The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri - Vol III.

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

This vintage book is the third volume of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s 1867 translation of Dante Alighieri’s “The Divine Comedy”. “The Divine Comedy” is an epic poem written by Dante Alighieri between 1308 and 1320. Arguably the most important work in the Italian language, it is widely believed to number amongst the greatest works of literature ever produced. This volume constitutes a must-read for serious lovers of poetry, and would make for a fantastic addition to any bookshelf. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) was an American poet and member of the Fireside Poets. Many classic books such as this are becoming increasingly rare and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially commissioned new biography of the author.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
• Release date: Jul 31, 2015
• ISBN: 9781473376793

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) was an American poet. Born in Portland, Maine, Longfellow excelled in reading and writing from a young age, becoming fluent in Latin as an adolescent and publishing his first poem at the age of thirteen. In 1822, Longfellow enrolled at Bowdoin College, where he formed a lifelong friendship with Nathaniel Hawthorne and published poems and stories in local magazines and newspapers. Graduating in 1825, Longfellow was offered a position at Bowdoin as a professor of modern languages before embarking on a journey throughout Europe. He returned home in 1829 to begin teaching and working as the college’s librarian. During this time, he began working as a translator of French, Italian, and Spanish textbooks, eventually publishing a translation of Jorge Manrique, a major Castilian poet of the fifteenth century. In 1836, after a period abroad and the death of his wife Mary, Longfellow accepted a professorship at Harvard, where he taught modern languages while writing the poems that would become Voices of the Night (1839), his debut collection. That same year, Longfellow published Hyperion: A Romance, a novel based partly on his travels and the loss of his wife. In 1843, following a prolonged courtship, Longfellow married Fanny Appleton, with whom he would have six children. That decade proved fortuitous for Longfellow’s life and career, which blossomed with the publication of Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie (1847), an epic poem that earned him a reputation as one of America’s leading writers and allowed him to develop the style that would flourish in The Song of Hiawatha (1855). But tragedy would find him once more. In 1861, an accident led to the death of Fanny and plunged Longfellow into a terrible depression. Although unable to write original poetry for several years after her passing, he began work on the first American translation of Dante’s Divine Comedy and increased his public support of abolitionism. Both steeped in tradition and immensely popular, Longfellow’s poetry continues to be read and revered around the world.

Book preview

The Divine Comedy Of Dante Alighieri

-

Vol III.

by

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Copyright © 2013 Read Books Ltd.

This book is copyright and may not be

reproduced or copied in any way without

the express permission of the publisher in writing

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Contents

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

PARADISO

Canto I

Canto II

Canto III

Canto IV

Canto V

Canto VI

Canto VII

Canto VIII

Canto IX

Canto X

Canto XI

Canto XII

Canto XIII

Canto XIV

Canto XV

Canto XVI

Canto XVII

Canto XVIII

Canto XIX

Canto XX

Canto XXI

Canto XXII

Canto XXIII

Canto XXIV

Canto XXV

Canto XXVI

Canto XXVII

Canto XXVIII

Canto XXIX

Canto XXX

Canto XXXI

Canto XXXII

Canto XXXIII

SIX SONNETS ON DANTE’S DIVINE COMEDY BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW (1807-1882)

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine on February 27th, 1807. His mother, Zilpah Wadsworth, was the daughter of a Revolutionary War hero and his father, Stephen Longfellow, was a prominent Portland lawyer and later a member of Congress. As a young man, Longfellow was a voracious reader, and after graduating from Bowdoin College, Longfellow studied modern languages in Europe for three years, before returning returned to Bowdoin to teach them.

In 1831 Longfellow published his first book, a description of his European travels, titled Overseas. He spent a year in Germany and Switzerland, stricken with grief following the death of his young wife, before taking a position at Harvard in 1836. Over the next five years, he published his first two collection of poems, Voices of the Night (1839) and Ballads and Other Poems (1841). Many of the poems featured people triumphing over adversity, a theme which chimed with a still-young United States of America.

In 1843, Longfellow remarried, ushering in the happiest eighteen years of his life. Over the following few years, he penned Evangeline (1847), a book-length poem which proved extremely popular, and secured his reputation as the finest living American poet. In 1854, Longfellow decided to quit teaching to devote all his time to poetry. He published Hiawatha (1855), a long poem about Native American life, and The Courtship of Miles Standish and Other Poems (1858). Both books were immensely successful.

