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Inferno (The Divine Comedy)

by Dante Alighieri, Anthony Esolen (Translator )

3.94 · rating details · 27,473 ratings · 1,370 reviews

A groundbreaking bilingual edition of Dante’s masterpiece that includes a substantive Introduction, extensive notes, and appendixes that reproduce Dante’s key sources and influences.

Paperback, 528 pages

Published December 9th 2003 by Modern Library (first published 1313)

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Sep 17, 2010

Paquita Maria Sanchez rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: invisible-pink-unicorn, literature, poetry-and-whatnot

I just want to start off by saying that "Through me you enter into the City of Woes" would make an EXCELLENT tramp stamp. Jump on it!

Being that I am an atheist living in the "Bible Belt," I was certain that reading this would lead to some sort of goodreads tirade, which can at times feel about as good as vomiting up a sour stomach or...you know...doing other stuff ~~like shit~~ that ladies don't do. However, I was from the outset hypnotized by Dante's très Baudelair...more

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Dec 21, 2010

Osho rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, poetry

The Inferno for Dummies: A Verse Summary

Some Italians I hate are dead. Yay.
Also, in hell. God rocks without a doubt.
Dead Virgil saved me when I lost my way,

Protected me from liars, sodomites,
And held bass-ackward simonists at bay,
As well as minotaurs and heads that bite.

The damned expound, are cleaved; they stink and shout.
At length, we scaled corrupted Satan's bits.
My foes are damned, while I have clambered out.

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Nov 21, 2011

Richard marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: catholicism, christianity, italian-literature, poetry, middle-ages

For the Celebrity Death Match Review Tournament, The Complete Tales and Poems of Winnie-the-Pooh versus The Divine Comedy

(All citations from the Inferno are from the Longfellow translation.)

To You

Paw in paw we come
Pooh and the Bouncer
To lay this review in your lap.
Give us one of those sultry little smiles
and say you're surprised!
Say you can't get over it!
Say it's just what you've always wanted
and it's even more fun th...more

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May 07, 2008

Jeff rated it

· review of another edition

the only place i know in literature where saying "nice shoes" or "that's a lovely tattoo of a water buffalo on your forehead" or "you look especially wonderful in red rayon" but not meaning it is worse than murdering the entire population of stevens point, wi, (25,056 as of the last census) in an attempt to become emperor of the dairy state--a bitter guy sticks voodoo pins in everyone against whom he had an imagined or real gripe--if the bitter guy's vision is reali...more

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Mar 23, 2008

Andrew Spear rated it

As though I could really give Dante anything but five stars? Seriously, The Inferno in general and this edition in particular is a great read. Anthony Esolen does a great job of not only placing the book in its historical context (almost anyone who can write numbers can do that), but also of helping the reader to appreciate and to almost step inside of the world-view held by Dante himself. This is accomplished both through the use of copious informative endnotes and through the inclusion at t...moreAs though I could really give Dante anything but five stars? Seriously, The Inferno in general and this edition in particular is a great read. Anthony Esolen does a great job of not only placing the book in its historical context (almost anyone who can write numbers can do that), but also of helping the reader to appreciate and to almost step inside of the world-view held by Dante himself. This is accomplished both through the use of copious informative endnotes and through the inclusion at the end of the volume of a great number of selections from Dante's sources, including Virgil and Thomas Aquinas. Add to this a selection of illustrations by Gustave Doré, Esolen's poetic English rendering, and the fact that the text is bilingual on facing pages and (having genuinely looked a bit) I can honestly say I haven't found a better overall volume for reading and understanding "The Inferno".

The Inferno is beautiful poetry and a landmark of Western Culture. It represents an artistic synthesis of the most sophisticated Christian Theology just at the dawn of the Renaissance, presenting an overarching picture of the divine order, plan for, and justice of the universe, while simultaneously capturing with remarkable poignancy the nuances and full spectrum of actual human life and emotion; not just wickedness and suffering (of which there is plenty in Hell), but also love and the ties (and betrayals) that can occur in families, friendships, cities, states and religions.

