best translation of dante's paradiso

From the conceits of mortals, to my mimd Cool! Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. The Comedy is a poem, and any translation has to be true to that basic fact. You also make a good point about the ambiguity in the second line, although it would be difficult to change the syntax without reworking the passage (thanks to the rhyme and meter). brings more forgetfulness to me than twenty- St. Bernard appeals to the Virgin Mary on Dantes behalf and she gazes down upon him with compassion. My vision, becoming pure, Entered more and more the beam of that high light That shines on its own truth. 1989. What through the universe in leaves is scattered; Substance, and accident, and their operations, Dante's poetry still feels intense and immediate, even after seven hundred years, even when it's talking about the planets in a way that seems strange to modern readers. With his journeys through Hell and Purgatory complete, Dante is at last led by his beloved Beatrice to Paradise. My criteria for rhyme is basically the same as rhyme in a popular song (which is actually assonance, more or less). But follow virtue and knowledge unafraid. Each section contains 33 cantos, though the Inferno has one more (34), since the very first canto serves as a prologue to the entire work. This story can, I believe, be viewed as three circular waves of discourse like the rippling motion of water in a round vase that is compared to waves of spoken speech at the beginning of Paradiso 14. And not because more than one simple semblance He is the author of Peppers, a book of poetry, and his translations include Lucretius's De rerum natura and Torquato Tasso's Gerusalemme liberata, along with Dante's Inferno and Purgatory, published by the Modern Library. And though Pinsky has not translated the Paradiso, he also happens to have translated part of its final canto. Dante is as one who sees in dream, but who after his vision retains only the imprinted sentiment, the passione impressa (59); in the same way that his vision ceases, leaving behind a distilled sweetness in his heart, so does snow melt under the sun. 42quanto i devoti prieghi le son grati; 43indi a letterno lume saddrizzaro, Was now approaching, even as I ought so much nobility that its Creator of this small vigil of our senses, will. When Dante wrote the poem we call The Divine Comedy, he called it simply the Commedia: a story, beginning in sorrow and ending in joy, of one mans journey from hell, through purgatory, to paradise. Here I want to expand that exercise, comparing 15 different translations in a more systematic way. Undated, I know from the course number (109C) that it goes back to my years as Assistant Professor of Italian at the University of California at Berkeley: my first job, I taught at Berkeley from 1978 to 1983. To divide sentences into lines (units that cut against the natural syntax of sentences) is to control the pacing and intonation of words in a way that grammatical procedures alone cannot. That to withdraw therefrom for other prospect 129da li occhi miei alquanto circunspetta. Is gathered all in this, and out of it This voume contains the English translation only. 115, the flame of that candleDionysus the Areopagite, a judge who, in Acts (12:34), was converted to Christianity by the Apostle Paul. to penetrate the ray of Light more deeply Paradiso Paperback - September 9, 2008 by Dante (Author), Robert Hollander (Translator), Jean Hollander (Translator) 162 ratings See all formats and editions Kindle $11.99 Read with Our Free App Paperback $19.95 38 Used from $5.81 22 New from $14.12 1 Collectible from $44.59 The 15 translations are those of Ciaran Carson, John Ciardi, Anthony Esolen, Robert and Jean Hollander, Robin Kirkpatrick, Stanley Lombardo, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Allen Mandelbaum, Mark Musa, J. G. Nicholls, Robert Pinsky, Tom Simone, John D. Sinclair, Charles Singleton, and C. H. Sisson. While she and Dante both seem to have been orthodox (small O!) Of what thou didst appear relend a little. The poem is considered one of the greatest works of world literature[2] and helped establish Dante's Tuscan dialect as the standard form of the Italian language. Thus, Bernard signals to the pilgrim to look up, but I, already was doing what he wanted me to do: ma io era / gi per me stesso tal qual ei volea (50-51). This accords, by the way, with my reading of Longfellow: every time Ive checked his translation against the original, Ive found it rigorously faithful. What choice will Dante make to complete this extraordinary analogy? 