A few months after the American Civil War began in 1861, Longfellow’s wife perished. Profoundly saddened, Longfellow published nothing for the next two years. He found comfort in reading Dante’s Divine Comedy (and would later produce its first American translation). Tales of a Wayside Inn was published in 1863, consolidating further his reputation. When the Civil War ended in 1865, the poet was 58. His most important work was behind him, but he was by now the most famous American of his day. His admirers included Abraham Lincoln, Charles Dickens, and Charles Baudelaire. From 1866 to 1880, Longfellow published seven more books of poetry, and his seventy-fifth birthday in 1882 was celebrated across the country. His health was deteriorating though, and he died the following month, aged 75. Although in more recent times Longfellow’s reputation has declined, he remains an important literary figure in the American popular imagination.

THE DIVINE COMEDY

OF DANTE ALIGHIERI (1265-1321)

TRANSLATED BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW (1807-1882)

CANTICLE III: PARADISO

PARADISO

Canto I

The glory of Him who moveth everything

Doth penetrate the universe, and shine

In one part more and in another less.

Within that heaven which most his light receives

Was I, and things beheld which to repeat

Nor knows, nor can, who from above descends;

Because in drawing near to its desire

Our intellect ingulphs itself so far,

That after it the memory cannot go.

Truly whatever of the holy realm

I had the power to treasure in my mind

Shall now become the subject of my song.

O good Apollo, for this last emprise

Make of me such a vessel of thy power

As giving the beloved laurel asks!

One summit of Parnassus hitherto

Has been enough for me, but now with both

I needs must enter the arena left.

Enter into my bosom, thou, and breathe

As at the time when Marsyas thou didst draw

Out of the scabbard of those limbs of his.

O power divine, lend’st thou thyself to me

So that the shadow of the blessed realm

Stamped in my brain I can make manifest,

Thou’lt see me come unto thy darling tree,

And crown myself thereafter with those leaves

Of which the theme and thou shall make me worthy.

So seldom, Father, do we gather them

For triumph or of Caesar or of Poet,

(The fault and shame of human inclinations,)

That the Peneian foliage should bring forth

Joy to the joyous Delphic deity,

When any one it makes to thirst for it.

A little spark is followed by great flame;

Perchance with better voices after me

Shall prayer be made that Cyrrha may respond!

To mortal men by passages diverse

Uprises the world’s lamp; but by that one

Which circles four uniteth with three crosses,

With better course and with a better star

Conjoined it issues, and the mundane wax

Tempers and stamps more after its own fashion.

Almost that passage had made morning there

And evening here, and there was wholly white

That hemisphere, and black the other part,

When Beatrice towards the left-hand side

I saw turned round, and gazing at the sun;

Never did eagle fasten so upon it!

And even as a second ray is wont

To issue from the first and reascend,

Like to a pilgrim who would fain return,

Thus of her action, through the eyes infused

In my imagination, mine I made,

And sunward fixed mine eyes beyond our wont.

There much is lawful which is here unlawful

Unto our powers, by virtue of the place

Made for the human species as its own.

Not long I bore it, nor so little while

But I beheld it sparkle round about

Like iron that comes molten from the fire;

And suddenly it seemed that day to day

Was added, as if He who has the power

Had with another sun the heaven adorned.

With eyes upon the everlasting wheels

Stood Beatrice all intent, and I, on her

Fixing my vision from above removed,

Such at her aspect inwardly became

As Glaucus, tasting of the herb that made him

Peer of the other gods beneath the sea.

To represent transhumanise in words

Impossible were; the example, then, suffice

Him for whom Grace the experience reserves.

If I was merely what of me thou newly

Createdst, Love who governest the heaven,

Thou knowest, who didst lift me with thy light!

When now the wheel, which thou dost make eternal

Desiring thee, made me attentive to it

By harmony thou dost modulate and measure,

Then seemed to me so much of heaven enkindled

By the sun’s flame, that neither rain nor river

E’er made a lake so widely spread abroad.

