The Divine Comedy by Dante Aligheri was translated into French and Spanish and other European languages well before it was first translated into English. In fact the first English translation was only completed in 1802, almost 500 years after Dante wrote his Italian original. The lack of English translations before this is due in part to Dante's Catholic views being distasteful, or at least uninteresting, to Protestant English audiences, who viewed such a Catholic theology, mixed with references to classical mythos, as heretical.
Since 1802, however, the Divine Comedy has been translated into English more times than it has into any other language, and new English translations continue to be published regularly, so that today English is the language with the most translations by far. A complete listing and criticism of all English translations of at least one of the three books (cantiche; singular: cantica) up until 1966 was made by Cunningham.[1] The table below summarises Cunningham's data with (incomplete) additions between 1966 and the present. Many more translations of individual cantos from the three cantiche exist, but these are too numerous to allow the compilation of a comprehensive list.
Publication date | Name | Nationality | Parts translated | Form | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1782 | Charles Rogers | UK | Inferno[2] | blank verse | First translation of a full cantica into English |
1785-1802 | Henry Boyd | UK | Comedy | rhymed 6-line stanzas | First full translation of the Comedy in English. |
1805-1814 | Henry Francis Cary | UK | Comedy[3] | blank verse | Volume 20 in the Harvard Classics series. |
1807 | Nathaniel Howard | UK | Inferno | blank verse | |
1812 | Joseph Hume | UK | Inferno | blank verse | one of the two 'worst' translations according to Cunningham |
1833-1840 | Ichabod Charles Wright | UK | Comedy | rhymed 6-line stanzas | |
1843-1865 | John Dayman | UK | Comedy | terza rima | |
1843-1893 | Thomas William Parsons | United States | Comedy (incomplete) | quatrains and irregular rhyme | |
1849 | John Aitken Carlyle | UK | Inferno | prose | |
1850 | Patrick Bannerman | UK | Comedy | irregular rhyme | one of the two 'worst' translations according to Cunningham |
1851-1854 | Charles Bagot Cayley | UK | Comedy | terza rima | |
1852 | E. O'Donnell | UK | Comedy | prose | |
1854 | Thomas Brooksbank | UK | Inferno | terza rima | |
1854 | Sir William Frederick Pollock | UK | Comedy | blank terzine | |
1859 | Bruce Whyte | UK | Inferno | irregular rhyme | |
1859-1866 | John Wesley Thomas | UK | Comedy | terza rima | |
1862 | William Patrick Wilkie | UK | Inferno | blank terzine | |
1862-1863 | Claudia Hamilton Ramsay | UK | Comedy | terza rima | |
1865 | William Michael Rossetti | UK | Inferno | blank terzine | |
1865-1870 | James Ford | UK | Comedy | terza rima | |
1867 | Henry Wadsworth Longfellow | United States | Comedy | blank terzine | First complete American translation. Available online. |
1867-1868 | David Johnston | UK | Comedy[4] | blank terzine | |
1877 | Charles Tomlinson | UK | Inferno | terza rima | |
1880-1892 | Arthur John Butler | UK | Comedy | prose | |
1881 | Warburton Pike | UK | Inferno | terza rima | |
1883 | William Stratford Dugdale | UK | Purgatorio | prose | |
1884 | James Romanes Sibbald | UK | Inferno | terza rima | |
1885 | James Innes Minchin | UK | Comedy | terza rima | |
1886-1887 | Edward Hayes Plumptre | UK | Comedy | terza rima | |
1887 | Frederick Kneeller Haselfoot Haselfoot | UK | Comedy | terza rima | |
1888 | John Augustine Wilstach | United States | Comedy | rhymed stanzas | |
1889-1900 | William Warren Vernon | UK | Comedy | prose | |
1891-1892 | Charles Eliot Norton | United States | Comedy[5] | prose | Translation used by Great Books of the Western World. Available online at Project Gutenberg. |
1892-1915 | Charles Lancelot Shadwell | UK | Purgatorio and Paradiso | Marvellian stanzas | |
1893 | George Musgrave | UK | Inferno | Spenserian stanzas | |
1893 | Sir Edward Sullivan | UK | Inferno | prose | |
1895 | Robert Urquhart | UK | Inferno | terza rima | |
1898 | Eugene Jacob Lee-Hamilton | UK | Inferno | hendecasyllabic blank terzine | |
