The Divine Comedy (Translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow with an Introduction by Henry Francis Cary)

By Dante Alighieri

Dante Alighieri was born in Florence, Italy in the middle of the 13th century and what is principally known of him comes from his own writings. One of the world’s great literary masterpieces, the “Divine Comedy” is at its heart an allegorical tale regarding man’s search for divinity. The work is divided into three sections, “Inferno,” “Purgatorio,” and “Paradiso,” each containing thirty-three cantos. It is the narrative of a journey down through Hell, up the mountain of Purgatory, and through the revolving heavens into the presence of God. In this aspect it belongs to the two familiar medieval literary types of the Journey and the Vision, however Dante intended the work to be more than just simple allegory, layering the narrative with rich historical, moral, political, literal, and anagogical context. In order for the work to be more accessible to the common readers of his day, Dante wrote in the Italian language. This was an uncommon practice at the time for serious literary works, which would traditionally be written in Latin. One of the truly great compositions of all time, the “Divine Comedy” has inspired and influenced readers ever since its original creation. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper, is translated into English verse by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and includes an introduction by Henry Francis Cary.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Digireads.com Publishing
• Release date: Nov 17, 2015
• ISBN: 9781420951677

Dante Alighieri

Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) was an Italian poet. Born in Florence, Dante was raised in a family loyal to the Guelphs, a political faction in support of the Pope and embroiled in violent conflict with the opposing Ghibellines, who supported the Holy Roman Emperor. Promised in marriage to Gemma di Manetto Donati at the age of 12, Dante had already fallen in love with Beatrice Portinari, whom he would represent as a divine figure and muse in much of his poetry. After fighting with the Guelph cavalry at the Battle of Campaldino in 1289, Dante returned to Florence to serve as a public figure while raising his four young children. By this time, Dante had met the poets Guido Cavalcanti, Lapo Gianni, Cino da Pistoia, and Brunetto Latini, all of whom contributed to the burgeoning aesthetic movement known as the dolce stil novo, or “sweet new style.” The New Life (1294) is a book composed of prose and verse in which Dante explores the relationship between romantic love and divine love through the lens of his own infatuation with Beatrice. Written in the Tuscan vernacular rather than Latin, The New Life was influential in establishing a standardized Italian language. In 1302, following the violent fragmentation of the Guelph faction into the White and Black Guelphs, Dante was permanently exiled from Florence. Over the next two decades, he composed The Divine Comedy (1320), a lengthy narrative poem that would bring him enduring fame as Italy’s most important literary figure.

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THE DIVINE COMEDY

By DANTE ALIGHIERI

Translated by

HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

Introduction by HENRY FRANCIS CARY

The Divine Comedy

By Dante Alighieri

Translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Introduction by Henry Francis Cary

Print ISBN 13: 978-1-4209-5166-0

eBook ISBN 13: 978-1-4209-5167-7

This edition copyright © 2015. Digireads.com Publishing.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Cover Image: Illustration from Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’, Inferno, Canto XIX, 1921 (w/c on paper), Bayros, Franz von (Choisy Le Conin) (1866-1924) / Private Collection / Bridgeman Images.

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INTRODUCTION

THE DIVINE COMEDY

Inferno

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

Canto XXXIV

Purgatorio

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

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

APPENDIX

Introduction

LIFE OF DANTE

Dante,{1} a name abbreviated, as was the custom in those days, from Durante or Durando, was of a very ancient Florentine family. The first of his ancestors,{2} concerning whom anything certain is known, was Cacciaguida,{3} Florentine knight, who died fighting in the holy war, under the Emperor Conrad III. Cacciaguida had two brothers, Moronto and Eliseo, the former of whom is not recorded to have left any posterity; the latter is the head of the family of the Elisei, or perhaps (for it is doubtful which is the case) only transmitted to his descendants a name which he had himself inherited. From Cacciaguida himself were sprung the Alighieri, so called from one of his sons, who bore the appellation from his mother’s family,{4} as is affirmed by the Poet himself, under the person of Cacciaguida, in the fifteenth canto of the Paradise. This name, Alighieri, is derived from the coat of arms,{5} a wing or, on a field azure, still borne by the descendants of our Poet at Verona, in the days of Leonardo Aretino.

Dante was born at Florence in May, 1265. His mother’s name was Bella, but of what family is no longer known. His father{6} he had the misfortune to lose in his childhood; but by the advice of his surviving relations, and with the assistance of an able preceptor, Brunetto Latini, he applied himself closely to polite literature and other liberal studies, at the same time that he omitted no pursuit necessary for the accomplishment of a manly character, and mixed with the youth of his age in all honourable and noble exercises.