The newness of the sound and the great light

Kindled in me a longing for their cause,

Never before with such acuteness felt;

Whence she, who saw me as I saw myself,

To quiet in me my perturbed mind,

Opened her mouth, ere I did mine to ask,

And she began: "Thou makest thyself so dull

With false imagining, that thou seest not

What thou wouldst see if thou hadst shaken it off.

Thou art not upon earth, as thou believest;

But lightning, fleeing its appropriate site,

Ne’er ran as thou, who thitherward returnest."

If of my former doubt I was divested

By these brief little words more smiled than spoken,

I in a new one was the more ensnared;

And said: "Already did I rest content

From great amazement; but am now amazed

In what way I transcend these bodies light."

Whereupon she, after a pitying sigh,

Her eyes directed tow’rds me with that look

A mother casts on a delirious child;

And she began: "All things whate’er they be

Have order among themselves, and this is form,

That makes the universe resemble God.

Here do the higher creatures see the footprints

Of the Eternal Power, which is the end

Whereto is made the law already mentioned.

In the order that I speak of are inclined

All natures, by their destinies diverse,

More or less near unto their origin;

Hence they move onward unto ports diverse

O’er the great sea of being; and each one

With instinct given it which bears it on.

This bears away the fire towards the moon;

This is in mortal hearts the motive power

This binds together and unites the earth.

Nor only the created things that are

Without intelligence this bow shoots forth,

But those that have both intellect and love.

The Providence that regulates all this

Makes with its light the heaven forever quiet,

Wherein that turns which has the greatest haste.

And thither now, as to a site decreed,

Bears us away the virtue of that cord

Which aims its arrows at a joyous mark.

True is it, that as oftentimes the form

Accords not with the intention of the art,

Because in answering is matter deaf,

So likewise from this course doth deviate

Sometimes the creature, who the power possesses,

Though thus impelled, to swerve some other way,

(In the same wise as one may see the fire

Fall from a cloud,) if the first impetus

Earthward is wrested by some false delight.

Thou shouldst not wonder more, if well I judge,

At thine ascent, than at a rivulet

From some high mount descending to the lowland.

Marvel it would be in thee, if deprived

Of hindrance, thou wert seated down below,

As if on earth the living fire were quiet."

Thereat she heavenward turned again her face.

Canto II

O Ye, who in some pretty little boat,

Eager to listen, have been following

Behind my ship, that singing sails along,

Turn back to look again upon your shores;

Do not put out to sea, lest peradventure,

In losing me, you might yourselves be lost.

The sea I sail has never yet been passed;

Minerva breathes, and pilots me Apollo,

And Muses nine point out to me the Bears.

Ye other few who have the neck uplifted

Betimes to th’ bread of Angels upon which

One liveth here and grows not sated by it,

Well may you launch upon the deep salt-sea

Your vessel, keeping still my wake before you

Upon the water that grows smooth again.

Those glorious ones who unto Colchos passed

Were not so wonder-struck as you shall be,

When Jason they beheld a ploughman made!

The con-created and perpetual thirst

For the realm deiform did bear us on,

As swift almost as ye the heavens behold.

Upward gazed Beatrice, and I at her;

And in such space perchance as strikes a bolt

And flies, and from the notch unlocks itself,

Arrived I saw me where a wondrous thing

Drew to itself my sight; and therefore she

From whom no care of mine could be concealed,

Towards me turning, blithe as beautiful,

Said unto me: "Fix gratefully thy mind

On God, who unto the first star has brought us."

It seemed to me a cloud encompassed us,

Luminous, dense,

Reviews for The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri - Vol III.

[brightman-4 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Extraordinary illustrations...Gustave Dore....Translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

[jhack-37 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Un classico in un'edizione davvero prestigiosa.

[jbd1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Dante's classic poem of his journeys through hell and heaven.

[krumbs_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Dore illustrations. Beautiful!