1899 | Philip Henry Wicksteed | UK | Paradiso | prose | |
1899 | Arthur Compton Auchmuty | UK | Purgatorio | octosyllabic terza rima | |
1899-1901 | Samuel Home | UK | Purgatorio (incomplete: I-XXXI only) | hendecasyllabic blank terzine | |
1901 | John Carpenter Garnier | UK | Inferno | prose | |
1901 | Thomas Oakey | UK | Purgatorio | prose | |
1902 | Edward Clarke Lowe | UK | Comedy | blank terzine | |
1903-1909 | Edward Wilberforce | UK | Comedy | terza rima | |
1903-1911 | Sir Samuel Walker Griffith | UK | Comedy | hendecasyllabic blank terzine | |
1904 | Caroline C. Potter | UK | Purgatorio and Paradiso | rhymed quatrains | |
1904 | Henry Fanshawe Tozer | UK | Comedy | prose | |
1904 | Marvin Richardson Vincent | United States | Inferno | blank verse | |
1905 | Charles Gordon Wright | UK | Purgatorio | prose | |
1908 | Frances Isabella Fraser | UK | Paradiso | blank terzine | |
1910 | Anges Louisa Money | UK | Purgatorio | blank terzine | |
1911 | Charles Edwin Wheeler | UK | Comedy | terza rima | |
1914 | Edith Mary Shaw | UK | Comedy | blank verse | |
1915 | Edward Joshua Edwardes | UK | Inferno | blank terzine | |
1915 | Henry Johnson | United States | Comedy | blank terzine | |
1918-1921 | Courtney Langdon | United States | Comedy | blank terzine | |
1920 | Eleanor Vinton Murray | United States | Inferno | terza rima | |
1921 | Melville Best Anderson | United States | Comedy | terza rima | |
1922 | Henry John Hooper | UK | Inferno | unrhymed amphiambics | |
1927 | David James MacKenzie | UK | Comedy | terza rima | |
1928-1931 | Albert R. Bandini | United States (born in Italy) | Comedy | terza rima | |
1928-1954 | Sydney Fowler Wright | UK | Inferno and Purgatorio | irregularly rhymed decasyllables | |
1931 | Jefferson Butler Fletcher | United States | Comedy | defective terza rima | |
1931 | Lacy Lockert | United States | Inferno | terza rima | |
1932-1935 | Geoffrey Langdale Bickersteth | UK | Comedy | terza rima | |
1933-1943 | Laurence Binyon | UK | Comedy | terza rima | |
1934-1940 | Louis How | United States | Comedy | terza rima | |
1938 | Ralph Thomas Bodey | UK | Comedy | blank verse | |
1939-1946 | John Dickson Sinclair | UK | Comedy | prose | |
1948 | Lawrence Grant White | United States | Comedy | blank verse | |
1948 | Patrick Cummins | United States | Comedy | hendecasyllabic terza rima | |
1948-1954 | Thomas Goddard Bergin | United States | Comedy | blank verse | |
1949-1953 | Harry Morgan Ayres | United States | Comedy | prose | |
1949-1962 | Dorothy Leigh Sayers | UK | Comedy | terza rima | Penguin Classics edition. After Sayers' death in 1957, Paradiso XXI-XXXIII completed by Barbara Reynolds. |
1952 | Thomas Weston Ramsey | UK | Paradiso | defective terza rima | |
1954 | Howard Russell Huse | United States | Comedy | prose | |
1954-1970 | John Ciardi | United States | Comedy | defective terza rima | Inferno recorded and released by Folkways Records in 1954. |
1956 | Glen Levin Swiggett | United States | Comedy | terza rima | |
1958 | Mary Prentice Lillie | United States | Comedy | hendecasyllabic blank terzine | |
1961 | Warwick Fielding Chipman | UK | Inferno | terza rima | |
1962 | Clara Stillman Reed | United States | Comedy | prose | |
1965 | William F. Ennis | UK | Comedy | dodecasyllabic terza rima | |
1965 | Aldo Maugeri | Italy | Inferno | blank terzine | |
1967-2002 | Mark Musa | United States | Comedy | blank verse | An alternative Penguin Classics version. |
1970-1991 | Charles S. Singleton | United States | Comedy | prose | Literal prose version with extensive commentary; 6 vols. |
1980-1984 | Allen Mandelbaum | United States | Comedy | blank verse | |
1981 | C. H. Sisson | UK | Comedy | ? | Oxford World's Classics |
1994 | Steve Ellis | UK | Inferno | ? | Chatto & Windus[6] |
1995 | Robert Pinsky | United States | Inferno | terza rima | |
1996 | Peter Dale | UK | Comedy | terza rima | |
1996-2007 | Robert M. Durling | United States | Comedy | prose | Oxford University Press |
2000 | W. S. Merwin | United States | Purgatorio | ? | |
2000-2007 | Robert and Jean Hollander | United States | Comedy | blank verse | Online as part of the Princeton Dante Project. |
2002 | Ciaran Carson | Ireland | Inferno | terza rima | Granta Books |