As a modern reader the most difficult part of reading The Inferno is trying to empathize with a world-view according to which eternal punishment, sometimes of the most horrible and degrading sort, is indeed somehow not only permissible but actually required by justice itself. If anyone were going to convince me that this is actually the case, it seems that it would indeed be Dante, especially Dante aided by all of the scholarly and interpretive devices offered by Esolen. Nevertheless, by the end of Dante's journey through Hell I still found myself feeling that, while the journey of personal growth and redemption that he is going through is edifying and inspiring, the overall justice of the place through which he has traveled is not.

For me, highlights of the book include the inscription above the gates of Hell, the Classical Philosophers in the first circle of Hell, Paolo and Francesca in the second, the story of Ulysses' second voyage in Canto Twenty-six (made famous in the Alfred Lord Tennyson Poem 'Ulysses', which was itself made famous in the movie Dead Poets Society), Count Ugolino, and the concluding lines: "we climbed so high that through a small round opening I saw some of the turning beauties of the sky. And we came out to see, once more, the stars." (Canto Thirty-Four, 136-39)

This is not the first time that I've read the Inferno, but I definitely appreciated more the intellectual and cultural components of the book. While I like to attribute this to my having matured intellectually since the first time I read the book, the fact that I have been to Florence and have been learning to speak (a very small amount of) Italian probably played just as much of a role in enhancing my overall appreciation for the work. (less)

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Aug 06, 2008

Elizabeth rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: adult, fiction

I could kiss the professor of my Concepts of Punishment course at CAL for making me read this book. I had no idea at the time how much I would think about it during my lifetime. I was just thinking about the lovers in the second circle today, almost ten years after I first read it.

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Apr 28, 2011

Joshua Nomen-Mutatio rated it

Shelves: fiction

THIS BOOK IS ABOUT HOW HELL IS GONNA SUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK

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Jan 26, 2009

Debbie rated it

· review of another edition

I'm not sure where the copy of the book came from. The copyright is one year before I was born, but I don't remember picking it up in a used book store. But I guess that's neither here nor there.

I wish I could honestly check off 5 stars and say that my eyes were opened. That I really felt transformed by having read this classic of literature and that I will make it point to re-read it every year on the anniversary of my having discovered the error of my ways in not reading it at a...more

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Jul 13, 2011

Manny rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: strongly-recommended, science-fiction, history-and-biography, transcendent-experiences, why-not-call-it-poetry, life-is-dante

The other day, in the comment thread to her review of The Aeneid, Meredith called The Divine Comedy "lame": specifically, she objected to the fact that Dante put all the people he didn't like in Hell. Well, Meredith, you're perfectly welcome to your opinions - but I'm half Italian, and I've been politely informed that if I don't respond in some way I'm likely to wake up some morning and find a horse's head lying next to me. So here goes.

I actually have two separate defenses...moreThe other day, in the comment thread to her review of The Aeneid, Meredith called The Divine Comedy "lame": specifically, she objected to the fact that Dante put all the people he didn't like in Hell. Well, Meredith, you're perfectly welcome to your opinions - but I'm half Italian, and I've been politely informed that if I don't respond in some way I'm likely to wake up some morning and find a horse's head lying next to me. So here goes.

I actually have two separate defenses. First, let's consider Dante's artistic choices, given that he's planned to write a huge epic poem where he's going to visit Hell, Purgatory and Heaven, each of which is divided up into a large number of smaller areas corresponding to differents sins and virtues. Now, who is he going to meet there? One option would be to have allegorical figures directly representing Pride, Wrath, Charity etc. That's what Bunyan did in The Pilgrim's Progress, but most people agree that it's not a very good solution: The Divine Comedy is much more fun than The Pilgrim's Progress. Or he could just make people up, but then he wouldn't have any space for character development, and you'd never be able to keep track of all the invented figures. Lindsay tried that route in A Voyage to Arcturus, and, even though the book's worth reading, he showed how hard it is to make it work. Every time someone interesting turns up, they always seem to get killed fifteen pages later.

