Each book contained more than 60 original lithographs and was published . The eyes beloved and revered of God, And make my tongue of so great puissance, Dante is full of cruces and conundrums for translators, and he's going to dodge the problem of how to translate the neologism "trasumanar" in canto 1 of Paradiso (to go beyond the human, roughly . 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. 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. 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. 48lardor del desiderio in me finii. Whoever sees that Light is soon made such Good enough, but ho hum. Let me interject that the reference to Gerard Manley Hopkins sprung rhythm in the previous sentence is deliberate: not in order to suggest that Hopkins rhetorical techniques were akin to Dantes, but as a nod to the shared recognition that a poet must look for technical aids to achieve the unachievable in language. The advantage of the Hollander translation is that its extensive notes, linked to its workaday lines, clarify the sometimes daunting philosophical exposition that dominates so much of the Paradiso. At the same time, the absence of an English equivalent for the movement of Dantes verse threatens to flatten the Paradiso precisely because this part of the Commedia is dominated by ideas rather than characters who might help to move the verse along. Sinclair: "And with that let our sight be satisfied." 136tal era io a quella vista nova: 33.91]). 138limago al cerchio e come vi sindova; 139ma non eran da ci le proprie penne: 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. Dante, Virgil, sinners and demons alike sound alive. 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]). So when the time came to acquire the entire work, I turned to the American poet John Ciardi's translation, still widely regarded as the best. Its a good story. In lieu of rhyme, Merwin employs line endings to restrain the syntax, giving the sentences a more vigorous rhythmic contour a sonic equivalent for the torqued movement of Dantes verse. beyond the sun, behind where the sun sets? And I, who now was nearing Him who is This was a fantastic job. The instructor and several people in the class spoke Italian fluently and pointed out many rough spots in the translation. 29pi chi fo per lo suo, tutti miei prieghi Doubts surface which drive the intellect in its pursuit of truth until it reaches God. The transitional adverb Omai (from now on) starts off the final movement by telling us that we are reaching finality. fall shortthat, with your prayers, you may disperse 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. Here, remarkably, Dante offers three similes in a row: he can express the inexpressible only by descending repeatedly into the physical world the world where dreamers awaken, where snow melts in sunlight, where the Sibyls prophecies are scattered by wind. your aid, may long to fly but has no wings. The terse contemporary feel of the line, unhampered by translator's awe, captures Virgil's character, his no-nonsense, patrician contempt, perfectly. 119parea reflesso, e l terzo parea foco 108che bagni ancor la lingua a la mammella. had watched it with attention for some time. The disjunctive syntax manages both to communicate an event and to conflate all narrativity into a textual approximation of the igualmente the equality, the homology, the silence to which we hasten: Another jump occurs as the poet speaks of his poetic failure one last time A lalta fantasia qui manc possa (Here force failed my high fantasy [142]) and still another as he records a final event with a final time-defying adversative. The Translation Using the John D. Sinclair translation, first published in 1939, I just completed my 25th semester of teaching Dante's Paradiso.. Having made thorough use of this bilingual version for decades, I am intimately familiar with its English prose, the opening tercet of which reads thus: "The glory of Him who moves all things penetrates the universe and shines in one part more . Partly for his translation of the description of Minos as the connoisseur of sin. Its fun to see how my translation ranks in your scoring system; thanks for adding it in. Consider the Hollanders free verse rendering of a thrilling, poignant moment in the final canto of the Paradiso the moment when Dante, having risen through the nine spheres of heaven to the empyrean, turns to face God. Anyone can read what you share. 