11di caritate, e giuso, intra mortali, The Divine Comedy, finished by Dante Alighieri in 1320, is one of the most famous literary works of all time, and its author is considered the father of the Italian language. that Light, what there is perfect is defective. La Commedia Colorata. Paradiso is the last installment of his Divine Comedy, Dante's geography of the afterlife, the first major masterpiece of world literature in a vernacular European tongue, and literature's first "trilogy" as well. Thus the Sibyls oracles, on weightless leaves, lifted by the wind, were swept away. This, too, O Queen, who can do what you would, I read the Sayers translations of Inferno and Purgatorio when I was fifteen. 33.91]). you are the noonday torch of charity, Anthony Esolen is a professor of English at Providence College. Ye were made This is a great post!! may leave to people of the future one Humble and high beyond all other creature, Within the deep and luminous subsistence 35ci che tu vuoli, che conservi sani, 4 ckerr4truth Feb 4, 2009, 4:48 pm 109Non perch pi chun semplice sembiante While W. S. Merwin has not translated the entire Paradiso, he happens to have translated its final canto. Highly praised upon publication, Never placed on sale; the author sent copies directly to libraries and friends, Bibliographer Gilbert F. Cunningham inferred that "Macmillan [& Co.] arranged for the production of the book, but decided not to publish it", Edited by Herman Oelsner for Temple Classics, First translation by an Australian author, Republished by Oxford University Press in 1948, Contains work from twelve translators who presented their translations on the BBC Third Programme, Literal prose translation. Enjoyed them but didnt really get it, wording strained to match the meter. This was a fantastic job. Impressive, Mr. Harris! O brothers who have reached the west, I cried, Belonging in the immortal company of the great works of literature, Dante Alighieri's poetic masterpiece, The Divine Comedy, is a moving human drama, an unforgettable visionary journey through the infinite torment of Hell, up the arduous slopes of Purgatory, and on to the glorious realm . In its profundity I sawingathered Merwin's Purgatorio, and Anthony Esolen's Paradiso. 89quasi conflati insieme, per tal modo 97Cos la mente mia, tutta sospesa, I loved the literal nature of the translation and Sinclairs notes. In you compassion is, in you is pity, This declaration of arrival is situated in a passage whose rhyme words offer a veritable archeology of the Commedias thematics. the experience of the unpeopled earth By any creature bent an eye so clear. Which I endured would have bewildered me, Published as six volumes, with one volume of translation facing Italian text and one volume of commentary for each, Mandelbaum was awarded a Gold Medal of Honor from the city of, Hungary (published and written in the United States), Advertised as a "retelling" rather than direct translation, Contains a total of thirty-three cantos selected from different, Contains only twelve cantos; Schwerner died before he could finish the translation. His aspirations without wings would fly. 87ci che per luniverso si squaderna: 88sustanze e accidenti e lor costume Within the luminous substance there appeared three circles of three colors and one dimension, two reflecting each other like rainbows and the third mediating equally in between: But the effort to sustain the narrative line is too great, and the poet breaks in, first to exclaim again about the shortness of his speech (121-23) and then to address the eternal light that alone knows itself, is known by itself, and, knowing, loves itself (124-26). They all prove the literalness and accuracy of Longfellow's translation. Not because more than one unmingled semblance Described by The Cambridge Companion to Dante as the first "powerful, accurate, and poetically moving" translation. I will be looking at the same passage as before, but Ive broken it into 10 sections, each of which will be graded based on its fidelity to the original Italian. The Divine Comedy is much more than just an interesting medieval text about Christianity.It's really, really well-written. While some luxuriate in this kind of hyper-participation on the part of the poet, others like artist and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who translated the Vita Nuova in the 19th century, hated having the love poetry ruined by Dante's didactic analysis. Thanks. Sinclair: "And with that let our sight be satisfied." 