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The Divine Comedy

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Those of us not fortunate enough to be able to read Italian and thus savor Dante's masterpiece in its original language have the next best thing--the comprehensively noted translation by another great poet, the late John Ciardi. This superb and handsome hardbound edition of Ciardi's translation of Dante's Divine Comedy is not simply the collected, earlier translations of The Inferno, The Purgatorio, and The Paradiso, which in past years appeared in separate paperback editions: This edition is the final Ciardi translation from earlier forms which were "a work in progress." In this magnificent final translation, the non-Italian-speaking reader can savor Dante's extrodinary fusion of morality with the metaphorical architecture of Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, explored with pathos and sympathy for the human condition which, in the mind of Dante, constantly yearns for The All in All. A volume that should be required reading for anyone who aspires to understand man's place in the universe.

Well of course the work is incredible... it is one of the top works of epic poetry ever, with vivid imagery, deft technique, deep symbolism, and some scenes both harrowing and uplifting. In addition, it is one of the absolutely crucial works in the historical development of serious writing in colloquial language (italian in this case of course), the important mixing of pagan and Christian doctrines, and just plain fun to read. However, the point here is also to judge the translation. In short, there is none better than John Ciardi's! Ciardi manages to keep the terza rima, the meter, and best yet.. the actual power of the words in his brilliant translation. There are other good ones, like the old Carlyle-Okey-Wicksteed translation, but with "thees" and "thous" everywhere, it doesn't quite capture the feel of modern day colloquial rendering, one of the points of the work, but worth checking out nevertheless. Want to compare, just read the first page of several translations and you will see how great Ciardi's is!

This review is of the John Ciardi translation - apparently Amazon links it in to all versions? Different translations will suit different tastes.

This classic translation of Dante's trilogy remains one of the best. It nicely preserves the musicality of the original by retaining the "terza rima" rhyme scheme throughout. This may seem like a narrow point but it makes this a satisfying read for one who enjoys rhyme. Terza rima is an ABA, BCB, CDC... arrangement of triplets where the first and third lines rhyme and the middle line's rhyme becomes the first of the next triplet - simple but not sing-song. Over a poem of this length it helps to weave an amazing fabric of rhyme and story.

In the original Italian, a language with only a handful of primary word endings, such an approach was not the central challenge of a poetic work - Dante gets credit for the vision and scope. The challenge for translators is whether to preserve the content or the rhyme more closely; the English language is not comfortably suited for such relentless rhyming. Ciardi has, nevertheless, done a wonderful job of this. As to the other element, I've been told that the "story" is a tad "creative" at times. Perhaps Dante would object a few times if he reread this translation, but I found Ciardi's telling well crafted.

This edition combines all three parts of the "Comedy" in a nice, clothbound package. You might end up owning other translations of Dante (I have three), but you should certainly own this one.

I was introduced to Ciardi's translation of "The Divine Comedy" in an anthology of continental literature I read in college. At that time, after experiencing fragments of Fagles' horrible "verse" translation of Homer's works, I had low expectations for the translations in that anthology.

However, the instant I started reading John Ciardi's verse translation of "The Inferno", my hardened heart once again began to beat with the vibrancy it had when I read poems of Wordsworth or Browning.

John Ciardi, with a poetic talent that seems to be unmatched -- except for what I've read of W.S. Merwin's "Paradiso XXXIII," -- creates a poetic flow that feels, tastes, and even smells Italian. A poetic flow that delightfully contrasts Fagles', whose poetic flow is limited by popular styles and even phrases of the 20th century.

Instead of trying to lift Dante to the 20th century, Ciardi gracefully carries us to the early 14th century.

Instead of assuming that Dante is arcane, old fashioned, and in need of John's own poetic help, he believes that the original Italian is fresh, exciting, and poetically graceful.