In the twenty-fourth year of his age, he was present at the memorable battle of Campaldino,{7} where he served in the foremost troop of cavalry, and was exposed to imminent danger. Leonardo Aretino refers to a letter of Dante, in which he described the order of that battle, and mentioned his having been engaged in it. The cavalry of the Aretini at the first onset gained so great an advantage over the Florentine horse, as to compel them to retreat to their body of infantry. This circumstance in the event proved highly fortunate to the Florentines; for their own cavalry being thus joined to their foot, while that of their enemies was led by the pursuit to a considerable distance from theirs, they were by these means enabled to defeat with ease their separate forces. In this battle, the Uberti, Lamberti, and Abati, with all the other ex-citizens of Florence who adhered to the Ghibelline{8} interest, were with the Aretini; while those inhabitants of Arezzo, who, owing to their attachment to the Guelph party had been banished from their own city, were ranged on the side of the Florentines. In the following year, Dante took part in another engagement between his countrymen and the citizens of Pisa, from whom they took the castle of Caprona,{9} situated not far from that city.

From what the Poet has told us in his Treatise, entitled the Vita Nuova, we learn that he was a lover long before he was a soldier, and that his passion for the Beatrice whom he has immortalized, commenced{10} when she was at the beginning and he near the end of his ninth year. Their first meeting was at a banquet in the house of Folco Portinari{11} her father; and the impression, then made on the susceptible and constant heart of Dante, was not obliterated by her death, which happened after an interval of sixteen years.

But neither war, nor love, prevented Dante from gratifying the earnest desire which he had of knowledge and mental improvement. By Benvenuto da Imola, one of the earliest of his commentators, it is related, that he studied in his youth at the universities of Bologna and Padua, as well as in that of his native city, and devoted himself to the pursuit of natural and moral philosophy. There is reason to believe that his eagerness for the acquisition of learning, at some time of his life, led him as far as Paris, and even Oxford;{12} in the former of which universities he is said to have taken the degree of a Bachelor, and distinguished himself in the theological disputations; but to have been hindered from commencing Master, by a failure in his pecuniary resources. Francesco da Buti, another of his commentators in the fourteenth century, asserts that he entered the order of the Frati Minori, but laid aside the habit before he was professed.

In his own city, domestic troubles, and yet more severe public calamities, awaited him. In 1291, he was induced, by the solicitation of his friends, to console himself for the loss of Beatrice by a matrimonial connection with Gemma, a lady of the noble family of the Donati, by whom he had a numerous offspring. But the violence of her temper proved a source of the bitterest suffering to him; and in that passage of the Inferno, where one of the characters says,

La fiera moglie più ch’ altro, mi nuoce.

Canto xvi.

—— me, my wife

Of savage temper, more than aught beside,

Hath to this evil brought,

his own conjugal unhappiness must have recurred forcibly and painfully to his mind.{13} It is not improbable that political animosity might have had some share in these dissensions; for his wife was a kinswoman of Corso Donati, one of the most formidable, as he was one of the most inveterate of his opponents.

In 1300 he was chosen chief of the Priors, who at that time possessed the supreme authority in the state; his colleagues being Palmieri degli Altoviti and Neri di Jacopo degli Alberti. From this exaltation our Poet dated the cause of all his subsequent misfortunes in life.{14}

In order to show the occasion of Dante’s exile, it may be necessary to enter more particularly into the state of parties at Florence. The city, which had been disturbed by many divisions between the Guelphs and Ghibellines, at length remained in the power of the former; but after some time these were again split into two factions. This perverse occurrence originated with the inhabitants of Pistoia, who, from an unhappy quarrel between two powerful families in that city, were all separated into parties known by those denominations. With the intention of composing their differences, the principals on each side were summoned to the city of Florence; but this measure, instead of remedying the evil, only contributed to increase its virulence, by communicating it to the citizens of Florence themselves. For the contending parties were so far from being brought to a reconciliation, that each contrived to gain fresh partisans among the Florentines, with whom many of them were closely connected by the ties of blood and friendship; and who entered into the dispute with such acrimony and eagerness, that the whole city was soon engaged either on one part or the other, and even brothers of the same family were divided. It was not long before they passed, by the usual gradations, from contumely to violence. The factions were now known by the names of the Neri and the Bianchi, the former generally siding with the Guelphs or adherents of the papal power, the latter with the Ghibellines or those who supported the authority of the Emperor. The Neri assembled secretly in the church of the Holy Trinity, and determined on interceding with Pope Boniface VIII. to send Charles of Valois to pacify and reform the city. No sooner did this resolution come to the knowledge of the Bianchi, than, struck with apprehension at the consequences of such a measure, they took arms, and repaired to the Priors; demanding of them the punishment of their adversaries, for having thus entered into private deliberations concerning the state, which they represented to have been done with the view of expelling them from the city. Those who had met, being alarmed in their turn, had also recourse to arms, and made their complaints to the Priors. Accusing their opponents of having armed themselves without any previous public discussion; and affirming that, under various pretexts, they had sought to drive them out of their country, they demanded that they might be punished as disturbers of the public tranquility. The dread and danger became general, when, by the advice of Dante, the Priors called in the multitude to their protection and assistance; and then proceeded to banish the principals of the two factions, who were these: Corso Donati,{15} Geri Spini, Giachonotto de’ Pazzi, Rosso della Tosa, and others of the Nera party, who were exiled to the Castello della Pieve in Perugia; and of the Bianca party, who were banished to Serrazana, Gentile and Torrigiano de’ Cerchi, Guido Cavalcanti,{16} Baschiera della Tosa, Baldinaccio Adimari, Naldo son of Lottino Gherardini, and others. On this occasion Dante was accused of favoring the Bianchi, though he appears to have conducted himself with impartiality; and the deliberation held by the Neri for introducing Charles of Valois{17} might, perhaps, have justified him in treating that party with yet greater rigour. The suspicion against him was increased, when those, whom he was accused of favoring, were soon after allowed to return from their banishment, while the sentence passed upon the other faction still remained in full force. To this Dante replied, that when those who had been sent to Serrazana were recalled, he was no longer in office; and that their return had been permitted on account of the death of Guido Cavalcanti, which was attributed to the unwholesome air of that place. The partiality which had been shown, however, afforded a pretext to the Pope{18} for despatching Charles of Valois to Florence, by whose influence a great reverse was soon produced in the public affairs; the ex-citizens being restored to their place, and the whole of the Bianca party driven into exile. At this juncture, Dante was not in Florence, but at Rome, whither he had a short time before been sent ambassador to the Pope, with the offer of a voluntary return to peace and amity among the citizens. His enemies had now an opportunity of revenge, and, during his absence on this pacific mission, proceeded to pass an iniquitous decree of banishment against him and Palmieri Altoviti; and at the same time confiscated his possessions, which indeed had been previously given up to pillage.{19}