54de lalta luce che da s vera. Italian and English. Sanders transforms Dante's dense Italian into poignant, contemporary poetry rife with slang and modern turns of phrase. By James Torrens, s.j. The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri is an epic poem in Italian written between 1308 and 1321 that describes its author's journey through the Christian afterlife. 90che ci chi dico un semplice lume. 7Nel ventre tuo si raccese lamore, 38vedi Beatrice con quanti beati Here vigour failed the lofty fantasy: Robert Pinsky seems to get the strongest rcommendations so far as I can tell. On which it is not credible could be Robert and Jean Hollander's verse translation with facing-page Italian offers the dual virtues of maximum fidelity to Dante's text with the feeling necessary to give the English reader a sense of the work's poetic greatness in Italian. Anthony Esolen is a literature professor and Dante scholar who released an acclaimed translation of Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise. That I should upward look; but I already 21quantunque in creatura di bontate. 69ripresta un poco di quel che parevi. from Paradiso: Canto 33 (lines 46-48, 52-66) By Dante Alighieri Translated by Robert Pinsky As I drew nearer to the end of all desire, I brought my longing's ardor to a final height, Just as I ought. If but mine eyes had been averted from it; And I remember that I was more bold from this point on, in words more weak than those A flash of lightning, wherein came its wish. Huses translation wonder why he isnt in the list. I picked up the Ciardi from a library, didnt like it, and was very glad I had not wasted any money on it. Im ready to jump in, as it were. Because my sight, becoming purified, Here is an outline that parses Paradiso 33 as four narrative blocks: the prayer to the Virgin, followed by the three circular movements three circulate melodie in which Dante tells the story of the pilgrims final vision and incorporation into the divine. 142A lalta fantasia qui manc possa; As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. 24le vite spiritali ad una ad una. To me was ever changing as I changed. 83ficcar lo viso per la luce etterna, seemed to be changing. Are you planning to do the entire Comedy, or only the Inferno? 8per lo cui caldo ne letterna pace 63nel core il dolce che nacque da essa. Robert Hollander is a Dante scholar of unmatched reputation and his wife, Jean, is an accomplished . 125sola tintendi, e da te intelletta Proffer to thee, and pray they come not short. The effect of gazing on that light is to make impossible any dis-conversion, any consenting to turn from it toward another sight: che volgersi da lei per altro aspetto / impossibil che mai si consenta (it would be impossible for him to set that Light aside for other sight [101-02]). 86legato con amore in un volume, Dante is satisfied with Beatrice 's explanations and voices his gratitude. [7] This was over 300 years after the first Latin (1416),[8] Spanish (1515),[4] and French (1500s)[9] translations had been written. THOU Virgin Mother, daughter of thy Son In thee magnificence, in thee unites So that the seeing I consumed therein! Paradiso X, 52-60. Virgin mother, daughter of your Son, Then I took his full-term course on the entire Commedia, again with Sinclair. Here is the Binyon version: Brothers, I said, who manfully, despite And make my tongue of so great puissance, Award-winning poet Mary Jo Bang's new translation of Purgatorio is the extraordinary continuation of her journey with Dante, which began with her transformative version of Inferno. Back in the 1980s Hugh Kenner wrote a review that compared Musa, singleton, sisson and Mandelbaum. the minds of mortals, to my memory Not bad but not great. you were not made to live your lives as brutes, And knowing, lovest and smilest on thyself! Through hundred thousand jeopardies undergone Unlike Dantes, the lines arent in any way troubling the syntax, luring us forward by holding us back. the way in which our human effigy The Sphere of Fire. The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri is an epic poem in Italian written between 1308 and 1321 that describes its author's journey through the Christian afterlife. Dante believes in a transcendent One, but his One is indelibly characterized by the multiplicity, difference, and sheer otherness embodied in the altre stelle an otherness by which he is still unrepentantly captivated in his poems last breath. Even in this relatively straightforward and linear recounting, we note the slippage that is typical of this canto, as Dante inaugurates the technique of coupling the adversative ma (but) with the time-blurring adverb gi (already) that will be reprised to such effect in the poems conclusion. 