2002 | Michael Palma | ? | Inferno | terza rima | |
2002-2004 | Anthony M. Esolen | United States | Comedy | blank verse | Modern Library Classics. |
2006-2007 | Robin Kirkpatrick | ? | Comedy | ? | A third Penguin Classics version, replacing Musa's |
2009-2017 | Stanley Lombardo | United States | Comedy | blank terzine | Hackett Classics |
2010 | Burton Raffel | United States | Comedy | ? | Northwestern World Classics |
2012 | J. Gordon Nichols | UK | Comedy | ? | Alma Classics |
2013 | Mary Jo Bang | United States | Inferno | ? | Graywolf Press[7] |
2013 | Clive James | Australia/UK | Comedy | quatrains | Picador |
2017 | Peter Thornton | United States | Inferno | blank verse | Arcade Publishing |
References[edit]
Dantes Inferno in Modern English book. Read 4,301 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. Most English translations of INFERNO are full o.
- ^Gilbert F. Cunningham, 'The Divine comedy in English: a critical biography 1782-1966'. 2 vols., Barnes & Noble, NY; esp. v.2 pp.5-9
- ^Charles Rogers (1782). The Inferno of Dante, Translated. London: J. Nichols.
- ^Henry Francis Cary. Dante's Inferno. New York: Cassell Publishing Company.
- ^David Johnston (1867). A Translation of Dante's Inferno. Bath.
- ^Charles Eliot Norton (1920). The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri. Houghton Mifflin.
- ^Josephine Balmer (1994-03-13). 'BOOK REVIEW / The lost in translation: 'Hell' - Dante Alighieri'. The Independent. Retrieved 2017-04-20.
- ^https://www.graywolfpress.org/books/inferno-0
Dante Inferno Pdf Book
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=English_translations_of_Dante%27s_Divine_Comedy&oldid=915261923'
The Dark Forest. The Hill of Difficulty. The Panther, the Lion, and the Wolf. Virgil.
Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita mi ritrovai per una selva oscura, ché la diritta via era smarrita. Ahi quanto a dir qual era è cosa dura esta selva selvaggia e aspra e forte che nel pensier rinova la paura! Tant’ è amara che poco è più morte; ma per trattar del ben ch’i’ vi trovai, dirò de l’altre cose ch’i’ v’ho scorte. Io non so ben ridir com’ i’ v’intrai,10 tant’ era pien di sonno a quel punto che la verace via abbandonai. Ma poi ch’i’ fui al piè d’un colle giunto, là dove terminava quella valle che m’avea di paura il cor compunto, guardai in alto e vidi le sue spalle vestite già de’ raggi del pianeta che mena dritto altrui per ogne calle. Allor fu la paura un poco queta, che nel lago del cor m’era durata20 la notte ch’i’ passai con tanta pieta. E come quei che con lena affannata, uscito fuor del pelago a la riva, si volge a l’acqua perigliosa e guata, così l’animo mio, ch’ancor fuggiva, si volse a retro a rimirar lo passo che non lasciò già mai persona viva. Poi ch’èi posato un poco il corpo lasso, ripresi via per la piaggia diserta, sì che ’l piè fermo sempre era ’l più basso.30 Ed ecco, quasi al cominciar de l’erta, una lonza leggera e presta molto, che di pel macolato era coverta; e non mi si partia dinanzi al volto, anzi ’mpediva tanto il mio cammino, ch’i’ fui per ritornar più volte vòlto. Temp’ era dal principio del mattino, e ’l sol montava ’n sù con quelle stelle ch’eran con lui quando l’amor divino mosse di prima quelle cose belle;40 sì ch’a bene sperar m’era cagione di quella fiera a la gaetta pelle l’ora del tempo e la dolce stagione; ma non sì che paura non mi desse la vista che m’apparve d’un leone. Questi parea che contra me venisse con la test’ alta e con rabbiosa fame, sì che parea che l’aere ne tremesse. Ed una lupa, che di tutte brame sembiava carca ne la sua magrezza,50 e molte genti fé già viver grame, questa mi porse tanto di gravezza con la paura ch’uscia di sua vista, ch’io perdei la speranza de l’altezza. E qual è quei che volontieri acquista, e giugne ’l tempo che perder lo face, che ’n tutti suoi pensier piange e s’attrista; tal mi fece la bestia sanza pace, che, venendomi ’ncontro, a poco a poco mi ripigneva là dove ’l sol tace.60 Mentre ch’i’ rovinava in basso loco, dinanzi a li occhi mi si fu offerto chi per lungo silenzio parea fioco. Quando vidi costui nel gran diserto, «Miserere di me», gridai a lui, «qual che tu sii, od ombra