On hearing the tidings of his ruin, Dante instantly quitted Rome, and passed with all possible expedition to Sienna. Here being more fully apprised of the extent of the calamity, for which he could see no remedy, he came to the desperate resolution of joining himself to the other exiles. His first meeting with them was at a consultation which they had at Gorgonza, a small castle subject to the jurisdiction of Arezzo, in which city it was finally, after a long deliberation, resolved that they should take up their station.{20} Hither they accordingly repaired in a numerous body, made the Count Alessandro da Romena their leader, and appointed a council of twelve, of which number Dante was one. In the year 1304, having been joined by a very strong force, which was not only furnished them by Arezzo, but sent from Bologna and Pistoia, they made a sudden attack on the city of Florence, gained possession of one of the gates, and conquered part of the territory, but were finally compelled to retreat without retaining any of the advantages they had acquired.

Disappointed in this attempt to reinstate himself in his country, Dante quitted Arezzo; and his course is,{21} for the most part, afterwards to be traced only by notices, casually dropped in his own writings, or discovered in documents, which either chance or the zeal of antiquaries may have brought to light. From an instrument{22} in the possession of the Marchesi Papafavi, of Padua, it has been ascertained that, in 1306, he was at that city and with that family. Similar proof{23} exists of his having been present in the following year at a congress of the Ghibellines and the Bianchi, held in the sacristy of the church belonging to the abbey of S. Gaudenzio in Mugello; and from a passage in the Purgatory{24} we collect, that before the expiration of 1307 he had found a refuge in Lunigiana, with the Marchese Morello or Marcello Malaspina, who, though formerly a supporter{25} of the opposite party, was now magnanimous enough to welcome a noble enemy in his misfortune.

The time at which he sought an asylum at Verona, under the hospitable roof of the Signori della Scala, is less distinctly marked. It would seem as if those verses in the Paradise, where the shade of his ancestor declares to him,

Lo primo tuo rifugio e’l primo ostello

Sara la cortesia del gran Lombardo,

First{26} refuge thou must find, first place of rest

In the great Lombard’s courtesy,

should not be interpreted too strictly: but whether he experienced that courtesy at a very early period of his banishment, or, as others have imagined, not till 1308, when he had quitted the Marchese Morello, it is believed that he left Verona in disgust at the flippant levity of that court, or at some slight which he conceived to have been shown him by his munificent patron Can Grande, on whose liberality he has passed so high an encomium.{27} Supposing the latter to have been the cause of his departure, it must necessarily be placed at a date posterior to 1308; for Can Grande, though associated with his amiable brother Alboino{28} in the government of Verona, was then only seventeen years of age, and therefore incapable of giving the alleged offence to his guest.

The mortifications, which he underwent during these wanderings, will be best described in his own language. In his Convito he speaks of his banishment, and the poverty and distress which attended it, in very affecting terms. Alas,{29} said he, had it pleased the Dispenser of the Universe, that the occasion of this excuse had never existed; that neither others had committed wrong against me, nor I suffered unjustly; suffered, I say, the punishment of exile and or poverty; since it was the pleasure of the citizens of that fairest and most renowned daughter of Rome, Florence, to cast me forth out of her sweet bosom, in which I had my birth and nourishment even to the ripeness of my age; and in which, with her good will, I desire, with all my heart, to rest this wearied spirit of mine, and to terminate the time allotted to me on earth. Wandering over almost every part, to which this our language extends, I have gone about like a mendicant; showing, against my will, the wound with which fortune has smitten me, and which is often imputed to his ill-deserving, on whom it is inflicted. I have, indeed, been a vessel without sail and without steerage, carried about to divers ports, and roads, and shores, by the dry wind that springs out of sad poverty; and have appeared before the eyes of many, who, perhaps, from some report that had reached them, had imagined me of a different form; in whose sight not only my person was disparaged, but every action of mine became of less value, as well already performed, as those which yet remained for me to attempt. It is no wonder that, with feelings like these, he was now willing to obtain by humiliation and entreaty, what he had before been unable to effect by force.