13Donna, se tanto grande e tanto vali, the oracles the Sibyl wrote were lost. [1] Below is a chart of the narrative structure of Paradiso 33 made as a class hand-out. I read a recommended reading list prepared by a college professor where he specifically steered a person to read Dantes Divine Comedy translated by either John D. Sinclair or Dorothy L. Sayers. That circlewhich, begotten so, appeared Change). Dante Alighieri was born in 1265. 19In te misericordia, in te pietate, But it does not rhyme. This translation preserves the body and intent of Dante's original poem while accessibly and skillfully presenting his work to a modern audience. beyond the sun, behind where the sun sets? Not to live life of brute beasts of the field Methinks I saw, since more abundantly 96che f Nettuno ammirar lombra dArgo. 33.86). Its a good story. . November 26, 2018 Sarah Axelrod. It is impossible he eer consent; Because the good, which object is of will, But if the Paradiso is low on human interest (its inhabitants neither want nor regret anything), it contains some of the most exhilarating poetry even written. . 49Bernardo maccennava, e sorridea, Prose translations are great for communicating the story and it's nuances, however any poetical structure is lost. Dante Summary Part 3: Paradiso. Did not disdain to make himself its creature. Barolini, Teodolinda. I'll look out for the Ciardi translation; it sounds great. The Inferno of Dante Alighieri, translated by Ciaran Carson (Granta, 7.99). What do you mean, though, by reading Dante without knowing it? was doing what he wanted me to do. 111che tal sempre qual sera davante; 112ma per la vista che savvalorava 27pi alto verso lultima salute. The Hollanders translation of this passage is attentive not only to Dantes meaning but to his syntax: their English sentences generally begin, turn and end where they do in Dantes original tercets. 62mia visone, e ancor mi distilla Thank you very much for this most informative post. The translators scored as follows: a questa tanto picciola vigiliadi nostri sensi ch del rimanente. 141da un fulgore in che sua voglia venne. there, do not think that any creatures eye Were the soothsayings of the Sibyl lost. Princeton Dante Project (2.0) Cantica: Canto Start at Line Number of lines: Language: Italian English Both. Dennis McCarthy, July 1997 imprimatur@juno.com CONTENTS Paradiso I. Prose is cheating; if you cant produce an accurate prose translation, youre in the wrong business. For it is always what it was before; But through the sight, that fortified itself Even such am I, for almost utterly The course is an introduction to Dante and his cultural milieu through a critical reading of the Divine Comedy and selected minor works (Vita nuova, Convivio, De vulgari eloquentia, Epistle to Cangrande).An analysis of Dante's autobiography, the Vita nuova, establishes the poetic and political circumstances of the Comedy's composition.Readings of Inferno, Purgatory and Paradise seek to . Think on the seed ye spring from! No one said the journey was going to be easy. more than I burn for his, do offer you 10Qui se a noi meridana face Infinitely fascinating, infinitely impenetrable and dense, the Neptune analogy is a fitting emblem for the poetics of Paradiso 33, and indeed for Paradiso as a whole. As Iris is by Iris, and the third Im glad you prefer mine to Ciardis (his version is fairly popular). 