53e pi e pi intrava per lo raggio But the Commedia is above all else a poem, and the Hollander translation obscures this fact not because its scholarly apparatus is vast, but because the translation only fitfully succeeds as English poetry. From the conceits of mortals, to my mimd I didnt see Ms. Sayers among your 15 translators. I'll look out for the Ciardi translation; it sounds great. Fastened upon the speaker, showed to us To him who asketh it, but oftentimes The phrase the shadow of the Argo lombra dArgo at the end of this terzina manifests Dantes antiquarian precision and his desire to make the pagan world manifest, even in this highest reach of the Christian universe: What, in synthesis, does this extraordinary passage tell us with respect to the pilgrim? More figures from deepest antiquity thus crowd the scene in this canto of the Empyrean. By almost any standard, Bang's translation is the most liberal interpretation of Dante available in English. Dante's "Divine Comedy". Described by The Cambridge Companion to Dante as the first "powerful, accurate, and poetically moving" translation. November 26, 2018 Sarah Axelrod. The limit fixed of the eternal counsel. Robert and Jean Hollander have made the whole journey: their "Paradiso" completes their verse translation of the entire "Commedia." Robert Hollander is one of the pre-eminent Dante scholars. Not bad but not great. 116de lalto lume parvermi tre giri a joy that is more ample. Shorter henceforward will my language fall I can recall that I, because of this, Humble and high beyond all other creature, The authoritative translations of The Inferno, The Purgatorio, and The Paradiso together in one volume. Paradiso ( Italian: [paradizo]; Italian for "Paradise" or "Heaven") is the third and final part of Dante 's Divine Comedy, following the Inferno and the Purgatorio. The three circular movements were almost right. For my reading journal this time around, I'm planning to use Robert Pinsky's translation of Inferno, W.S. For this translation rollicks along so fluidly that you will actually be able not only to read the poem but enjoy it. Now your brief lives have little time to run was bolder in sustaining it until The absence of rhyme is not necessarily the problem. As you point out, any attempt at terza rima in English is doomed by lack of rhymes. The line that finally convinced me how well Carson has done his job is a very minor one: it's at the end of Canto XVIII, after a particularly sordid encounter with the harlot Thas. . 23de luniverso infin qui ha vedute Compare his rendering of the triple simile to the Hollanders: Inside my heart, although my vision is almost Entirely faded, droplets of its sweetness come The way the sun dissolves the snows crust The way, in the wind that stirred the light leaves, The oracle that the Sibyl wrote was lost. See Beatrice and all the blessed ones Of threefold colour and of one dimension. fixed goal decreed from all eternity. O brothers who have reached the west, I cried, Robin Kirkpatrick's masterful verse translation of The Divine Comedy, published in a single volume, is the ideal edition for students as well as the general reader coming to this great masterpiece of Italian literature for the first time The Divine Comedy describes Dante's descent into Hell with Virgil as a guide; his ascent of Mount Purgatory and encounter with his dead love, Beatrice; and . all of my prayersand pray that they may not. 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. If the original author of this post happens to read this, thank you! 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). Pp. Im confused by this comment: the three prose translations score highest in terms of fidelity, with Allen Mandelbaum close on their heels as the most accurate of the 12 verse translations. In your evaluation, Longfellows blank verse ranks with Singletons prose as the most accurate. The Passionate Intellect, Dorothy L. Sayers's Encounter with Dante. In you compassion is, in you is pity, Of what I yet remember, than an infants La Commedia Colorata. 129da li occhi miei alquanto circunspetta. Dante died in Ravenna not long after finishing Paradiso, the last volume of The Divine Comedy. It is entirely by His grace the pilgrim will continue on, finally to stand before the Triune majesty. is every goodness found in any creature. Your mettle was not made; you were made men, 123 tanto, che non basta a dicer poco. Considered Italy's greatest poet, this scion of a Florentine family mastered the art of lyric poetry at an early age. 126e intendente te ami e arridi! And by a little sounding in these verses, . 92credo chi vidi, perch pi di largo, With his journeys through Hell and Purgatory complete, Dante is at last led by his beloved Beatrice to Paradise. Hb. five centuries have brought to the endeavor As Iris is by Iris, and the third Dante's Hell. 46E io chal fine di tutt i disii While she and Dante both seem to have been orthodox (small O!) Thanks for this post I am organising a reading and am looking for a good translation. The Dante industry is unstoppable, and people can't get enough of Hell. Thou hast thy feet upon the little sphere. Ciardi unsurprisingly ranks rather low. The first movement circles paradigmatically through the three rhetorical building blocks outlined above: it moves from plot/event to the poets inability to recount that event, to his appeal for help in verbalizing what he has thus far not proved able to express. and so, on the light leaves, beneath the wind, The prayer ends in verse 39 and then there are two terzine that transition from the prayer to the plot, which resumes in verse 46, with the statement that Dante is nearing the end of all desires: What follows is the story of the pilgrims gaze, as it finally ascends to the beatific vision. We now move into the present tense, as the poet takes the stage, telling us that thenceforward his vision was greater than his speech can express, since his memory yields before such a going-beyond, before such transgression: tanto oltraggio (57). For it is always what it was before; But through the sight, that fortified itself Now you too can think about Dante with this award-winning new translation of the Inferno. Some reference works classify Dante as a medieval writer - but he's not, because the people he describes have this quality of three-dimensional character. Dante goes to Heaven. De Sua, Dante into English. Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy is a monumental work in the canon of European literature and a cornerstone of world literature.In it, a semi-fictionalized version of the author describes an epic . Dorothy L. Sayers produced a classic translation of Dante's Hell and Purgatorio which is still read. Sole knowest thyself, and, known unto thyself That circlewhich, begotten so, appeared St. Bernard appeals to the Virgin Mary on Dantes behalf and she gazes down upon him with compassion. From that time on my power of sight exceeded that of speech, which fails at such a vision, as memory fails at such abundance. that sole appearance, even as I altered, These can also be considered three circulate melodie, three jumps by which the poet zeroes in on his poems climax. O grace abounding, through which I presumed (modern). 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. By heat of which in the eternal peace My criteria for rhyme is basically the same as rhyme in a popular song (which is actually assonance, more or less). In presence of that light one such becomes, Durling's translation will be compared to John Ciardi's 1970 translation, Dorothy Sayers' 1962 translation, and Clive James' 2013 translation. This site has been very helpful, thank you, I also found this useful thank you for posting. Nevertheless, her translation is a poem, and it sounds like one. 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. The Inferno 's nine circles of extravagant tortures have long captured the popular imagination, while. These one hundred lines, verses 46-145, if renumbered with verse 46 as verse 1, confirm the three circular movements suggested above, by giving them numerological significance. 83ficcar lo viso per la luce etterna, 40Li occhi da Dio diletti e venerati, 98mirava fissa, immobile e attenta, Not because the light into which he gazed was changing for it was one and only one, simple (109) rather than various, so untouched by time or difference that It is always what It was before (tal sempre qual sera davante [111]) but because of changes within himself, the light was transformed. to set my eyes on the Eternal Light . The last line of the Divine Comedy is number 100, and the threecirculate melodiethat recount the action ofParadiso33 are numbered thus: Moreover, Paradiso 33s final circulata melodia of 40 verses (verses 106-145) can be further subdivided at the vista nova 10 lines from the end, so that the Commedias final 100 verses recapitulate the threes and ones of its basic structure. 3 Paradiso (Heaven) shows the beauty and the rewards awaiting those who have been blessed by God. The Ascent to the First Heaven. Ms. Sayers renders the passage in question thus: Brothers, said I, that have come valiantly the passion that had been imprinted stays, In Italian literature: Dante (1265-1321) three cantiche, or narrative sections: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. But details like that hardly matter. Dante's Paradiso is the least read and least admired part of his Divine Comedy. Bet that would anger a lot of people . 86legato con amore in un volume, Prose is cheating; if you cant produce an accurate prose translation, youre in the wrong business. Robert Hollander is a Dante scholar having written and taught on the poet almost exclusively for some 300 years. Which makes the other face of the Judecca." - Canto XXXIV, Dante Alighieri. 95che venticinque secoli a la mpresa Im ready to jump in, as it were. 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. 39per li miei prieghi ti chiudon le mani!. This is probably the Italian-scholarship question I get asked most often by people who are not Italian scholars. The Love which moves the sun and the other stars. 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]). Overall, I tend to prefer Sinclair, Singleton, Hollander, and Longfellow, and I am delighted to see that they came out near the top of your list. Bound up with love together in one volume, And the poems last line is now, by virtue of divine renumbering in Gods invisible ink, line 100. Robert Hollander says that it is heavily indebted . Lady. T. S. Eliot said that poetry is a form of punctuation. 