrick) 3, but to live in pursuit of virtue and knowledge (Lombardo) 2, but for pursuit of virtue and of knowledge (Longfellow) 3, but to be followers of worth and knowledge (Mandelbaum) 2, but to follow paths of excellence and knowledge (Musa) 1, but virtue to pursue and knowledge high (Nicholls) 1, but for the pursuit of knowledge and the good (Pinsky) 2, but to follow virtue and knowledge (Simone, Sinclair) 3, but to pursue virtue and know the world (Sisson) 2. Unlike Dantes, the lines arent in any way troubling the syntax, luring us forward by holding us back. Let me repeat this remarkable fact, to my knowledge first suggested in the analysis of Paradiso 33 in The Undivine Comedy: when we remove the first narrative block of Paradiso 33, the prayer to the Virgin and transition back to plot, there remain precisely one hundred lines of text. beyond the sun, behind where the sun sets? Hb. 129da li occhi miei alquanto circunspetta. Thou art the one who such nobility Overall, I tend to prefer Sinclair, Singleton, Hollander, and Longfellow, and I am delighted to see that they came out near the top of your list. These translations, while worthy in many respects, and especially in Kirkpatrick's case accompanied by excellent commentary and notes, are rather heavy-handedly set to meter and therefore often feel stiff or stilted. Reading your examples, I invariably prefer Longfellow or Singleton. The Divine Comedy (Dante Alighieri, translated by Dorothy L. Sayers and 2 William J. 47appropinquava, s com io dovea, did not disdain His being made its creature. 69ripresta un poco di quel che parevi. There is no essentially right or wrong way to do it. The Divine Comedy: III Paradiso by Dante Alighieri (Paperback 1982) - eBay I have always preferred Mandelbaum. Pinskys lines are even more strategically at odds with the syntax than Merwins. Than our discourse, that to such vision yields, Kent, Ohio:. I just discovered Dante even though Ive known of his levels of hell for years. 80per questo a sostener, tanto chi giunsi PDF Divine Comedy Mandelbaum What a wonderful resource you have provided. Dante Alighieri was born in 1265. Pp. acute that I believe I should have gone A complete listing and criticism of all English translations of at least one of the three cantiche (parts) was made by Cunningham in 1966. Book Review: Dante's Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso) Dante Alighieri was born in 1265. Im glad you prefer mine to Ciardis (his version is fairly popular). Here is the Binyon version: Brothers, I said, who manfully, despite Paradiso Study Guide | Literature Guide | LitCharts Italian and English. Author: Dante Alighieri Translator: Henry Francis Cary Illustrator: Gustave Dor Release Date: August 2, 2004 [eBook #8799] [Most recently updated: January 14, 2023] Language: English Produced by: David Widger *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VISION OF PARADISE *** THE VISION OF PARADISE BY DANTE ALIGHIERI ILLUSTRATED BY GUSTAVE DOR the experience of the unpeopled earth Were the soothsayings of the Sibyl lost. Translated by C. H. Sisson, with an Introduction by David H. Higgins. This is incredibly useful as I tried to choose a translation. Is gathered all in this, and out of it I loved the literal nature of the translation and Sinclairs notes. Gutenberg also has the Cary translation, which is more a flight of fancy than a translation. 130dentro da s, del suo colore stesso, Fastened upon the speaker, showed to us But while many of us are eager to harrow the halls of hell, with its gossipy tales of human suffering, few of us make it to heaven, where we are instructed in the theological intricacies of free will, gravity and the soul. The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso - Amazon So was my mindcompletely rapt, intent, Each book contained more than 60 original lithographs and was published . So when the time came to acquire the entire work, I turned to the American poet John Ciardi's translation, still widely regarded as the best. Dante's Paradise: Translation and Commentary. Invisible Ink. Commento Baroliniano, Digital Dante. Of the High Light which of itself is true. that he who would have grace but does not seek 67O somma luce che tanto ti levi Dante's "Paradiso" | In Which: I Criticize Stuff Still farther do I pray thee, Queen, who canst I will be looking at the same passage as before, but Ive broken it into 10 sections, each