[jsburbidge · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of the absolute summits of western (arguably, world) literature.The general outline is well-enough known: Dante has a vision (on Easter weekend, 1300) in which he visits Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. (The vision frame is external to the poem itself; the Dante inside the poem is the dreamer from the very beginning.) He is guided through the first two realms (well, all of Hell and most of Purgatory) by Virgil, and through the rest of Purgatory and all of Heaven by Beatrice, the focus of his early work La Vita Nuova. He begins in a dark wood, "selva oscura" and ends with the beatific vision of the union of the Christian Trinity and the Aristotelian unmoved mover: "l'amor che move il sole e l'altre stelle".On its way he maintains a multi-level allegory, fills it with an encyclopaedia of his day's science, history, and theology, carries out an extended argument regarding the (sad) politics of his day and of his beloved Florence, from which he was an exile, and does so in verse which stays at high level of virtuosity throughout. It's the sort of thing that writers like Alanus de Insulis tried in a less ambitious way and failed (well, failed by comparison: who except specialists reads the De Planctu Naturae these days?).There is no equivalent achievement, and very few at the same level. This would get six stars if they were available.

[rbeene-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It is a wonderful read if you have footnotes to understand who the people he is talking about is. I found it fascinating and I hope that I finish it someday.

[usmc0811 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Personally, I'm a bit of a purist. I was halfway through the Inferno section when I looked into the details behind the translation. The problem with translating a rhyme from one language to another--and keeping the phrase rhymed--required the translator to completely butcher both the wording of the original and the English language as a whole. At times, whole lines are added to the cantos that were not even in the original Italian version. I'm not touching it until I find a non-rhyming version that is more directly translated from the original.But still, it's a good read, so 4 stars.

[trinibaby9 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved everything up to the Paradisso portion. I know this is supposed to be the best part of the three but it really wasn't to me. I really thought the first two were absolutely excellent. This is definitely devine!

[x_hoxha · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If you want the Italian text, with notes in English, you might track down the Grandgent/Singleton Divina Commedia published in (I think) 1972. (There's another, older, one with only Grandgent as editor.)

[jeff5maynes · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is the sort of work that seems beyond review. It is a classic of the highest order, one which I have only just scratched the surface. From even the barest reading, it is obvious that this work would reward close study and careful consideration. As someone who is not a specialist in poetry, particularly of this era, Christian theology, or the historical context, I can only record my impressions as someone reading this for its literary value. This review is based on the Everyman's Library edition of the Divine Comedy, which includes the Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso. It is translated by Allen Mandelbaum. I found the translation pleasurable to read, and it shows through some of Dante's poetry. Having heard readings of it in its original language, I can hardly imagine any translation really capturing its poetic brilliance, but such is the challenge facing all translations of poetry. While I cannot compare it with other translations, I did find this one an enjoyable experience to read.This edition also contains extensive end notes throughout. Unless one is steeped in the theology and history, this work would be impenetrable without these notes. Dante is constantly alluding to individuals of historical note (often only within his context), the political rivalry between the Black and White Guelphs plays an important role and the work is rife with symbolism (beyond the obvious punishments detailed in the Inferno!). Further, and most importantly, Dante is engaged with the philosophical and theological debates of the day, and he tries to defend certain positions in this work. I would have been lost without the notes here. Indeed, one of the most rewarding things about reading the poem is learning about the history and philosophical/theological context. Reading an edition without extensive notes not only makes the text more difficult to understand for a modern reader, but deprives one of one of the most rewarding experiences in reading it.The Inferno is the most famous of the three books, and it is no small wonder why. Dante's depiction of the levels of hell is riveting and powerful. The imagery throughout is engrossing. It is interesting, however, that Dante recognizes that his abilities to describe, in imagistic terms, what he observes diminish as he rises through Pugatory and Heaven. He consistently invokes higher and higher deities to help him match these sights poetically. Yet, taken in the imagery of the poem, none of the works is more immediately powerful than the Inferno. One of the most interesting aspects of the poem is how Dante rises to meet this challenge. While in the Inferno, Dante is able to describe all manner of punishment and pain, his descriptions of heaven often turn on the blinding nature of its beauty. Its beauty is such that his eyes fail, and the correspondingly imaginative nature of his poetry falls short. He compensates by revealing the beauty of his heaven in other ways. Most notably is that he does so by showing how the divine nature of heaven can meet all of his questions and intellectual challenges. The joy and beauty of heaven is revealed in its ability to provide rational coherence. While I may be over-intellectualizing Dante here (I am no scholar of this material), it was the intellectual nature of his work that really struck me.One final portion of the work that I found particularly moving is that Dante is a human being observing what he does, and this comes through in his emotions and questions most of all. Though he recognizes that the punishments of hell must be just (because they are divine justice), he pities those who suffer them. I wrestled with the same questions, and the reader cannot help but feel sympathy for these souls as Dante describes their punishments. Dante is our guide through these questions, and even if I as a reader am less than satisfied with the answers Dante comes with, he struggles with them. It is not merely a description and celebration of the divine, but rather a real struggle to understand it, and reconcile it to our own conception of justice and the world. This makes the work an interactive intellectual exercise, one works on the same problems that Dante does.