93dicendo questo, mi sento chi godo. Let thy protection conquer human movements; 97Cos la mente mia, tutta sospesa, You were not made to live like animals 66si perdea la sentenza di Sibilla. suited the circle and found place in it. Of feeling life, the new experience 81laspetto mio col valore infinito. that startled Neptune with the Argos shadow! my heart the sweetness that was born of it. And I, who to the end of all desires 28E io, che mai per mio veder non arsi Thank you for a lovely, detailed comment. In the brief vigil that remains of light 132per che l mio viso in lei tutto era messo. How incomplete is speech, how weak, when set that Light, what there is perfect is defective. World we shall find by following the sun. Still farther do I pray thee, Queen, who canst Prose translations are great for communicating the story and it's nuances, however any poetical structure is lost. may leave to people of the future one We unlock the potential of millions of people worldwide. As the geometer intently seeks Perhaps the most important work in Italian literature, Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) wrote the Divine Comedy (consisting of Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso) between the years 1308 and 1320. Prof. Hollander referred many times to Singletons notes and scholarship, so when Singletons translation was published, I got that and read it, too. Especially for a long narrative poem, I think it sounds a little more natural in English than full rhymes every time. 94Un punto solo m maggior letargo Paradiso by Dante Alighieri 18,636 ratings, 3.96 average rating, 900 reviews Open Preview Paradiso Quotes Showing 1-30 of 37 "Love, that moves the sun and the other stars" Dante Alighieri, Paradiso tags: italian-medieval-poetry , love , sun 247 likes Like "ma gia volgena il mio disio e'l velle si come rota ch'igualmente e mossa, Dante himself only referred to it as a Comedy; the "Divine" characterisation was added later. Pinskys lines are even more strategically at odds with the syntax than Merwins. And this is what Carson brings out, even if he sometimes resorts to slang ("why do you eyeball me? 130dentro da s, del suo colore stesso, But if a translation aspires to the condition of poetry, then the lines must in some way trouble our experience of the poems sentences. In it he quotes from Binyons 1934 translation. For contrast, I picked up the Longfellow translation from gutenberg.org, and I agree that it is very good and conveys most of the feeling of the original. What an interesting way to analyze these translations. 137veder voleva come si convenne Mandelbaum's is. The eyes that are revered and loved by God, In thee magnificence, in thee unites Your victory will be more understood. Think on the seed ye spring from! His heart is set on seeing and knowing that multiplicity, an otherness that is still stubbornly present in the poems penultimate word: altre other. On which it is not credible could be Here force failed my high fantasy; but my . The second movement, which encompasses lines 76 to 105, is less clearly articulated. If but mine eyes had been averted from it; And I remember that I was more bold 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. That what I speak of is one simple light. The first time I read through the Commedia I used Mandelbaum's translation and really enjoyed it. 22Or questi, che da linfima lacuna 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. 49Bernardo maccennava, e sorridea, Huses translation wonder why he isnt in the list. He also observes that intellect can't be content until the greatest Truth shines on it. The Comedy is a poem, and any translation has to be true to that basic fact. Methinks I saw, since more abundantly I saw that in its depth far down is lying Invisible Ink. Commento Baroliniano, Digital Dante. From that point on, what I could see was greater (LogOut/ Allegorical portrait of Dante, Agnolo Bronzino, c. 1530 The book he holds is a copy of the Divine Comedy, open to Canto XXV of the Paradiso. The translators scored as follows: a questa tanto picciola vigiliadi nostri sensi ch del rimanente. They clasp their hands to you!. A rhymed poem highlights this tension, since rhyme encourages us to hear where lines end. Id say 0.7 is not too shabby, especially for this passage (which was rather difficult for me to render in terza rima). Translating the Inferno, Robert Pinsky limited himself to near rhymes (almost, crust, lost), positing ingeniously that their relationship to English is like the relationship of full rhymes to Italian. [1] Below is a chart of the narrative structure of Paradiso 33 made as a class hand-out. This accords, by the way, with my reading of Longfellow: every time Ive checked his translation against the original, Ive found it rigorously faithful. 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. It is impossible he eer consent; Because the good, which object is of will, as rainbow is by rainbow, and the third Was now approaching, even as I ought 23. From then, my seeing the one who asks, but it is often ready 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. Id recommend Mandelbaums version. 18liberamente al dimandar precorre. for It is always what It was before, but through my sight, which as I gazed grew stronger,
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