of which will be graded based on its fidelity to the original Italian. The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Vision of Paradise, by Dante Alighieri through thought on thought, the principle he needs, so I searched that strange sight: I wished to see Paradiso Quotes by Dante Alighieri - Goodreads Now doth this man, who from the lowest depth That with his eyes he may uplift himself Bernard was signalinghe smiledto me 26tanto, che possa con li occhi levarsi Paradiso X, 52-60. Virgin mother, daughter of your Son, 137veder voleva come si convenne On this account to bear, so that I joined Robert Pinsky's is obviously the best poetic translation . 79E mi ricorda chio fui pi ardito Nevertheless, her translation is a poem, and it sounds like one. Appeared in thee as a reflected light, Each section contains 33 cantos, though the Inferno has one more (34), since the very first canto serves as a prologue to the entire work. The universal fashion of this knot It is perhaps telling - although also astonishing - that no English translation appeared until 1782. [1] Below is a chart of the narrative structure of Paradiso 33 made as a class hand-out. Thank you for a lovely, detailed comment. David Rigsbee - Canto X - Translation of Dante's Paradiso, the third Of feeling life, the new experience that startled Neptune with the Argos shadow! Interview by Thea Lenarduzzi Dante by Nick Havely 1 The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso by Dante Alighieri This was very helpful in selecting a copy of Dante. 143ma gi volgeva il mio disio e l velle, The Hollanders translation of this passage is attentive not only to Dantes meaning but to his syntax: their English sentences generally begin, turn and end where they do in Dantes original tercets. Later, I was able to correct the precise contours of the three circulate melodie by drawing on the numerology provided by Dantes invisible ink. But I dont want to stay away from Dante for too long; Ill probably come around to Purgatory before finishing the Iliad (which of course is monumental). 31perch tu ogne nube li disleghi 33.86). you are a living spring of hope. from this point on, in words more weak than those but nothing of the rest returns to mind. Not because the light into which he gazed was changing for it was one and only one, simple (109) rather than various, so untouched by time or difference that It is always what It was before (tal sempre qual sera davante [111]) but because of changes within himself, the light was transformed. 3 Paradiso (Heaven) shows the beauty and the rewards awaiting those who have been blessed by God. Pb. In lieu of rhyme, Merwin employs line endings to restrain the syntax, giving the sentences a more vigorous rhythmic contour a sonic equivalent for the torqued movement of Dantes verse. What little I recall is to be told, Here unto us thou art a noonday torch and memory fails when faced with such excess. Who still his tongue doth moisten at the breast. Here force failed my high fantasy; but my 121Oh quanto corto il dire e come fioco Impressive, Mr. Harris! Paradiso For this translation rollicks along so fluidly that you will actually be able not only to read the poem but enjoy it. Through hundred thousand jeopardies undergone 37Vinca tua guardia i movimenti umani: Had it not been that then my mind there smote 134per misurar lo cerchio, e non ritrova, Here I want to expand that exercise, comparing 15 different translations in a more systematic way. Best Dante books: a deep dive into the medieval poet Now the poet apostrophizes the grace that permitted his presumption (the verb presumere in verse 82), his daring oltraggio: The above apostrophe in turn jumps into an attempt to say what was seen within that light, and we are immediately thrust into the poems ultimate metaphor of unity: The ineffable perception of the forma universal is felt rather than comprehended. 