The translation of Dante would have been diluted if Ciardi were to try and bring the 14th century to us through the modernization of the language, symbolism, and even the geography of Dante's world. (Fagles even geographically modified his "Odyssey" at one point to rename a Greek river the Nile because readers may get `confused'.)

I'm glad that Ciardi tries to bring us back in time when the universe was cosmically full of life, where even the stars were more than the mere byproducts of abstract forces, chance, that can only be systematically analyzed and dissected.

The medieval worldview is far richer than the purely logical and scientific mindset that's now common. By bringing Dante to us unfiltered by that mindset, Ciardi helps move us towards the bright and vibrant medieval world.

I strongly recommend John Ciardi's poetic translation of "The Divine Comedy."

Of course this is a highly subjective opinion. But the Comedy has everything--humor, tragedy, comedy, piety, irreverence, knotty philosphical problems, unparalleled flights of lyricism--no other poem I know approaches its range and depth. Especially if you are a Christian (or if you want to understand Christianity--its dark side as well as its truth and beauty, since there is hatred and self-righteousness here as well), this is the one long poem you should read even if you never read another one. I think the Comedy is best read as an allegory--on the literal level it describes hell, purgatory, and heaven, but on the symbolic level it is about a journey inside oneself. Dante begins in the wood of error, lost in his own sinfulness and confusion. But God's grace (mediated by the dead woman Beatrice, whom he had loved from afar) reaches him in the somewhat attenuated form of the ancient poet Virgil, who represents everything that's good and noble in "natural," pagan humanity. Under Virgil's guidance, Dante has to undergo a horrific journey, plumbing the depths of his own capacity for evil, until, in the icy depths of hell, he discovers Lucifer--the ultimate rejection of grace--burrowed through the earth (and through Dante's soul) like a worm at an apple's core. But the Inferno is not the end, though many people stop there (both in reading Dante and in their own lives). Next Dante, still guided by Virgil, has to climb the mountain of Purgatory, stripping away by prayer and self-examination the evil that he has discovered in himself. Only there is he ready to meet Beatrice and fly up with her (in the most ambitious attempt to describe ultimate happiness ever made) to Paradise and the ultimate encounter with God. Ciardi's translation perhaps errs on the side of being too crude and colloquial, but this makes it accessible for modern readers. I also highly recommend Dorothy Sayers's translation, and her essays about Dante.

Dante's "The Divine Comedy" is an allegory of the range of human potential from the depths of sin to the heights of grace, and the journey a man must take -- that is, the way he should live his life -- to make himself worthy of the ultimate rewards of Heaven. In a way, it contains the prototypical visions of the afterlife, images of heavenly and hellish realms that would remain definitive and powerful to centuries of readers. Structurally, it is a poem divided into three parts: Inferno (Hell), Purgatorio (Purgatory), and Paradiso (Heaven). The protagonist, Dante himself, must travel through these three realms in order to reach God, the ultimate beatitude.

The poem begins with Dante lost in the woods, like a man who lacks spiritual guidance or is uncertain how to live his life. He is approached by the Roman poet Virgil, who offers to lead him out of the wilderness. They have to travel down through the depths of Hell and face Satan himself (Inferno) before they can escape to the outside world and scale the mountain of Purgatory (Purgatorio), at the top of which is situated the Garden of Eden, where Beatrice, Dante's earthly love, will guide him up through the celestial spheres towards Heaven (Paradiso).

Dante's great inspiration is his concept of the physical and spiritual aspects of these realms. Hell is composed of nine circles arranged in an inverted cone, each circle representing a mortal sin such as violence, theft, treason, witchcraft, blasphemy, suicide, heresy, etc., in which souls who committed these sins in their lifetimes are punished. Even the topmost circle is a sort of Limbo reserved for pre-Christians like Virgil himself, pagans and the unbaptized. Having envisioned this infernal masterpiece, Dante could be considered Hell's greatest architect.