od omo certo!». Rispuosemi: «Non omo, omo già fui, e li parenti miei furon lombardi, mantoani per patrïa ambedui. Nacqui sub Iulio, ancor che fosse tardi,70 e vissi a Roma sotto ’l buono Augusto nel tempo de li dèi falsi e bugiardi. Poeta fui, e cantai di quel giusto figliuol d’Anchise che venne di Troia, poi che ’l superbo Ilïón fu combusto. Ma tu perché ritorni a tanta noia? perché non sali il dilettoso monte ch’è principio e cagion di tutta gioia?». «Or se’ tu quel Virgilio e quella fonte che spandi di parlar sì largo fiume?»,80 rispuos’ io lui con vergognosa fronte. «O de li altri poeti onore e lume, vagliami ’l lungo studio e ’l grande amore che m’ha fatto cercar lo tuo volume. Tu se’ lo mio maestro e ’l mio autore, tu se’ solo colui da cu’ io tolsi lo bello stilo che m’ha fatto onore. Vedi la bestia per cu’ io mi volsi; aiutami da lei, famoso saggio, ch’ella mi fa tremar le vene e i polsi».90 «A te convien tenere altro vïaggio», rispuose, poi che lagrimar mi vide, «se vuo’ campar d’esto loco selvaggio; ché questa bestia, per la qual tu gride, non lascia altrui passar per la sua via, ma tanto lo ’mpedisce che l’uccide; e ha natura sì malvagia e ria, che mai non empie la bramosa voglia, e dopo ’l pasto ha più fame che pria. Molti son li animali a cui s’ammoglia,100 e più saranno ancora, infin che ’l veltro verrà, che la farà morir con doglia. Questi non ciberà terra né peltro, ma sapïenza, amore e virtute, e sua nazion sarà tra feltro e feltro. Di quella umile Italia fia salute per cui morì la vergine Cammilla, Eurialo e Turno e Niso di ferute. Questi la caccerà per ogne villa, fin che l’avrà rimessa ne lo ’nferno,110 là onde ’nvidia prima dipartilla. Ond’ io per lo tuo me’ penso e discerno che tu mi segui, e io sarò tua guida, e trarrotti di qui per loco etterno; ove udirai le disperate strida, vedrai li antichi spiriti dolenti, ch’a la seconda morte ciascun grida; e vederai color che son contenti nel foco, perché speran di venire quando che sia a le beate genti.120 A le quai poi se tu vorrai salire, anima fia a ciò più di me degna: con lei ti lascerò nel mio partire; ché quello imperador che là sù regna, perch’ i’ fu’ ribellante a la sua legge, non vuol che ’n sua città per me si vegna. In tutte parti impera e quivi regge; quivi è la sua città e l’alto seggio: oh felice colui cu’ ivi elegge!» E io a lui: «Poeta, io ti richeggio130 per quello Dio che tu non conoscesti, acciò ch’io fugga questo male e peggio, che tu mi meni là dov’ or dicesti, sì ch’io veggia la porta di san Pietro e color cui tu fai cotanto mesti.» Allor si mosse, e io li tenni dietro. | Midway upon the journey of our life I found myself within a forest dark, For the straightforward pathway had been lost. Ah me! how hard a thing it is to say What was this forest savage, rough, and stern, Which in the very thought renews the fear. So bitter is it, death is little more; But of the good to treat, which there I found, Speak will I of the other things I saw there. I cannot well repeat how there I entered,10 So full was I of slumber at the moment In which I had abandoned the true way. But after I had reached a mountain's foot, At that point where the valley terminated, Which had with consternation pierced my heart, Upward I looked, and I beheld its shoulders, Vested already with that planet's rays Which leadeth others right by every road. Then was the fear a little quieted That in my heart's lake had endured throughout20 The night, which I had passed so piteously. And even as he, who, with distressful breath, Forth issued from the sea upon the shore, Turns to the water perilous and gazes; So did my soul, that still was fleeing onward, Turn itself back to re-behold the pass Which never yet a living person left. After my weary body I had rested, The way resumed I on the desert slope, So that the firm foot ever was the lower.30 And lo! almost where the ascent began, A panther light and swift exceedingly, Which with a spotted skin was covered o'er! And never moved she from before my face, Nay, rather did impede so much my way, That many times I to return had turned. The time was the beginning of the morning, And up the sun was mounting with those stars That with him were, what