[thereadingmermaid · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

In finally sitting down and reading the entire Divine Comedy, I can now see why The Inferno is usually separated from Purgatorio & Paradiso. The Inferno is captivating and paints vivid pictures of what Dante &. Virgil are seeing and experiencing. However Purgatorio & Paradiso seemed to lack this each in their own way. Purgatorio was still able to paint the pictures but not quite as vividly. Perhaps the subject matter was not as captivating as well. Dante certainly had the gift of making Purgatory feel not too bad but also not too good. In Paradiso we switch guides from Virgil to Beatrice. It is then that Dante seems to loose his focus on his surroundings and turns toward fauning over Beatrice's beauty. I figured that the Canto with God in it would have been a bit more powerful & profound. Lucifer's appearance was more awe inspiring than God's. Don't get me wrong, I give credit to the absolute classic that this work is, however I think there are some issues with it from a reader's standpoint. When all of the action is over in the 1st portion of the book it becomes a chore to finish reading it. All-in-all this entire work was beautifully written in the terza rima rhyme scheme which adds a bit of romance to every line read. I have to mention that I think it's funny how people get the details of this work confused with The Holy Bible. There in itself stands testement to how amazing this work has been throughout history. Despite my personal issues with reading it I am honored to have read such famous and renouned piece of historical literature.

[booksfordeb · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Dante, Virgil, Hades, and the beloved Beatrice---what's not to like. This allegory of Dante's struggles with events in his own life with the geography of hell, purgatory, and paradise is beautiful. Dante was a beautiful writer. The story flows beautifully and leaves you with so many images of life and how to deal with it. Truly a masterpiece.

[evanroskos_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Hell is fun! in book form.

[jawalter · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

eBook

Perhaps this was not the best choice of a book to read at the gym. That decision was certainly not helped by the fact that the eBook version I read had no footnotes.

I'd read the Inferno before, but never Purgatorio or Paradiso, and I was a little disappointed that the physicality I admired so much in the first part was slowly phased out as the poem went on. I suppose Dante was making a point about the difference between the physical world and his relationship to god, but what was so impressive about the Inferno was how he charged a discussion of ideas and morality with a concrete dimension. He made the abstract real.

This was carried over into Purgatorio, although to a lesser extent, but a significant portion of Paradiso seemed to be about his inability to fully render his experience. This seemed to me to be a structural flaw, as we are suddenly asked to once again perceive abstract concepts in an abstract way, and it seems a huge let down.

Or maybe I just needed footnotes to explain it to me.

[markfinl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

There is so much going on in The Divine Comedy that one reading is not enough to try to comprehend this book. Someone could, and I am sure many have, spend a lifetime reading and studying this.

[alexthehunn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Divine Comedy epitomized medieval attitudes. From historical perspectives, this work serves as a window into the mentality of late middle ages in Italy, on the brink of the Renaissance. Scholastic thinking informs Dante's approach.

[jcamilo_720582 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Perhaps the world's greatest achivement.

[alera_6 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Here is where I default by saying...I am not a Christian. However I grew up in churches...I like to think I know the bible better than most Christians seeing as I have actually read it. And I appreciate aspects of the religion. More than anything...the most interesting to me has always been the Catholics. Dante...while being ever so colorful...and ever so in the past...gives me a fun little look at past Christianity. What I noticed in this segment...rather than the other two...even he had some small concerns over his own religion...largely the way God was meant to deal with certain things...like the people who had come before said religion. People who might have been just as pure and pious and deserving of Heaven as those who came after. I enjoyed my realization that while he understood the rules of his religion what could and could not be done...he believed over that..that God was loving and merciful...should always be loving and merciful and therefore he could not understand partial exclusion of some. Which again I say came as a nice surprise because in the first two...I often got the feeling he was merely speaking out against what had been done to him...through his beliefs and his skill as a poet. Not that I'm saying he didn't...because well really...throwing enemies in hell and friends in heaven would have perks. But I think there is a little more there and I like it..a lot.

