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 . In theInferno, it is well known, Dante singled out corrupt leaders and political enemies, but the poem as a whole was actually inspired by unrequited love. "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. I just saw the great discussion about the Iliad and I thought I'd ask my question about. The night, which I had passed so piteously. 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 is a fulcrum in Western history. String Comparison Comic short post apocalyptic : Last men on earth killed by a dead man Draw a rectangle with partly invisible . Trickled the tear-drops and the bloody drivel. Dorothy Sayers and John Ciardis are two reliable translations for me; Mandlebaum also works, though it is not my favorite. Translations that attempt to maintain any type of rhyme scheme often sound forced and usually compromise the meaning of the text. Even though The doctrine of Papal infallibility was defined dogmatically in the First Vatican Council . And thats the miracle of Dante: somehow his writing still makes sense seven centuries after it was conceived, so long as we manage to read slowly, between, behind, and around what he called his versi strani, strange verses. Mandelbaum, will, in fact, interject rhyme if its not forced (as he does with way and stray). For more information about the Divine Comedy, view our Divine Comedy Page Enjoy! Dante's Inferno -The Webpage of Author David Lafferty. 1994), was edited by Giorgio Petrocchi. I really enjoy the extra insights I receive from his notes, summaries, and essays. A former U.S. Senate chief of staff makes the humanities accessible. What is a good translation of Milton's Paradise Lost? Report Accessibility Barrier or Dantes The Divine Comedy is one of Italian Literatures most frequently translated texts, it has literally been being translated for over hundreds of years. I couldn't have done it when I was younger. View all posts by Dave. When, out of nowhere, I heard: "Watch your step! From Inferno 1 to Paradiso 33, scores of different literary personaesome real, some invented, some famous, some obscuretake the stage to plead their case or expound on their joy before the autobiographical character Dante as he journeys from hell to heaven. 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. 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. .) that keeps the pattern going forward, naturally to the ear. Please try again later. It has become perhaps the world's most cited allegorical epic about life, death, goodness, evil, damnation and reward. You can opt-out of the sale or sharing of personal information anytime. About the Author. 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. Too bad it doesn't look like there are any recordings of the show. Rutgers is an equal access/equal opportunity institution. 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. Thanks! He wrote in an intensely idiomatic, rhyme-rich Tuscan with a surging terza rima meter that gives the poem its galloping energya unique rhythm thats difficult to reproduce in rhyme-poor English separated from Dantes local vernacular by centuries. Allen Mandelbaums translation goes like this: When I had journeyed half of our lifes way. | As of 2021, Dante's magnum opus has been translated into English . Divine Comedy - Exodus Books Math Curriculum Law & Political Theory Reclaiming the Christian Intellectual Tradition Suffering & Hope History of Philosophy God & Reality (Metaphysics) Knowledge (Epistemology) Value & Beauty (Axiology) Being & Existence (Ontology) Introspection vs. Contemplation Phonics & Reading Early Readers Francesca tells Dante that she and Paolo, began reading Lancelott, and when they got to the part where the characters in the story finally kissed, Francesca committed adultery towards her husband. The other day I was at a bookstore trying to pick a translation 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. She is beloved for her sweeping Wolf Hall trilogy, for which she won two Booker Prizes. This page allows you to compare five passages from seven verse translations side by side. hide caption. That link is to the hardcover that contains all three works, but even though that one is in my bookcase I never read it. The Divine Comedy, translated by John D. Sinclair: This was recommended by a fellow reader on Twitter and I am so glad I bought the complete set. Any translation involves balancing the meaning, feel, and artistry of the work, normally at the expense of at least one of these qualities. A customizable, digital workspace for scholarly analysis of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. Dante wrote his masterpiece on the move, banned from Florence by political enemies. like a wheel in perfect motion, And then there are all those characters! 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). Such an adoption would have given a modern reader a similar feel Dantes meter gives Italian readers. Such extreme faithfulness can make the language of the translation feel unnaturalas though the source were shaping the translation into its own alien image. by the love that moves the sun and the other stars. laltro pianga; s che di pietade The Divine Comedy. New Jersey, Report Accessibility Barrier or September 26, 2019 [1] The three cantiche [i] of the poem, Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso, describe hell, purgatory, and heaven respectively. 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. Body & Soul Uplifted: Dantes Magnificent Vision of Resurrection of 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. Dante Alighieri's great work tells the . accessibility issues with Rutgers web sites to accessibility@rutgers.edu In truth, some of the most sublime moments in The Divine Comedy, indeed in all of literature, occur after Dante makes his way out of the Infernos desolation. Born in 1265 in Florence, from which he was banished in 1302, dying in Ravenna in 1321, Dante set the Divine Comedy in the year 1300, when he was thirty-five years old and 'in the middle of our mortal life'. For what it's worth, here's an excerpt from a New Yorker review of Paradiso: "So there we were, actually duplicating the situation in the canto, because the two lovers are reading a book that's what brought them together. Provide Feedback Form. This topic is currently marked as "dormant"the last message is more than 90 days old. I just went for the most heavily annotated versions of Purgatorio and Paradiso. by Dante Alighieri and Clive James. Also, Anthony Esolen has an interesting article published: Esolen, Anthony. But what makes this an interesting comparison is that Daymans translation maintains the terza rima, while Rogers does not. ", "I can say this much for sure, for certain, right here on the air," James continues. In her own time she was better known for her hydrangeas. Translated by John Dayman, Longmans, Green, 1865. https://archive.org/details/divinecomedydan00daymgoog, Alighieri 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. NEH had funded many Dante-related projects, including 17summer seminars for schoolteachersto study theDivine Comedywith scholars through the University of Vermont. He's seeking absolution, redemption and certainty. 