84tanto che la veduta vi consunsi! And since Robert Hollander's achievements as a Dante scholar are unsurpassed in the English-speaking . . essence of that exalted Light, three circles With a hundred thousand dangers overcome, had watched it with attention for some time. 93dicendo questo, mi sento chi godo. such am I, for my vision almost fades That with his eyes he may uplift himself Making the terzina even more impossible to hold onto is the fact that its main action is forgetting: active, continual, endlessly accreted forgetting. acute that I believe I should have gone 117di tre colori e duna contenenza; 118e lun da laltro come iri da iri I think the literal translation permits the power and pain and anguish and ambivalence, and later joy of Dantes feelings to come through to the reader more than a poetic twisting of the wording can. Even such was I at that new apparition; 120che quinci e quindi igualmente si spiri. how welcome such devotions are to her; then her eyes turned to the Eternal Light That startled Neptune with the shade of Argo! But now was turning my desire and will, 82Oh abbondante grazia ond io presunsi Prof. Hollander referred many times to Singletons notes and scholarship, so when Singletons translation was published, I got that and read it, too. Now Carson: "And now, I think we've seen enough of this." A Historical Survey of Dante Studies in the United States, 1880-1944, New Haven, Yale University Press, 1948. The Ascent to the First Heaven. The last verb that touches on plot is in the imperfect tense (volgeva), as it has to be, since the voyage occurred in the past, but Dante reverses the order of the syntax, putting the grammatical subject of the sentence last. The result is awkward at best. within itself and colored like itself, did not disdain His being made its creature. The poem cannot continue much longer, because the poets speech is becoming ever more insufficient, as short with relation to his task as that of a suckling infant: With these verses Dante recalls the previous two canti of anti-narrative infantile speechlessness, Paradiso 23 and 30. Alternatively, you could importune Messrs. Pinsky and Merwin, two of the pre-eminent poets of our time, to finish what they started. On this account to bear, so that I joined For my reading journal this time around, I'm planning to use Robert Pinsky's translation of Inferno, W.S. believers, they both have a sort of imaginative humanity that makes them very relatable despite how alien the medieval worldview can be. The moment when the god of the sea saw for the first time the invention and creativity of men, who had learned to sail the seas. Not only thy benignity gives succour Yourself, and only You know You; Self-knowing, are unsurpassed. The subject of the sentence is God, referenced not in a single word but in the famous periphrasis for God that ends the Commedia: lamor che move il sole e laltre stelle (the Love that moves the sun and the other stars [145]). [14] Many more translations of individual lines or cantos[ii] exist,[15] but these are too numerous for the scope of this list. Its fun to see how my translation ranks in your scoring system; thanks for adding it in. The verse that contains it is the tenth from the end, a fact that is likely not coincidental, as it is not coincidental that, upon removing Paradiso 33s prelude of 45 verses, there remain precisely one hundred lines of text. 22Or questi, che da linfima lacuna Like a geometer who concentrates all his energies on squaring the circle but cannot find the principle he needs (an intellective rather than affective simile, but devoted to the intellects failure), such is the pilgrim before that final paradox, that new vision: quella vista nova (136). 59che dopo l sogno la passione impressa Experience at first hand of the unpeopled 37Vinca tua guardia i movimenti umani: Remains, and to his mind the rest returns not. 100A quella luce cotal si diventa, 76Io credo, per lacume chio soffersi I've been wrestling with Dante for more than 20 years and haven't read so much at one sitting as I have here. The translation is quite fluent and the notes (a necessity in reading Dante the first time. 30ti porgo, e priego che non sieno scarsi. Dante's Paradise other editions or translations of 'The Divine Comedy.' Please refer to the end of this file for supplemental materials. was in the Living Light at which I gazed See my expanded version of this post here: Partly for his translation of the description of Minos as the connoisseur of sin. Thanks! Paradiso Canto IV:1-63 Dante's doubts: The Spirits: Plato's Error; Paradiso Canto IV:64-114 Response to Violence: The Dual Will; Paradiso Canto IV:115-142 Dante's desire for Truth; Paradiso Canto V:1-84 Free Will: Vows: Dispensations; Paradiso Canto V:85-139 The Second Sphere: Mercury: Ambition; Paradiso Canto VI:1-111 Justinian: The Empire is fully gathered in that Light; outside 1.113]). "), clich ("once in a blue moon") or bizarre turns of phrase ("scarlet woman"). 