[lisamaria_c · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I find this among the most amazing works I've ever read--despite that the work is essentially Christian Allegory and I'm an atheist. First and foremost for its structure. Recently I read Moby Dick and though it had powerful passages I found it self-indulgent and bloated and devoutly wished an editor had taken a hatchet to the numerous digressions. There is no such thing as digressions in Dante. I don't think I've ever read a more carefully crafted work. We visit three realms in three Canticas (Hell, Purgatory and Heaven) each of 33 cantos and in a terza rima verse in a triple rhyme scheme. Nothing is incidental or left to chance here. That's not where the structure ends either. Hell has nine levels, Purgatory has seven terraces on its mountain and Heaven nine celestial spheres (so, yes, there is a Seventh Heaven!) All in all, this is an imaginary landscape worthy of Tolkien or Pratchett, both in large ways and small details. I found it fitting how Dante tied both sins and virtues to love--a sin was love misdirected or applied, and the lower you go in hell, the less love there is involved, until at the lowest reaches you find Satan and traitors encased in a lake of ice. Then there are all the striking phrases, plays of ideas and gorgeous imagery that comes through despite translations. This might be Christian Allegory, but unlike say John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress it's far from dry or tedious and is full of real life contemporaries of Dante and historical figures. There are also Dante's guides here. His Virgil is wonderful--and the perfect choice. The great Latin poet of the Aeneid leading the great Italian poet who made his Tuscan dialect the standard with his poetry. Well, guide through Hell and Purgatory until he changes places with Beatrice. Which reminds me of that old joke--Heaven for the climate--Hell for the company.And certainly Hell is what stays most vividly in my mind. I remember still loving the Purgatorio--it's the most human and relatable somehow of the poems and Paradise has its beauties. But I remember the people of Hell best. There's Virgil of course, who must remain in limbo for eternity because he wasn't a Christian. There's Francesca di Rimini and her lover, for their adultery forever condemned to be flung about in an eternal wind so that even Dante pities them. And that, of course, is the flip side of this. Dante's poem embodies the orthodox Roman Catholic Christianity of the 1300s and might give even Christians today pause. Even though I don't count myself a Christian, I get the appeal of hell. In fact, I can remember exactly when I understood it. When once upon a time I felt betrayed, and knew there was no recourse. The person involved would never get their comeuppance upon this Earth. How nice I thought, if there really was a God and a Hell to redress the balance. The virtue of any Hell therefore is justice. These are the words Dante tells us are at hell's entrance.THROUGH ME THE WAY INTO THE SUFFERING CITY,THROUGH ME THE WAY TO THE ETERNAL PAIN,THROUGH ME THE WAY THAT RUNS AMONG THE LOST. JUSTICE URGED ON MY HIGH ARTIFICER;MY MAKER WAS DIVINE AUTHORITY,THE HIGHEST WISDOM, AND THE PRIMAL LOVE. BEFORE ME NOTHING BUT ETERNAL THINGSWERE MADE, AND I ENDURE ETERNALLY.ABANDON EVERY HOPE, WHO ENTER HERE.It's hard to see Dante's vision matching the orthodox doctrine as just however, even when I might agree a particular transgression deserves punishment. Never mind the virtuous and good in limbo because they weren't Christians or unbaptized or in hell because they committed suicide or were homosexual. And poor Cassio and Brutus, condemned to the lowest circle because they conspired to kill a tyrant who was destroying their republic. My biggest problem with hell is that it is eternal. Take all the worst tyrants who murdered millions, make them suffer not only the length of the lifetimes of their victims but all the years they might have had, I doubt if you add it up it comes to the age of the Earth--never mind eternity. Justice taken to extremes is not justice--it's vindictiveness and sadism. Something impossible for me to equate with "the primal love." Yet I loved this work so much upon my first read (I read the Dorothy Sayers translation) I went out and bought two other versions. One by Allen Mandelbaum (primarily because it was a dual language book with the Italian on one page facing the English translation) and a hardcover version translated by Charles Eliot Norton. Finally, before writing up my review and inspired by Matthew Pearl's The Dante Club, I got reacquainted by finding Longfellow's translation online. Of all of them, I greatly prefer Mandelbaum's translation. The others try to keep the rhyming and rhythm of the original and this means a sometimes tortured syntax and use of archaic words and the result is forced and often obscure, making the work much harder to read than it should be.