The mountain of Purgatory consists of seven terraces, each representing some corrigible sin like envy, pride, anger, etc., on which souls who committed these sins in their lifetimes do penance. The Garden of Eden represents living man's ideal state of existence, that of perfect wisdom and nearness to God. Admission to the Garden of Eden must be earned by doing penance for earthly sins, hence Purgatory. In the Paradiso, the celestial spheres, each representing a virtue (ambition, love, prudence, fortitude, etc.), consist of the moon, the inner and outer planets, the sun (based on the Ptolemaic model of the solar system), and finally Heaven, wherein dwell God and all angels.

The poem could be considered a morality tale or a series of object lessons, but it's a little more purely narrative than that, given its creative illustration of the hierarchy of souls and its effortless synergy of classical Greco-Roman mythology and Christian theology. It is an essential Medieval literary landmark, and it is difficult to imagine how European literature would have evolved without it.

Whether you care to join the scholarly debate over whether Dante's soaring masterpiece is medieval or renaissance literature, this trilogy is well worth the time and effort anyone cares to invest. Make no mistake - this account of the journey of a soul through Hell, Purgatory and Heaven is very demanding reading, no matter how well translated and how many helpful notes are provided (I first "discovered" Dante in high school and remain faithful to the Ciardi translation). Dante can be read on so many levels that it constantly challenges the reader, yet the rewards are great. Dante the poet and the protagonist is a medieval Christian who is also embracing the masters of classical antiquity, such as his first guide, Virgil. He is a Florentine who bitterly resents the people who contributed to his exile from his beloved city-state. He is a political theorist who embraces a sort of world order far beyond the nations and petty principalities of his day. He is a devout believer who abhors the corruption of the late medieval Church. He is a writer who constructs a masterpeice of structure. He is a romantic who pines for his ultimate guide Beatrice. But ultimately, Dante is a passionate believer who chronicles the allegory of his soul's journey from sin (The Inferno) to repentance (Purgatory) to salvation (Paradise). Don't make the all-too-frequent mistake of reading only the most entertaining Inferno. A third of Dante is fascinating but the entire Divine Comedy is an inspiration.

When I took World Literature in college way back when We had to read Dante's Divine Comedy. The teacher used this translation. I was so impressed I bought the book myself. Ciardi has made this text accessible to everyone, with plenty of notes and diagrams to keep you from getting lost as you journey with Dante to Hell, Purgatory and Heaven. I have recommended this to friends and they have all thanked me for showing them the way.

I am not a literary expert, nor am I well read in all of the great literature of the past, but I have read enough to say this is the best piece of literature I've read.

First, the Divine Comedy Itself. I first read the Inferno as an Undergrad in general ed. I just loved this story as challenging as it was to read. Curiosity got to me, and I bought this edition (the same as I had read for the Inferno). The book got much more challenging to read as it progresses, perhaps because the imagery is much more abstract, but it also gets more fantastic all the way through. The Paradiso definitely fits its purpose as a climax. The whole of The Divine Comedy is a good story of the spiritual journey of one man through "the afterlife" so to speak. I love the interaction the book takes of Dante's interaction with history and religion, biblical and mythical. It is an interesting perspective that shows the genious of Dante the author.

As for this particular edition. I could not tell you it is the best as I have never read others. I've heard this is one of the few that has tried to make the translation stay true to the original Latin poetic form Dante used. I also think it is wonderful, and from my point essential, that this edition comes with extensive notes that help explain in layman's terms what is going on in the story Canto by Canto as well as line by line explanations of the different references made to historical people, places, and events as well as literary references.

In sum, all I can say is that "The Divine Comedy" is worth a read especially if you are up to the challenge. I am not a literary expert; I work in engineering, but I find this the most fascinating literature I've ever read. Most of all, it is inpirational, the quest of one man to find his true love, facing Hell and more...

This is, by far, the best work of literature that I have ever read. Dante offers a superb view of what lies beyond death. It is simply wonderful.