13Donna, se tanto grande e tanto vali, can find its way as clearly as her sight. And do not imagine it follows the Tuscan dialect with perfect fidelity. And not because more than one simple semblance 63nel core il dolce che nacque da essa. 145lamor che move il sole e laltre stelle. Glad I could help. Robin Kirkpatrick's masterful verse translation of The Divine Comedy, published in a single volume, is the ideal edition for students as well as the general reader coming to this great masterpiece of Italian literature for the first time The Divine Comedy describes Dante's descent into Hell with Virgil as a guide; his ascent of Mount Purgatory and encounter with his dead love, Beatrice; and . (I dont actually know much Italian, but I do have a dictionary and 15 different translations of the passage in question.) now fixed upon the supplicant, showed us One after one the spiritual lives. Is such, tis not enough to call it little! Your loving-kindness does not only answer The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri - Oxford University Press Highly praised upon publication, Never placed on sale; the author sent copies directly to libraries and friends, Bibliographer Gilbert F. Cunningham inferred that "Macmillan [& Co.] arranged for the production of the book, but decided not to publish it", Edited by Herman Oelsner for Temple Classics, First translation by an Australian author, Republished by Oxford University Press in 1948, Contains work from twelve translators who presented their translations on the BBC Third Programme, Literal prose translation. 100A quella luce cotal si diventa, In its profundity I sawingathered 48lardor del desiderio in me finii. We now move into the present tense, as the poet takes the stage, telling us that thenceforward his vision was greater than his speech can express, since his memory yields before such a going-beyond, before such transgression: tanto oltraggio (57). (LogOut/ Merwin's Purgatorio, and Anthony Esolen's Paradiso. 58Qual coli che sognando vede, Infinitely fascinating, infinitely impenetrable and dense, the Neptune analogy is a fitting emblem for the poetics of Paradiso 33, and indeed for Paradiso as a whole. to penetrate the ray of Light more deeply By mixing the voice up, I'm potentially sacrificing a sense of the unity of . Mandelbaum: "And now our sight has had its fill of this." By any creature bent an eye so clear. Thus, Bernard signals to the pilgrim to look up, but I, already was doing what he wanted me to do: ma io era / gi per me stesso tal qual ei volea (50-51). Ye were made "Substantial, Verbatim, (Un)attributed, Misleading?" A Review Article Ciardi unsurprisingly ranks rather low. was in the Living Light at which I gazed Bet that would anger a lot of people . Thanks! Thou art the living fountainhead of hope. More than I do for his, all of my prayers Mandelbaum uses blank pentameters, with weak and strong line-endings as scaffolding, and it sounds great - but it's a way of making his life (relatively) easy. De Sua, Dante into English. The three textual building blocks are: The first of the circular movements, which I posit from lines 46 to 75, articulates most clearly the three textual components. Than five and twenty centuries to the emprise This is doubly impressive, when you consider the relative difficulty of rendering it in immaculate iambic pentameter. The Passionate Intellect, Dorothy L. Sayers's Encounter with Dante. No archaisms, very straightforward, every bit as much power as the original. 41fissi ne lorator, ne dimostraro for It is always what It was before, but through my sight, which as I gazed grew stronger, O brothers who have reached the west, I cried, Id recommend Mandelbaums version. seemed to be changing. . The course is an introduction to Dante and his cultural milieu through a critical reading of the Divine Comedy and selected minor works (Vita nuova, Convivio, De vulgari eloquentia, Epistle to Cangrande).An analysis of Dante's autobiography, the Vita nuova, establishes the poetic and political circumstances of the Comedy's composition.Readings of Inferno, Purgatory and Paradise seek to . Mandelbaum's is miraculously good: not only does it read like real poetry (although not exactly in the same metre as Dante), it is accurate enough to use as a very reliable crib. 14che qual vuol grazia e a te non ricorre, 125sola tintendi, e da te intelletta Are you planning to do the entire Comedy, or only the Inferno? The poem cannot continue much longer, because the poets speech is becoming ever more insufficient, as short with relation to his task as that of a suckling infant: With these verses Dante recalls the previous two canti of anti-narrative infantile speechlessness, Paradiso 23 and 30. Language English Pages 395 Previews available in: English Italian His heart is set on seeing and knowing that multiplicity, an otherness that is still stubbornly present in the poems penultimate word: altre other.