He addressed several supplicatory epistles, not only to individuals who composed the government, but to the people at large; particularly one letter, of considerable length, which Leonardo Aretino relates to have begun with this expostulation: Popule mi, quid feci tibi?

While he anxiously waited the result of these endeavours to obtain his pardon, a different complexion was given to the face of public affairs by the exaltation of Henry of Luxemburgh{30} to the imperial throne; and it was generally expected that the most important political changes would follow, on the arrival of the new sovereign in Italy. Another prospect, more suitable to the temper of Dante, now disclosed itself to his hopes: he once more assumed a lofty tone of defiance: and, as it should seem, without much regard either to consistency or prudence, broke out into bitter invectives against the rulers of Florence, threatening them with merited vengeance from the power of the Emperor, which he declared that they had no adequate means of opposing. He now decidedly relinquished the party of the Guelphs, which had been espoused by his ancestors, and under whose banners he had served in the earlier part of his life on the plains of Campaldino; and attached himself to the cause of their opponents, the Ghibellines. Reverence for his country, says one of his biographers,{31} prevailed on him to absent himself from the hostile army, when Henry of Luxemburgh encamped before the gates of Florence; but it is difficult to give him credit for being now much influenced by a principle which had not formerly been sufficient to restrain him from similar violence. It is probable that he was actuated by some desire, however weak, of preserving appearances; for of his personal courage no question can be made. Dante was fated to disappointment. The Emperor’s campaign ended in nothing; the Emperor himself died the following summer (in 1313), at Buonconvento; and, with him, all hopes of regaining his native city expired in the breast of the unhappy exile. Several of his biographers{32} affirm that he now made a second journey to Paris, where Boccaccio adds that he held a public disputation{33} on various questions of theology. To what other places{34} he might have roamed during his banishment, is very uncertain. We are told that he was in Casentino, with the Conte Guido Salvatico,{35} at one time; and, at another, in the mountains near Urbino, with the Signori della Faggiola. At the monastery of Santa Croce di Fonte Avellana, a wild and solitary retreat in the territory of Gubbio, was shown a chamber, in which, as a Latin inscription{36} declared, it was believed that he had composed no small portion of his divine work. A tower,{37} belonging to the Conti Falcucci, in Gubbio, claims for itself a similar honour. In the castle of Colmollaro, near the river Saonda, and about six miles from the same city, he was courteously entertained by Busone da Gubbio,{38} whom he had formerly met at Arezzo. There are some traces of his having made a temporary abode at Udine, and particularly of his having been in the Friuli with Pagano della Torre, the patriarch of Aquileia, at the castle of Tolmino, where he is also said to have employed himself on the Divina Commedia, and where a rock was pointed out that was called the seat of Dante.{39} What is known with greater certainty is, that he at last found a refuge at Ravenna, with Guido Novello da Polenta;{40} a splendid protector of learning; himself a poet; and the kinsman of that unfortunate Francesca,{41} whose story had been told by Dante with such unrivaled pathos.

It would appear from one of his Epistles that about the year 1316 he had the option given him of returning to Florence, on the ignominious terms of paying a fine, and of making a public avowal of his offence. It may, perhaps, be in reference to this offer, which, for the same reason that Socrates refused to save his life on similar conditions, he indignantly rejected, that he promises himself he shall one day return in other guise,

and standing up

At his baptismal font, shall claim the wreath

Due to the poet’s temples. Purg. xxv.

Such, indeed, was the glory which his compositions in his native tongue had now gained him, that he declares, in the treatise De Vulgari Eloquentia,{42} it had in some measure reconciled him even to his banishment.

In the service of his last patron, in whom he seems to have met with a more congenial mind than in any of the former, his talents were gratefully exerted, and his affections interested but too deeply; for having been sent by Guido on an embassy to the Venetians, and not being able even to obtain an audience, on account of the rancorous animosity with which they regarded that prince, Dante returned to Ravenna so overwhelmed with disappointment and grief, that he was seized by an illness which terminated fatally, either in July or September 1321.{43} Guido testified his sorrow and respect by the sumptuousness of his obsequies, and by his intention to erect a monument, which he did not live to complete. His countrymen showed, too late, that they knew the value of what they had lost. At the beginning of the next century, their posterity marked their regret by entreating that the mortal remains of their illustrious citizen might be restored to them, and deposited among the tombs of their fathers. But the people of Ravenna were unwilling to part with the sad and honourable memorial of their own hospitality. No better success attended the subsequent negotiations of the Florentines for the same purpose, though renewed under the auspices of Leo X. and conducted through the powerful mediation of Michael Angelo.{44} The sepulchre, designed and commenced by Guido da Polenta, was, in 1483, erected by Bernardo Bembo, the father of the Cardinal; and, by him, decorated, besides other ornaments, with an effigy of the Poet in bas-relief, the sculpture of Pietro Lombardo, and with the following epitaph:

Exiguâ tumuli, Danthes, hic sorte jacebas,

Squalenti nulli coguite penè situ.