I think the choice Dante made was the best one: to use real people. Of course, it is a bit presumptuous to decide that the ones going to Hell are mostly guys he doesn't like, but nothing else makes sense. If you want damned souls to populate the Hell of the Hypocrites, isn't Caiaphas, the high priest who falsely condemned Jesus, a sensible choice? If you're looking for Traitors to Lords and Benefactors, then don't Brutus and Cassius fit pretty well? And every now and then he meets his friends down there too. His beloved teacher Brunetto Latini is damned for sodomy, which shocks Dante just as much as it does me, but in his world-view it makes perfect sense; homosexuality is plain wrong, that's all there is to it.

Okay, that was my first defense. My second is that it's far too simplistic to say that Dante is self-righteously damning all his enemies and extolling his own virtues. The theme that continually comes back through the first two books is that Pride is the root of all sin, and Dante is very conscious of his own sinful nature. For example, he's way too happy to gloat over the fact that his enemy Filippo Argenti has been condemned to the Hell of the Wrathful, and Virgil gently points out the irony. Then, later, he has to spend the whole of Book 2 climbing up Mount Purgatory, which is hard work. He's got plenty of sins to purge.

To me, the real problem with Dante is that his world is so very different from mine, and I keep having to scramble to the footnotes to get the necessary background; so it's hard to keep the flow of the book, since you're constantly being interrupted. But even so, it's still a remarkable piece of work. We just don't think seriously any more about the nature of Good and Evil, Sin and Redemption. Dante's world thought they were crucially important, and he's one of the few people who's still able to give us a window into that view of life. It's nowhere near as irrelevant as we like to make out.

Don Corleone, will this do? Or do I have to add footnotes as well?
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Sep 12, 2011

Iris rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: philosophy

In the damp fog of summer, Dante guides me take a bite out of life. Che magnifico docente! This translation is especially fine, according to Ralph Williams, professor emeritus at University of Michigan and my idol for his boundless love of life. I endorse this translation for a few reasons:

- modernized Italian on the facing page. Play with the Italian: try reading it aloud, or just seek out specific passages and words.

- endnotes following each canto. Much better than footnote...more

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Apr 09, 2010

Michael rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: quote-unquote-classics, poetry, 1300s

This is, and probably will remain, a work in progress. Recommendations for others who deserve their own place in hell are welcome.

Top 40 radio DJs:

Now bodiless entities that only have their senses of hearing intact, they drift through the airwaves listening to the MOST IRRITATING SONG they ever broadcast. Over and over and over again. For all of eternity.
"Oh, don't tell my heart / my achy breaky heart"
"I'm a barbie girl / in a barb...more

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Jul 29, 2009

Michael rated it

· review of another edition

What a joy to read literature that is not only well executed, but beautiful in spirit! Dante's work is one of the pillars of western literature, and justly so. Conceived and executed in a poetical form called "terza rima" and functioning on multiple levels of meaning simultaneously, the three books of the "Commedia" are a microcosm of human spiritual life. Care is lavished on every detail from the geography to the astronomy and everything in between. It is a monumental ac...moreWhat a joy to read literature that is not only well executed, but beautiful in spirit! Dante's work is one of the pillars of western literature, and justly so. Conceived and executed in a poetical form called "terza rima" and functioning on multiple levels of meaning simultaneously, the three books of the "Commedia" are a microcosm of human spiritual life. Care is lavished on every detail from the geography to the astronomy and everything in between. It is a monumental achievement, encompassing theology, politics, aesthetics, literary criticism, science, philosophy, metaphysics...you name it.