12> I agree that Ciardi is the most readable. 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. 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. By clicking Sign Up, I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Penguin Random House's Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and understand that Penguin Random House collects certain categories of personal information for the purposes listed in that policy, discloses, sells, or shares certain personal information and retains personal information in accordance with the policy. He produced one of the first complete, and in many respects still the best, English translations of The Divine Comedy in 1867. And lo and behold, that's what we were doing. 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. 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. Theyre easily the most accessible and enjoyable of the translations Ive seen. The Books Alexis Patterson Is Loving Right Now, 27 Childrens & YA Books Written by Asian Authors, Browse All Our Lists, Essays, and Interviews. I wondered how else one could say Midway through our life, I found myself in a dark wood; the right way was lost., Both James and Bang are poets. Rogers Mandelbaums astonishingly Dantean translation, which captures so much of the life of the original, renders whole for us the masterpiece of that genius whom our greatest poets have recognized as a central model for all poets. Buy. . or complete the Report Accessibility Barrier or Which I still am. ", He calls the quatrains a "nice, easily flowing rhythmic grid on which to mount the individual moments. I agree, Dorothy Leigh Sayers translations are done wonderfully. for I had lost the path that does not stray. SUBSCRIBE FOR HUMANITIES MAGAZINE PRINT EDITION Browse all issuesSign up for HUMANITIES Magazine newsletter. James writes in the introduction to hisComedy, I wanted the rhyming words close enough together to be noticed. His devotion to language leads him in one direction, aiming even to end each book of theComedywith a couplet whose final word is stars, as Dante did. gi volgeva il mio disio e l velle, Three passages are from the Inferno, one from Purgatory, and the last from Paradise. But the musicians performance doesnt look anything like a score; the two couldnt be any more different. During one Spirit was relating this, In addition, its well suited for English (Shakespeare wrote much of his work in blank verse). "All this shall be made known to you when we stand, And he said to me: "When we have stopped along, And he responded, "These things will be made. I've also heard great thngs about Merwin and Pinsky but they've only done the Purgatorio and Inferno respectively. For example, he translates Dantes beautifully compact Paradiso 2.7. #4 -- we'll just assume that's tongue-in-cheek. What, for us, would really be paradise? Looking specifically at Canto V, we will examine that there are different methods that go into translation, as seen in the translations by Charles Rogers (1782) and John Dayman (1865). The Italian language the Italians speak today is largely Dante's invention. "If you're going to do it in English, you need, I think, another approach, and I used quatrains. Pinsky does leave you hanging after the Inferno, though. The Divine Comedy is a 14th century poem that has never lost its edge. New Jersey. 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. Missing is Dantes dico or I mean which is crucial to the meaning of him clarifying what he has already said. Only a dense cage of leaf, tree, and twig. 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. Copyright 2021 To him in front the biting was as naught. A third choice is a translation written in blank verse (iambic pentameter). I was lost. The latest has been undertaken by a writer who is perhaps best known for his pointed and funny criticisms of culture. In conclusion, Nortons translation may have radically dropped the poetic format of The Divine Comedy, however writing in prose allowed him to stay more faithful with the content in the work whereas Rogerss translation is better suited if the reader would like to experience reading Dantes work as a poem, that being said even the structure used by Norton alludes many times to poetic verse. Mentre che luno spirto questo disse, Paolo and Francesca are technically together, as they whirl around like doves summoned by desire in Infernos punishing winds. with Rutgers web sites to accessibility@rutgers.edu or complete the Report Accessibility Barrier or You can revive it by posting a reply. 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. 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. 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 . Best English Translations of The Divine Comedy. Individuals Im using Allen Mandelbaums translation while writing my Masters thesis. The surprising historybehind the worlds most famous collection of folk tales. Looking specifically at Canto V, we will examine that there are different methods that go into translation, as seen in the translations by Charles Rogers (1782) and John Dayman (1865). That interlocking pattern continues throughout the cantos and is one of the works most distinctive aspects. Any other translations you'd like to recommend are fine with me. 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. 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. I believe there are many points on which Dante had disagreed with the Church teachings of his times. . While the one spirit said this, the other was so weeping that through pity I swooned as if I had been dying, and fell as a dead body falls. To redeem, copy and paste the code during the checkout process. io venni men cos com io morisse. It calls upon the reader to ask: What would be our personal hell? This particular translation is characterized by a rather faithful adherence to the the original source texts physical structure. Both translations by Rogers and Dayman, are kept in poem style. 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. 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. But in English, he writes, the word stars has very few words with which to rhyme. It also comes with the Italian text. 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). "They're faithful, they're accurate, they're scholarly, but the actual raw poetic thrill of the verse doesn't get through, and that's what I think the translator must try to do if he or she can. 