time the Love Divine At first in motion set those beauteous things;40 So were to me occasion of good hope, The variegated skin of that wild beast, The hour of time, and the delicious season; But not so much, that did not give me fear A lion's aspect which appeared to me. He seemed as if against me he were coming With head uplifted, and with ravenous hunger, So that it seemed the air was afraid of him; And a she-wolf, that with all hungerings Seemed to be laden in her meagreness,50 And many folk has caused to live forlorn! She brought upon me so much heaviness, With the affright that from her aspect came, That I the hope relinquished of the height. And as he is who willingly acquires, And the time comes that causes him to lose, Who weeps in all his thoughts and is despondent, E'en such made me that beast withouten peace, Which, coming on against me by degrees Thrust me back thither where the sun is silent.60 While I was rushing downward to the lowland, Before mine eyes did one present himself, Who seemed from long-continued silence hoarse. When I beheld him in the desert vast, 'Have pity on me,' unto him I cried, 'Whiche'er thou art, or shade or real man!' He answered me: 'Not man; man once I was, And both my parents were of Lombardy, And Mantuans by country both of them. 'Sub Julio' was I born, though it was late,70 And lived at Rome under the good Augustus, During the time of false and lying gods. A poet was I, and I sang that just Son of Anchises, who came forth from Troy, After that Ilion the superb was burned. But thou, why goest thou back to such annoyance? Why climb'st thou not the Mount Delectable, Which is the source and cause of every joy?' 'Now, art thou that Virgilius and that fountain Which spreads abroad so wide a river of speech?'80 I made response to him with bashful forehead. 'O, of the other poets honour and light, Avail me the long study and great love That have impelled me to explore thy volume! Thou art my master, and my author thou, Thou art alone the one from whom I took The beautiful style that has done honour to me. Behold the beast, for which I have turned back; Do thou protect me from her, famous Sage, For she doth make my veins and pulses tremble.'90 'Thee it behoves to take another road,' Responded he, when he beheld me weeping, 'If from this savage place thou wouldst escape; Because this beast, at which thou criest out, Suffers not any one to pass her way, But so doth harass him, that she destroys him; And has a nature so malign and ruthless, That never doth she glut her greedy will, And after food is hungrier than before. Many the animals with whom she weds,100 And more they shall be still, until the Greyhound Comes, who shall make her perish in her pain. He shall not feed on either earth or pelf, But upon wisdom, and on love and virtue; 'Twixt Feltro and Feltro shall his nation be; Of that low Italy shall he be the saviour, On whose account the maid Camilla died, Euryalus, Turnus, Nisus, of their wounds; Through every city shall he hunt her down, Until he shall have driven her back to Hell,110 There from whence envy first did let her loose. Therefore I think and judge it for thy best Thou follow me, and I will be thy guide, And lead thee hence through the eternal place, Where thou shalt hear the desperate lamentations, Shalt see the ancient spirits disconsolate, Who cry out each one for the second death; And thou shalt see those who contented are Within the fire, because they hope to come, Whene'er it may be, to the blessed people;120 To whom, then, if thou wishest to ascend, A soul shall be for that than I more worthy; With her at my departure I will leave thee; Because that Emperor, who reigns above, In that I was rebellious to his law, Wills that through me none come into his city. He governs everywhere, and there he reigns; There is his city and his lofty throne; O happy he whom thereto he elects!' And I to him: 'Poet, I thee entreat,130 By that same God whom thou didst never know, So that I may escape this woe and worse, Thou wouldst conduct me there where thou hast said, That I may see the portal of Saint Peter, And those thou makest so disconsolate.' Then he moved on, and I behind him followed. |