At nunc marmoreo subnixus conderis arcu,

Omnibus et cultu splendidiore nites.

Nimirum Bembus Musis incensus Etruscis

Hoc tibi, quem imprimis hae coluere, dedit.

A yet more magnificent memorial was raised so lately as the year 1780, by the Cardinal Gonzaga.{45}

His children consisted of one daughter and five sons, two of whom, Pietro{46} and Jacopo,{47} inherited some portion of their father’s abilities, which they employed chiefly in the pious task of illustrating his Divina Commedia. The former of these possessed acquirements of a more profitable kind; and obtained considerable wealth at Verona, where he was settled, by the exercise of the legal profession. He was honoured with the friendship of Petrarch, by whom some verses were addressed to him{48} at Trevigi, in 1361.

His daughter Beatrice{49} (whom he is said to have named after the daughter of Folco Portinari) became a nun in the convent of S. Stefano dell’ Uliva, at Ravenna; and, among the entries of expenditure by the Florentine Republic, appears a present of ten golden florens sent to her in 1350, by the hands of Boccaccio, from the state. The imagination can picture to itself few objects more interesting, than the daughter of Dante, dedicated to the service of religion in the city where her father’s ashes were deposited, and receiving from his countrymen this tardy tribute of their reverence for his divine genius, and her own virtues.

It is but justice to the wife of Dante not to omit what Boccaccio{50} relates of her; that after the banishment of her husband she secured some share of his property from the popular fury, under the name of her dowry; that out of this she contrived to support their little family with exemplary discretion; and that she even removed from them the pressure of poverty, by such industrious efforts as in her former affluence she had never been called on to exert. Who does not regret, that with qualities so estimable, she wanted the sweetness of temper necessary for riveting the affections of her husband?

Dante was a man of middle stature and grave deportment; of a visage rather long; large eyes; an aquiline nose; dark complexion; large and prominent cheek-bones; black curling hair and beard; the under lip projecting beyond the upper. He mentions, in the Convito, that his sight had been transiently impaired by intense application to books.{51} In his dress, he studied as much plainness as was suitable with his rank and station in life; and observed a strict temperance in his diet. He was at times extremely absent and abstracted; and appears to have indulged too much a disposition to sarcasm. At the table of Can Grande, when the company was amused by the conversation and tricks of a buffoon, he was asked by his patron, why Can Grande himself, and the guests who were present, failed of receiving as much pleasure from the exertion of his talents, as this man had been able to give them. Because all creatures delight in their own resemblance, was the reply of Dante.{52} In other respects, his manners are said to have been dignified and polite. He was particularly careful not to make any approaches to flattery, a vice which he justly held in the utmost abhorrence. He spoke seldom, and in a slow voice; but what he said derived authority from the subtleness of his observations, somewhat like his own poetical heroes, who

Parlavan rado con voci soavi.

—— spake

Seldom, but all their words were tuneful sweet.

Hell, iv.

He was connected in habits of intimacy and friendship with the most ingenious men of his time; with Guido Cavalcanti;{53} with Buonaggiunta da Lucca;{54} with Forese Donati;{55} with Cino da Pistoia;{56} with Giotto,{57} the celebrated painter, by whose hand his likeness{58} was preserved; with Oderigi da Gubbio,{59} the illuminator; and with an eminent musician—{60}

——his Casella, whom he wooed to sing,

Met in the milder shades of Purgatory.

Milton’s Sonnets.

Besides these, his acquaintance extended to some others, whose names illustrate the first dawn of Italian literature. Lapo degli Uberti;{61} Dante da Majano;{62} Cecco Angiolieri;{63} Dino Frescobaldi;{64} Giovanni di Virgilio;{65} Giovanni Quirino;{66} and Francesco Stabili,{67} who is better known by the appellation of Cecco d’Ascoli; most of them either honestly declared their sense of his superiority, or betrayed it by their vain endeavours to detract from the estimation in which he was held.

He is said to have attained some excellence in the art of designing; which may easily be believed, when we consider that no poet has afforded more lessons to the statuary and the painter,{68} in the variety of objects which he represents, and in the accuracy and spirit with which they are brought before the eye. Indeed, on one occasion,{69} he mentions that he was employed in delineating the figure of an angel, on the first anniversary of Beatrice’s death. It is not unlikely that the seed of the Paradiso was thus cast into his mind; and that he was now endeavouring to express by the pencil an idea of celestial beatitude, which could only be conveyed in its full perfection through the medium of song.