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. Which leadeth others right by every road. Unto the clawing, for sometimes the spine. These lines have the virtue of being faithful to the original content, and then the next line continues with a rhyme (The keening sound . These breathtaking lines conclude Dante's Divine Comedy, a 14,000-line epic written in 1321 on the state of the soul after death. Rogers maintains a more faithful translation throughout the canto than Dayman. 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." This is where youll see your current point status and your earned rewards. Mandelbaum is writing in blank verse (although here the first and third lines rhyme, that is not indicative of the whole), so youre faced with a choice: Do you trust the efforts, strained at times, of the translator who remains loyal to the form, or opt for a more natural-sounding version? When I reconciled myself to that, I was off and running. And he said to me: "The whole shall be made known; And he: "All this will be made plain to you. Any other translations you'd like to recommend are fine with me. Out of the Fire. Individuals with disabilities are Copyright 2023, Rutgers, The State University of Mandelbaum: seen as the scholarly translation and is used in many university classes on The Divine Comedy but some consider it dry and unpoetic. But Hugos attack suggests the particular challenge in reading Dante, whose writing can seem remote and impenetrable to modern tastes. Provide Feedback Form. That's why we've put together this ultimate guide to help you make a decision. Canto V is when Dante has descended into the second circle of hell. Famed translators Pevear and Volokhonsky reach another milestone. With six eyes did he weep, and down three chins. I really loved Robert Pinsky's translation of the Inferno, for readability. 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. He did most of the translation work before becoming seriously ill, "but I could feel the end of my life coming. ed. Last year marked the 750th anniversary of Dantes birth in 1265, and as expected for a writer so famousEliot claimed Dante and Shakespeare divide the modern world between them; there is no thirdthe solemn commemorations abounded, especially in Italy where many cities have streets and monuments dedicated to their Sommo Poeta, Supreme Poet. Her creative leap is to begin with the word stopped and end the third line with I was lost, emphasizing the predicament in the original and elaborating the image of the dark wood. .. . Which in the very thought renews the fear. 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 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. Dante asks her why such a courteous and well-spoken creature as shea highborn lady who had fallen for Paolo innocently enough one day when they were alone together readingcould find herself among the damned. 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. As the day stands when the Sun begins to glow. 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. Three passages are from the Inferno, one from Purgatory, and the last from Paradise. Speak will I of the other things I saw there. The Divine Comedy is a 14th century poem that has never lost its edge. The three parts of the Divine Comedy - Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso - are an expression of faith undertaken to the glory of God, and a demonstration of the use to which God's gifts can be put. ", James' wife, Prudence Shaw, played a central role in the translation project. (Health!). Clive James is both an Officer of the Order of Australia and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. I wasn't thrilled with either Mellville or Longfellow. This topic is not marked as primarily about any work, author or other topic. Take, for example, the last few lines of the the fifth Canto, the famous: 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. Two hundred years ago,Pride and Prejudicewas anonymously published. Not only are constant rhymes difficult to translate, but Dante also uses rich and ambiguous language in his poems. But 'Purgatory' and 'Heaven' have mainly just got theology. Thus began Dantes famed journey, one that would take him through the depths of hell. For the straightforward pathway had been lost. 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. This nineteenth-century blank-verse version by Longfellow sounds surprisingly modern: For the straightforward pathway had been lost. Talking about a translators approach and methodology can help answer the question. New Jersey, Report Accessibility Barrier or We'll go over the different features and what to look for when you're shopping. 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. I'm a bit biased in favor of Sayers' translation, as that's the one that introduced me to Dante in the first place. Hence their eternal torment, with Paolo in a silent stream of tears, Francesca pouring out an ocean of self-defense. His translation of the Divine Comedy (especially Inferno and Purgatorio) is one of my favorite translations of anything. So deeply did the other mourn, that I 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. Excellent notes, too! Long translations from the Divine Comedyare provided following the original Italian verse, and where necessary in the analysis the Italian is referenced. 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 only read one, but Mark Musa's Penguin classics translation seemed pretty good to me What's the consensus on Allen Mandelbaum's translation? Steve Moyer is managing editor of Humanities. Right now I'm choosing between Ciardi, Mandelbaum and Hollander. The Divine Comedy is also a work of literary beauty that is beyond being antiquated by time or diminished by repeated translation. A collection of 100 poems to be exact, one for each canto, some more sublime than others. Of what we call our life, I looked up and saw no sky. encouraged to direct suggestions, comments, or complaints concerning any accessibility issues "There is no young man's version of this translation. At every mouth he with his teeth was crunching 55. 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. 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.. Inferno, Canto I. 5 The contemporary reader would do well to follow this ancient practice, for it leads to the most important aspect in approaching Dante: the need to read him closely. Sponsored by Phi Beta Kappa But Clive James is also a novelist, humorist, essayist, memoirist, and radio and television host who has been called his own one-man renaissance. 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.
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divine comedy translation comparison