The first book, the Inferno, chronicles the beginning of Dante's spiritual odyssey. He wakes one day in the middle of his life to discover that he is lost in a dark forest and surrounded by mortal dangers. Against all hope, rescue comes in the form of the ancient poet Virgil, who has been commissioned by Heaven to lead Dante back to the true path. Virgil, the personification of pagan wisdom, must lead Dante down through the nine circles of Hell where he will begin to learn the wisdom that leads back to life, which will ultimately be found only in Christ. Each circle in Hell is the final resting place of souls who have died in their sins, the punishments at each level being perfectly suited to the sin that defined the earthly life of the soul. The sins at each circle are progressively more vile than the circle before, and the punishments grow more horrible and gruesome.

Though the tortures of Hell are graphically described, Dante is not gratuitous. He is no medieval Quentin Tarantino. Part of his purpose is to reveal the hideous nature of evil and expose the ugliness of the soul that remains unrepentant and self-interested even after death. Dante's theology is solid and Hell is the place where true, lasting judgment is meted out and justice is finally satisfied. These are not popular ideas in our politically correct, selectively tolerant society. But exactly what have these flaccid new ideologies done for us except to shackle our thoughts, and silence dissenting voices? Give me Dante any day.

Sayers' translation is magnificent. She reproduces both the meter and rhyme, giving those of us who do not know Italian a taste of what the original must be like. Her explanatory notes provide much needed details that enrich the reading experience. Even more helpful was her dedication to Charles Williams which, in turn, led me to read "The Figure of Beatrice". It was there that Dante's meaning became more clear to me.
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Sep 04, 2008

Shaindel rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: anyone

I just finished reading this book yesterday and will be interviewing Pinsky today. The interview will be available at:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/onword/2008...

This is seriously the best translation of The Inferno that I can imagine. Of course, I don't know Italian, so I can't be 100% sure, but it is much better than the other translations of which I have read excerpts. Pinsky stays in the terza rima form, which Dante invented, but relies on slant or near rhyme throug...more

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Feb 07, 2008

Josh rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: backtoschool

When a student does not like a book they will often say they cannot "relate" to it. This is a poem I cannot relate to at all. I can roll with Dante when he is lost in the dark word. As soon as he enters the Inferno, however, the work baffles me. I cannot understand the justice of eternal damnation. I cannot understand why the greatest minds of antiquity exist without hope. I cannot understand how how the pilgrim forgets all about Virgil as soon as he meets Beatrice on the top of ...more

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Sep 10, 2009

Miriam rated it

· review of another edition

Recommended to Miriam by: the author

Shelves: poetry

This is a less accurate but wonderfully written vernacular translation of Dante's Inferno. Carson focused on recreating the feel of the poem rather than reproducing Dante's exact words. This is a great version for casual readers who find most translations too stuffy or formal. Do NOT choose it if you need to do anything serious with the work, as many allusions, details, and shades of meaning have been lost.

I had the pleasure of hearing Carson read some excerpts when this volume was f...more

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Sep 04, 2011

Kent rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: classics, poetry

Another failed attempt at poetry appreciation comes to a close. I did not finish the whole book - I guess I am stuck somewhere in the middle of Hell and can't get out!

Under duress, the threat of severe punishment or a poor grade in an English class, I am sure I could have finished and responded well to inquiries. But, alas, this pursuit was for "pleasure" and Dante's Inferno brought none.

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Sep 04, 2009

Season Cluff rated it

· review of another edition

I had a hard time rating this book. While the writing style itself was frankly pompous and arrogant, the concept itself was fantastical. A pupil beng allowed a tour of hell?It took me quite a while to plod through it and while I'm glad I read it, I couldn't help but breathe a huge sigh of relief when I was finally able to close and reshelf this book.

All in all it was pretty depressing, if Dante actually knew the criteria to land one in hell, I don't know many people who are not going...more

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Nov 29, 2008

Sarah rated it

Grotesque, intense, confusing...

Hell is a very exciting place. While I'm sure a huge portion of it was over my head and I should reread it, I still managed to understand basically what was going on.

