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THE DIVINE COMEDY
AVAILABLE TRANSLATIONS
AVAILABLE TRANSLATIONS
Considering the vast number of translations of Dante's work, only the most praised and relevant are included here prior to 1970.
Henry Francis Cary - 1805-1814
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - 1867
Charles Eliot Norton - 1891-1892
Dorothy Leigh Sayers - 1949-1962
John Ciardi - 1954-1970
Charles S. Singleton - 1970-1991
C.H. Sisson - 1981
Allen Mandelbaum - 1980-1984
Mark Musa - 1967-2002
Robert Pinsky - 1995
Robert and Jean Hollander - 2000-2007
W. S. Merwin - 2000
Anthony M. Esolen - 2002-2004
Michael Palma - 2003
Robin Kirkpatrick - 2006-2007
Robert M. Durling - 1996-2007
Burton Raffel - 2010
J. Gordon Nichols - 2012
Clive James - 2013
Mary Jo Bang - 2013
EXCERPTED COMPARISONS
EXCERPTED COMPARISONS
TBD
ONLINE COMPLETE TEXTS
ONLINE COMPLETE TEXTS
World of Dante - Complete Allen Mandelbaum translation
DanteInferno.info - Complete side-by-side comparison of the entire Inferno for Longfellow, Cary, and Norton translations
DivineComedy.org - Complete side-by-side comparisons chosen between original Italian, Cary, Longfellow, and Mandelbaum
CRITICAL OPINIONS
CRITICAL OPINIONS
Wikipedia - Divine Comedy complete English translations list
Reddit - Comment on Divine Comedy thread praising the work and certain translations
Wordpress site - Line-by-line comparison of fifteen translations of Canto XXVI, lines 112-120
DanteInferno.info - Complete side-by-side comparison of the entire Inferno for Longfellow, Cary, and Norton translations
The-Chimaera.com - Essay comparing Musa, Palma, and Pinsky translations with Cary and Longfellow, occasionally
New Yorker - Favorable review of Hollanders' Paradiso
DivineComedy.org - Complete side-by-side comparisons chosen between original Italian, Cary, Longfellow, and Mandelbaum
ExodusBooks - Comparison of selected cantos between Ciardi, Esolen, Sayers, and Musa translations
WHAT I READ
WHAT I READ
Ciardi won me over with Paradiso, just nailed certain sections so clearly and beautifully. Musa was a good, clear companion. Hollanders had been left aside, not for specifically lacking but for simply being somewhat redundant.
Looking forward, I will mainly return to the Musa volume, and to Merwin's translation of certain favorite Cantos. Ciardi's Paradiso will stand the test of time as well.
Mark Musa's translation is available in one volume as The Portable Dante from Penguin.
The Hollander's Inferno (as well as Purgatorio and Paradiso) is available in very handsome volumes from Anchor.
W.S. Merwin's Purgatorio is available in a lovely printing from Knopf.
John Ciardi's Paradiso (as well as Inferno and Purgatorio) is available economically from Signet.
Moving on to Purgatorio, Merwin was very beautiful if often a little vague, and Musa remained very clear. Similarities between Musa and the Hollanders led me to drop them sometime mid-month, though I continued to check their notes for insight.
As it turned out, I didn't care for Pinsky at all and quickly abandoned him. His word choices were unnatural and vague, his rhymes forced, and the jarring meter ugly to my ears. Reading Inferno, Musa was clear and Hollanders beautiful, both contributing different but insightful comments in their endnotes. I also liked having the Italian original opposite in the Hollanders edition, to be able to guess the original sounds.
April was to be Dante month, with a rigid schedule to read three cantos a day from three different translations: Musa, Hollanders, Pinsky (Inferno), Merwin (Purgatorio), and Ciardi (Paradiso). Having determined that no one translation could capture everything, I attempted to triangulate perfection.
(April 2013)
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