As nothing that related to such a man was thought unworthy of notice, one of his biographers,{70} who had seen his hand-writing, has recorded that it was of a long and delicate character, and remarkable for neatness and accuracy.

Dante wrote in Latin a Treatise de Monarchic, and two books de Vulgari Eloquio.{71} In the former, he defends the Imperial rights against the pretensions of the Pope, with arguments that are sometimes chimerical, and sometimes sound and conclusive. The latter, which he left unfinished, contains not only much information concerning the progress which the vernacular poetry of Italy had then made, but some reflections on the art itself, that prove him to have entertained large and philosophical principles respecting it.

His Latin style, however, is generally rude and unclassical. It is fortunate that he did not trust to it, as he once intended, for the work by which his name was to be perpetuated. In the use of his own language he was, beyond measure, more successful. The prose of his Vita Nuova and his Convito, although five centuries have intervened since its composition, is probably, to an Italian eye, still devoid neither of freshness nor elegance. In the Vita Nuova, which he appears to have written about his twenty-eighth year, he gives an account of his youthful attachment to Beatrice. It is, according to the taste of those times, somewhat mystical: yet there are some particulars in it, which have not at all the air of a fiction, such as the death of Beatrice’s father, Folco Portinari; her relation to the friend whom he esteemed next after Guido Cavalcanti; his own attempt to conceal his passion, by a pretended attachment to another lady; and the anguish he felt at the death of his mistress.{72} He tells us too, that at the time of her decease, he chanced to be composing a canzone in her praise, and that he was interrupted by that event at the conclusion of the first stanza; a circumstance which we can scarcely suppose to have been a mere invention.

Of the poetry, with which the Vita Nuova is plentifully interspersed, the two sonnets that follow may be taken as a specimen. Near the beginning he relates a marvellous vision, which appeared to him in sleep, soon after his mistress had for the first time addressed her speech to him; and of this dream he thus asks for an interpretation:—

To every heart that feels the gentle flame,

To whom this present saying comes in sight,

In that to me their thoughts they may indite,

All health! in Love, our lord and master’s name.

Now on its way the second quarter came

Of those twelve hours, wherein the stars are bright,

When Love was seen before me, in such might,

As to remember shakes with awe my frame.

Suddenly came he, seeming glad, and keeping

My heart in hand; and in his arms he had

My Lady in a folded garment sleeping:

He waked her; and that heart all burning bade

Her feed upon, in lowly guise and sad:

Then from my view he turn’d; and parted, weeping.

To this sonnet, Guido Cavalcanti, amongst others, returned an answer in a composition of the same form; endeavouring to give a happy turn to the dream, by which the mind of the Poet had been so deeply impressed. From the intercourse thus begun, when Dante was eighteen years of age, arose that friendship which terminated only with the death of Guido.

The other sonnet is one that was written after the death of Beatrice:—

Ah pilgrims! ye that, haply musing, go,

On aught save that which on your road ye meet,

From land so distant, tell me, I intreat,

Come ye, as by your mien and looks ye show?

Why mourn ye not, as through these gates of woe

Ye wend along our city’s midmost street,

Even like those who nothing seem to weet

What chance hath fall’n, why she is grieving so?

If ye to listen but awhile would stay,

Well knows this heart, which inly sigheth sore,

That ye would then pass, weeping on your way.

Oh hear: her Beatrice is no more;

And words there are a man of her might say,

Would make a stranger’s eye that loss deplore.

In the Convito,{73} or Banquet, which did not follow till some time after his banishment, he explains very much at large the sense of three, out of fourteen, of his canzoni, the remainder of which he had intended to open in the same manner. The viands at his Banquet, he tells his readers, quaintly enough, will be set out in fourteen different manners; that is, will consist of fourteen canzoni, the materials of which are love and virtue. Without the present bread, they would not be free from some shade of obscurity, so as to be prized by many less for their usefulness than for their beauty; but the bread will, in the form of the present exposition, be that light, which will bring forth all their colours, and display their true meaning to the view. And if the present work, which is named a Banquet, and I wish may prove so, be handled after a more manly guise than the Vita Nuova, I intend not, therefore, that the former should in any part derogate from the latter, but that the one should be a help to the other: seeing that it is fitting in reason for this to be fervid and impassioned; that, temperate and manly. For it becomes us to act and speak otherwise at one age than at another; since at one age, certain manners are suitable and praise-worthy, which, at another, become disproportionate and blameable. He then apologizes for speaking of himself. I fear the disgrace, says he, of having been subject to so much passion, as one, reading these canzoni, may conceive me to have been; a disgrace, that is removed by my speaking thus unreservedly of myself, which shows not passion, but virtue, to have been the moving cause. I intend, moreover, to set forth their true meaning, which some may not perceive, if I declare it not. He next proceeds to give many reasons why his commentary was not written rather in Latin than in Italian; for which, if no excuse be now thought necessary, it must be recollected that the Italian language was then in its infancy, and scarce supposed to possess dignity enough for the purposes of instruction. The Latin, he allows, would have explained his canzoni better to foreigners, as to the Germans, the English, and others; but then it must have expounded their sense, without the power of, at the same time, transferring their beauty: and he soon after tells us, that many noble persons of both sexes were ignorant of the learned language. The best cause, however, which he assigns for this preference, was his natural love of his native tongue, and the desire he felt to exalt it above the Provencal, which by many was said to be the more beautiful and perfect language; and against such of his countrymen as maintained so unpatriotic an opinion he inveighs with much warmth.