I liked how you could sense a sort of mockery in parts of it. The popes and religious figures who were cast down in Hell.

The punishments matching the sin was fantastic! The suicides losing their bodies, the fortune tellers seeing only behind them forever, those w...more

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Feb 01, 2012

Stefan rated it

· review of another edition

As a literature minor, I know that I'm supposed to take great joy in dissecting and analyzing a great work of literature such as The Inferno, but I didn't really enjoy this book all that much.

I found way too much of the storyline to be repetitive and drawn out for two long. The first half or so of the story is basically traveling from one circle of Hell to another, finding out what the sin and the punishment for the sin in that area is, meeting and talking with one or two of the sinne...more

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Jan 15, 2012

Seán rated it

I'm reading the whole Divine Comedy, and I don't think that this can really be seen for what it fully is without the other parts (or at least a background in them. The Comedy is, in fact, a trilogy, with Inferno (Italian for Hell) being the first part, and Purgatorio (Purgatory) and Paradiso (Heaven) the others. While a lot of Dante's journey through Hell is dedicated to Italian politics, I found the overall mood not to be one of the fear that a lot of people associate with Hell, but of sadness....more

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Nov 14, 2011

Savannah Golden rated it

Dante's Inferno offers the most detailed description of Hell as his tour guide Virgil takes him through the nine circles of hell. Dante the pilgrim has lost sight of his faith and his faith in God. He enters the gates of Hell, even after reading “Through me you go into a city of weeping; through me you go into eternal pain; through me you go amongst the lost people.” He finds him self with Virgil seeing the various sinners in their levels of Hell carry out their punishments for eternity. At firs...more

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Nov 09, 2011

Ryan Wells rated it

In part one of the "Divine Comedy", Inferno, Dante Aligheri must travel through the depths of Hell to escape the beasts, a leoperd, a lion and a she wolf. Since Dante is lost in a forest when the sun is setting, he decides to walk toward the sunset. As he is walking, Dante encounters the beasts. They force Dante to turn around and walk back into the darkness. Dante then encounters the shade of the poet, Virgil, who offers to help Dante find another way to escape the beasts. Vilgil also

...more

In Inferno, Hell has nine circles for different sins. Each cirlce has a different punishment based on the worst sin the sinner had commited. Limbo is the least worst since it is the first cirle, the sinners punishment is that they have been denied right into paridise. the worse circle is Treachery since it is at the bottem snd the ferthest from Heaven. It has been divided up into five different sections, but all the sinners are frozen for punishment.

As Dante journeys through Hell with Virgil, they encounter sinners that talk to them. IN the circle of Lust, they encounter Paolo and Francesca da Rimini whom explane how they fell in love and Francesca da Rimini how she commited adultury against her deformed husband. He also incounters Pope Boniface VIII who was condemed into the sixth circle for his heresy.<p/>

Dante Alighieri includes characters from different myths and stories. Virgil is a poet who is best known for his poem "Aeneid". Dante uses Virgil as a character since Virgil knows the way through Hell from his poem. Charon, the ferry man from greek mythology, ferries the newly condemed across the Acheron into Limbo where they are jugded in the lower circles. Charon tries to tell Dante that he can not take him across the river since he is still alive, but Virgil convinces Charon to let them on the ferry.

Using Joesph Campbell's mono myth structure, Dante's archetype would be the lost soul since he gets lost in a forest at sunset. Dante's call to adventure would be when Virgil tells him that they have to journey through Hell. Dante's helper is Virgil since he serves as a guide since he knows the way through Hell. Dante crosses the threshold to adventure when he enters through the gate of Hell.