[revslick_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Quintessential tale of recovery - The way out is for Dante to journey deeper into Hell.

[atomicmutant · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I can't believe I read the whole thing. *phew*

[shmuffin · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A classic. One of my all time favorites. The visions and descriptions in The Inferno are enough to make anyone pious.

[bkwurm · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

After a run of newer contemporary novels it can be refreshing to throw oneself into a classic, and it was something of a relief for me to delve into something with a meaty history—and Dante’s Inferno definitely has a meaty history! The Inferno is one of those books that you can’t read without feeling that you’re part of something. It references so many works of literature, and has itself been referenced by so many later works, that just reading it makes you feel a part of something. (It also makes you somehow feel both inadequate and incredibly intelligent all at the same time.) The New American Library version that I read contains a plethora of distracting but helpful footnotes, and John Ciardi’s translation is lyrical and accessible. The book was not nearly as daunting as I thought it would be. The political references are impossible to completely wrap your head around (even with the footnotes,) but once you get past those the story itself is enlightening, disturbing, thought-provoking, and amazingly easy to understand.

[jvioland_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A true classic that everyone should read but, unfortunately, few will genuinely appreciate. You travel the afterlife from Hell through Purgatory and arrive in Heaven. Along the way you meet various souls (some of whom Dante had been ticked at who today are not known) and realize the very Catholic approach to redemption.

[worldincolour · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Contains some wonderful imagery, but seems rather obsolete in certain sections. Still a masterful writing display though, which has had its impact over the last centuries.

[laydonstorm · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This Allegory is the completed works of Dante transgressing the three stations (hell, purgatory, and paradise) in a way where one can truly understand the pain and suffering he went through to literally discover himself. The Divine Comedy is still to this day a highly read book by all ages and should continue to be so. With this take on the Allegory however did not follow the original Italian Vernacular and there by took away the authenticity of the epic.

[pickwick817 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I didn't enjoy this book very much. There were a lot of references to people in politics at the time it was written (1200). Its interesting to see Dante's viewpoint on Catholicism during that time and throughout the book Virgil and Thomas Aquinas are referred to. I don't know too much about Catholicism then or now, so it was a little off topic for me. I was amazed at the technical aspect of the book. Dante refers to both mathematics in general and geometry at a fairly high level. My edition also had plenty of notes confiriming that most of Dante's calculations for sun, star and planet positions were correct. Seems a little technical for a religious story of a man's trip through hell, purgatory and heaven!

[kirmuriel-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Siempre creí que como este libro es un clásico de la época medieval iba a ser aburrido, pero no es así. Esta claro que no es una lectura sencilla. Utiliza demasiadas figuras muy rebuscadas y para comprenderlas se debe de tener un amplia conocimiento de la cultura occidental, principalmente de la religión, los personajes bíblicos y la mitología latina. También es necesario conocer de la sociedad en la que Dante vivía. Sin embargo, siempre que lograba entender una figura especialmente rebuscada sentía que era un gran logro. Para este libro me ayudó mucho el prólogo que hablaba de los números que están presentes en la obra, aunque supongo que si hubiera leído una edición con anotaciones se me hubiera hecho más fácil. A veces puede ser tedioso, pero en general es una buena novela y una lectura compleja

[charlie68_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fascinating book that puts a different perspective on life and religion. Adds depth to the Bible and some of its symbolisms and philosophies. Has made me think of life and the life after death and has made me really aware of the precious things in life.

[ireadby · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow! All I can say is what a pleasurable and enriching experience to have had the opportunity to listen to Dante's legendary poetry read aloud. The only metaphorical example I can think of is the difference between watching an epic film (like "Life of Pi") in 2D or 3D.

Yes! Dante's Divine Comedy book vs. audiobook is on the same proportional movie-going scale! I highly recommend indulging yourself with this audiobook. It's one you'll want to purchase, not borrow!