In his exposition of the first canzone of the three, he tells his reader, that the Lady, of whom he was enamoured after his first love, was the most beauteous and honourable daughter of the Emperor of the universe, to whom Pythagoras gave the name of Philosophy: and he applies the same title to the object of his affections, when he is commenting on the other two.

The purport of his third canzone, which is less mysterious, and, therefore, perhaps more likely to please than the others, is to show that virtue only is true nobility. Towards the conclusion, after having spoken of virtue itself, much as Pindar would have spoken of it, as being the gift of God only;

Che solo Iddio all’ anima la dona,

he thus describes it as acting throughout the several stages of life.

L’ anima, cui adorna, &c.

The soul, that goodness like to this adorns,

Holdeth it not conceal’d;

But, from her first espousal to the frame,

Shows it, till death, reveal’d.

Obedient, sweet, and full of seemly shame,

She, in the primal age,

The person decks with beauty; moulding it

Fitly through every part.

In riper manhood, temperate, firm of heart,

With love replenish’d, and with courteous praise,

In loyal deeds alone she hath delight.

And, in her elder days,

For prudent and just largeness is she known;

Rejoicing with herself,

That wisdom in her staid discourse be shown.

Then, in life’s fourth division, at the last

She weds with God again,

Contemplating the end she shall attain;

And looketh back; and blesseth the time past.

His lyric poems, indeed, generally stand much in need of a comment to explain them; but the difficulty arises rather from the thoughts themselves, than from any imperfection of the language in which those thoughts are conveyed. Yet they abound not only in deep moral reflections, but in touches of tenderness and passion.

Some, it has been already intimated, have supposed that Beatrice was only

Reviews for The Divine Comedy (Translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow with an Introduction by Henry Francis Cary)

[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.

[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.

[krumbs_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Dore illustrations. Beautiful!

[syndelle777 · 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.

[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.

[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.

[atomicmutant · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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

[toddcates · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a republication of the origial English translation. This is an amazing poem describing man's struggle with God and the afterlife.

[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!

[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.

[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.

[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!

[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.

[jpsnow · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Deservedly a true classic, Dante's portrayal of the Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradisio is at the same time metaphysical allegory, religious and political commentary, and great poetry. I read John Ciardi's translation of the Inferno (1982) and Lawrence Binyon's interpretation of the latter two sections (1947, also includes several shorter poems and Dante's Vita Nuova). It is a work such as this that makes me wish my feeble mind could retain more of the specific details of what I read. The whole story takes place during the time of Easter, the various hours of which correspond to Dantes' travels. Inferno, in particular, hosts a myriad of fascinating events. We witness Dante descend with Virgil through a series of concentric rings, each holding a type of sinner and punishing them accordingly. Similar punihsments take place in Purgatorio, except of course that these seven deadly sins are being atoned for and occassionally a resident is freed to Paradise. Paradise also consists of a series of relative rewards, although everyone is completely happy with their lot in recognition of perfect justice (and they only differ in terms of relative bliss). Paradise is much more descriptive of the beauty and awe of God, Christ, and Mary. Dante used this work to compliment many of his friends and colleagues and also to disgrace political enemies and a host of popes.Two events in Dante's own life greatly influenced this final work of his -- his banishment from Florence and the death of his first love, Beatrice. The poem is structured in three sections each with 33 cantos consisting of three line groups. Together with the introduction, there are 10 cantos. Ciardi's translation is both more understandable and appealing to me.

[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.

[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.