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Oct 30, 2011

Ari rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: must-read-for-school, read-in-2011

Definitely a book I will need to go back and read when I'm not rushing to finish it for a class. Something that tickled me while I was reading this book was that I had just finished studying Dante's time period/location (Italy in the 1300s) in my Modern European History class and we had also discussed his time period in my religion class. CONNECTIONS! haha. I despise annotating but for me this would have been a good book to annotate, unfortunately I got it from the library. Since I missed most o...moreDefinitely a book I will need to go back and read when I'm not rushing to finish it for a class. Something that tickled me while I was reading this book was that I had just finished studying Dante's time period/location (Italy in the 1300s) in my Modern European History class and we had also discussed his time period in my religion class. CONNECTIONS! haha. I despise annotating but for me this would have been a good book to annotate, unfortunately I got it from the library. Since I missed most of the deeper meanings of this book, I'll review it from a superficial level.

The notes at the end for each Canto are exceedingly helpful and the history-geek in me lapped up all the historical details. Dante actually made me laugh out loud at his audacity, he wasn't afraid to call out his enemies and place them in Hell. I imagine the people who read this while Dante was alive were both shocked and tickled, the gossip would have been rampanant. I also thought Dante's arrangmenet of the circles of Hell were interesting, definitely don't agree with him but I really want to know how he came up with them. I doubt that the Catholic Church said "Falsfiers" were in the deepest ring of Hell but I can't say for certain. Furthermore I was enthralled by Dante's decision to cast people born before Jesus came to Earth, into Hell (i.e. Virgil, Moses, etc). HARSH. And then when you consider the punishments. *shudders* Dante represents the common image of God at the time (I think) a God who was fierce and scary and demanded perfection.

I liked the mixing of real people, Biblical characters and mythological figures that Dante sprinkles throughout the story. Also I wonder if Dante choose which sins were worst based on his own feelings of guilt? He is guilty of many sins, but the further he descends into Hell the closer the sins seem to hit home. The book opens with Dante describing himself at his lowest point, I would even venture a guess that he's suicidal. But the thought of Beatric keeps him going, Beatrice who embodies love, hope, perfection.

It was also reassuring to see that even in a tale as old as this one, the ending of a triology is still extremely anti-climatic, solely to suck you into reading the next book ;) Which I will. Someday.

IQ "And then, like one who unchooses his own choice/And thinking again undoes what he has started, So I became: a nullifying unease/overcame my soul on that dark slope and voided/the undertaking I had so quickly embraced/"If I understand, the generous shade retorted, "cowardice grips your spirit-which can twist/A man away from the noblest enterprise" pg.13 Canto II lines 31-38 This quote resonanted with me because I could relate especially to the first part. I can be fairly indecisive and while that's something I want to work on, it will take time. I often 'unchoose my own choice' so to speak(less)

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Oct 27, 2011

Harmonybites rated it

Recommends it for: Everyone

Recommended to Harmonybites by: Good Reading

Shelves: classics, fantasy, favorites, fiction, horror, poetry, religion, spirituality, popular-fiction

I find The Divine Comedy 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 thre...more

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Oct 07, 2011

Shaun rated it

You can skip the rest of the Divine Comedy, but this one is a must have for a solid background in Western literature. Some captivating moments. I guess in a way this is the poetic summary of a myth that had crippled progress and entrapped minds in fear during the Middle Ages. I speak, of course, of the catholic church and the myth of hell. It's a beautiful poem, but Dante is captured right? I mean, imagine all the topics he may have explored were it not for religion. Who knows to what ends his ...more

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Sep 23, 2011

Vivian rated it

Reading and writing about a classic such as this is always different than reading and writing about other books. For one, I feel somewhat ridiculous about assigning stars to a book such as this - we're still reading this after 700 years (and justifiably so), so of course it rates higher than that romance novel I read the other week.
Reading a book like this is also odd because it's been referenced to hell and back (sorry) *everywhere*, so it's really impossible to read it with a truly fres...more

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Sep 18, 2011

Bronte rated it

· review of another edition

I'm not going to lie and say I understood the book the first time I read it because I didn't. I really had to go through the book and reread some parts... well most of the parts in order to get what was really going on. Oh and the summaries of each chapter in my copy of The Inferno really helped me out! Despite the difficulty of the language though, I absolutely loved it. Every part of it. The idea that a man could sit down and write about the layout of a place that mankind could never fathom is...more

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Aug 08, 2011

Bev Hankins rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: classic-lit, poetry, fiction

Oh my. Okay. This is where the former English major realizes just how rusty she is at all this classic literature jazz. Where she realizes that she really needs to get off her literary duff and read more heavy duty tomes and just maybe find herself a reading group to discuss these things with. 'Cuz, man, am I finding this heavy going and trying to make myself digest all the allegorical wisdom is giving me a mental tummy ache.