48lardor del desiderio in me finii. Nevertheless, her translation is a poem, and it sounds like one. 3250. completely, yet it still distills within 51gi per me stesso tal qual ei volea: 52ch la mia vista, venendo sincera, Are you familiar with the Binyons translation? Steadfast, immovable, attentive gazed, Afraid to look away lest he be lost smarrito (77) , the pilgrim is daring ardito (79) enough to sustain the light, and so he reaches his journeys end: i giunsi / laspetto mio col valore infinito (my vision reached the Infinite Goodness [80-81]). and my own wings were far too weak for that. But to pursue and gain wisdom and worth.. To human nature gave, that its Creator I suggest we give due weight as well to the adjective that modifies those stars, the poems penultimate word, altre. Too over-dramatic, overdone, sort of like a modern adventure movie. Dante, Virgil, sinners and demons alike sound alive. People seem to disagree on whether either preserved the terza rima, with more consensus that Sayers did, but her And yields the memory unto such excess. Now I come to the invisible ink of Paradiso 33. 122al mio concetto! I was unfamiliar with the newer translations. That he who wishes grace, nor runs to thee But I dont want to stay away from Dante for too long; Ill probably come around to Purgatory before finishing the Iliad (which of course is monumental). 8.99. Forerunneth of its own accord the asking. By taking thought, the principle he wants. 33: 57e cede la memoria a tanto oltraggio. And I, who never burned for my own vision 11/26 Daily What: Which Dante translation is the best one? What I read whetted my appetite for more, but Sayers' translation is archaising and difficult. And while Merwin does not rhyme his translation, he takes strategic liberties with the syntax: As one who sees when he is dreaming, and / after the dream the imprint of the passion / stays. Dantes lines dont generally interrupt his sentences so abruptly (passion / stays): his rhymes provide the tension instead. [3] It has been translated over 400 times into at least 52 different languages. the one who asks, but it is often ready Gutenberg also has the Cary translation, which is more a flight of fancy than a translation. 17a chi domanda, ma molte fate It may not be perfect - but it works damnably well. And I, who never hurned for my own seeing These translations, while worthy in many respects, and especially in Kirkpatrick's case accompanied by excellent commentary and notes, are rather heavy-handedly set to meter and therefore often feel stiff or stilted. Within itself, of its own very colour Nineteen translations of Dante ranked by fidelity, Three versions of a choral lyric by Euripides Bugs to fearen babes withall, 3 Resources to understand The Inferno by Dante Easy read blog, https://narrowdesert.blogspot.com/p/nineteen-translations-of-dante-ranked.html, Saint-Sernin Basilica, the Tarot of Marseilles, and WhitleyStrieber, Dunnes experiments in wakingprecognition, How to use thee, thou, and other King James pronouns, O brothers, I said (Hollander, Simone, Sinclair, Singleton) 3, Brothers, I said (Kirkpatrick, Lombardo, Musa, Sisson) 3, who . through thought on thought, the principle he needs, so I searched that strange sight: I wished to see 741 (World's Classics). That but a single sparkle of thy glory Durling's translation will be compared to John Ciardi's 1970 translation, Dorothy Sayers' 1962 translation, and Clive James' 2013 translation. My mind in this wise wholly in suspense, T. S. Eliot said that poetry is a form of punctuation. Beatrice turns and exhorts the pilgrim to give thanks to Jesus, the "Sun of angels" by whose grace Dante has been raised so high. O Light Supreme, that dost so far uplift thee 134per misurar lo cerchio, e non ritrova, dante professor singleton s prose translation facing the italian in a Paradiso is the third and final part of the divine edy dante s To follow after knowledge and excellence., Compared to some of the others, it isnt terribly faithful. That one moment. Replicating terza rima in English poses special challenges, for while English has a much larger vocabulary than Italian, it possesses many fewer rhymes. As one who sees within a dream, and, later, Dante himself only referred to it as a Comedy; the "Divine" characterisation was added later. as rainbow is by rainbow, and the third 26tanto, che possa con li occhi levarsi
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