[rizeandshine · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The Divine Comedy is a long, narrative poem in three parts that tells of the still living Dante's visit to Hell and Purgatory, guided by the poet Virgil and ascension to Paradise, lead by his ideal woman, Beatrice. The author uses allegory to describe the journey of the soul toward God, and on the way reveals much about his own scientific andpolitical idealogies and medieval Christian theology. In The Inferno, the underworld is rife with a variety of mythological creatures. Dante is able to meet with the damned, including a number of prominent figures in history and literature, as well as his own personal acquaintences. There are nine concentric circles of Hell, where deeper levels house greater sinners and punishments. Satan is bound in a lake of ice in the deepest circle at the center of the Earth. In Purgatorio, Dante climbs through the seven terraces of mount Purgatory, each housing penitents guilty of one of the seven deadly sins. He joins the penitents in their pilgrimmage and purges himself of sin in order that he might see his beloved Beatrice and ascend into Heaven. Dante and Virgil meet many souls along the way who are surprised to see the living Dante among them. As a resident of Limbo, Virgil takes his leave before the ascension into heaven. Beatrice meets Dante and guides him through the nine celestial spheres. Dante discovers that all souls in Heaven are in contact with God and while all parts of heaven are accessible to the heavenly soul, its ability to love God determines its placement in heaven. The Paradiso is a poem of fullfilment and completion and, contrary to The Inferno, does have a happy ending fitting of the title, Comedy.I tried reading a few different translations but preferred those that were more prose than poetry. If my first language was Italian I'm sure I would have enjoyed the original terza rima rhyme scheme, but any attempt at a similar rhyme scheme in English just doesn't work for me. Sadly, I found The Inferno and Purgatorio to be the most interesting realms of Dante's visit, but I'll chalk that up to the nature of Heaven being beyond our human ability to even imagine. I would hate to be one of the many whose sins were called out by the author so blatantly, but I have to admit that if the work were contemporary I might even find it humorous at times. At least I would be able to relate better. Overall it is an interesting and fairly quick read (if you skip all of the footnotes and commentary that take more lines than the poem itself) that I would recommend to anyone curious about this acclaimed work of literature.

[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.

[evanroskos_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Hell is fun! in book form.

[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.

[revslick_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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

[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.)

[keylawk · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

DRAFT notes - the neologism "trasumanar" in canto 1 of Paradiso (to go beyond the human). Why did Dante coin this new word? At this time in his day.Some of the metaphors sound somehow mixed or even wrong: In the Tuscan, "nel lago del cor m'era durata". Does the "hardening lake of my heart" prefigure the revelation at the end of the Inferno that its deepest pit is frozen? Is the not-burning, a pious reader surprise?

[bayardus-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Throughout The Divine Comedy Dante claims that his is no mere story, but a vision granted to him by the divine. While your personal faith probably plays a role in how you assess that claim, one thing is certain: Dante was a visionary, and The Divine Comedy contains some of the most stunning imagery you'll find in literature. Everyone has heard of Dante's nine circles of hell, but how many know that the ninth circle is surrounded by a living wall of giants, chained for their rebellion? Or that the mountain of purgatory is the land that was thrust up by Lucifer's fall, and atop it sits the Garden of Eden? Or that in paradise the souls of all the protectors of humanity form a huge eagle that addresses Dante, the eagle being formed of countless souls that shine like rubies in the sunlight? Not to mention the ultimate image Dante gives us, of the highest realm of heaven, wherein every soul that has reached paradise joins together to take the shape of a white rose, with God at its center.

It's beautiful stuff, and even in translation Dante's prose proves up to the task of describing it. From the opening of Inferno where Dante has lost his way to the final lines of each canticle that draw our minds to the stars, Dante is a masterful writer. Not only that, but he's an assertive writer as well. While I could easily imagine an author falling back on his beautiful writing and delivering only a milquetoast moral stance (and indeed, Dante mentions this temptation), in The Divine Comedy Dante makes his opinions known on issues large and small. He's not afraid to criticize the practice of blood feuds, or to pillory different orders of monks, or even to call out the leadership of the Church and the rulers of Italy. He places popes and kings in the fires of hell just as readily as he does false prophets and foreign conquerers.

In addition to this, The Divine Comedy serves as perhaps the best memorial for a lost love to ever be written. Dante's first love Beatrice, dead before he began work on The Divine Comedy, is not only placed by Dante among the highest ranks of paradise, but it is through her mercy and care that Dante is granted his vision of the divine. She is credited with not only inspiring his pen, but with saving his soul as well. Through this work Dante immortalizes his lost love, and if there is a love letter that can compare I don't know of it.

The work isn't without its flaws. Paradiso has several cantos that focus on Dante's take on cosmology or astrophysics that aren't only clearly wrong under our modern understanding, but that don't flow particularly well either. They're like Melville's chapters on whale classification in Moby Dick- they struck me as more distracting than atmospheric. Paradiso is also rife with Dante raising theological questions, only to give them unsatisfying answers. I wish Dante had given us more of his brilliant descriptions instead of trying his hand at reconciling the nature of God with real world events. Occasionally in Inferno it feels as though Dante is sticking it to the people he doesn't like in life at the expense of the flow of the canto, while at other times it feels as though Dante is making an exception for historical figures he really liked at the expense of the logic of the divine system he has described (Cato being the prime example, but various Roman and Greek figures throughout raise this issue). Still, these complaints are minor. It's a vision, after all, and so the lack of a concrete system with steadfast rules isn't surprising.

It's the journey that counts, not the destination, and Dante gives us one hell of a journey. It's an epic sightseeing trip through the world of Christian theology, a world that is still heavily influenced by the myths and scholars of ancient Rome and Greece. Though it's not perfect, it's great, and well worth your time.

[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.

[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!

[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.