Am I enjoying it? Sure thing. Am I glad I'm doing it? You b...moreOh my. Okay. This is where the former English major realizes just how rusty she is at all this classic literature jazz. Where she realizes that she really needs to get off her literary duff and read more heavy duty tomes and just maybe find herself a reading group to discuss these things with. 'Cuz, man, am I finding this heavy going and trying to make myself digest all the allegorical wisdom is giving me a mental tummy ache.

Am I enjoying it? Sure thing. Am I glad I'm doing it? You betcha. Am I going to be able to write an intelligent review when I finish my journey through hell? Um.....we'll just have to see. I'm a little over half-way finished and I'm still not sure what I'm going to be saying. Stay tuned.

*Later*
Well, I have now been to hell and back. Not quite literally, but given how far out of the norm 14th C literature is for me...it was a pretty difficult read. Dorothy L Sayers' translation of The Divine Comedy 1: Hell by Dante Alighieri is tremendous. Her attempt to maintain the terza rima rhyme scheme is beautiful and the overall feel of the work is haunting. She also has provided copious notes explaining the political background and giving details on the figures Dante encounters on his journey through hell. Without these notes, I would have been lost.

Of course, most literate people have the general idea of Dante's Inferno...that hell is divided up into various levels starting with the least of sins to the most vile. It was quite a trip to finally read in detail the punishments set in store for transgressors. And quite interesting to see how the "punishment fit the crimes." But it was also interesting to find that Dante's work was not just meant as a warning of what awaits the unrepentant in the hereafter, but it is also a warning about the workings of this life. Dante was speaking directly to those in power at the time....warning them against using that power unwisely or selfishly.

This was a daunting read for me...but I intend to keep soldiering on. Next up, Purgatory.

I'm not quite sure how to rate this one....four stars out of five seems about right--for being a classic, for Sayers' terrific translation, for the awesome imagery, and for knocking me off the laurels of my English degree.(less)

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Aug 03, 2011

Matthew rated it

· review of another edition

Longfellow, I'm sad to say, is a bit long-winded when it comes to translating Alighieri's fantastic masterwork. The story is all there, but Longfellow's translation is as dated as it is hard to follow. Barnes and Noble presents the subject very well, and has nice annotations to the poem, but one might be better to put their faith in a more modern translation (I suggest Robert M. Durling's phenomenal translation of the piece).

Dante is not for the easy reader, and Longfellow is certainly not for...more

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Aug 03, 2011

Matthew rated it

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Since Dante, it is hard to think of any piece of poetry that quite has the reach, the power, or the mythology that he is able to pack into his work. As a poem, it has its ups and downs, but as a story Dante blows away the competition.

Part historical, part mythology, Alighieri constructs a who's who from Italian politics and literature and, in this first part, condemns them to eternal damnation. He mustn't have had many friends after this first part came out, but that's all the better for us.

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About Dante Alighieri

Dante Alighieri, or simply Dante (May 14/June 13 1265 – September 13/14, 1321), is one of the greatest poets in the Italian language; with the comic story-teller Boccaccio and the poet Petrarch, he forms the classic trio of Italian authors. Dante Alighieri was born in the city-state Florence in 1265. He first saw the woman, or rather the child, who was to become the poetic love of his life when he...moreDante Alighieri, or simply Dante (May 14/June 13 1265 – September 13/14, 1321), is one of the greatest poets in the Italian language; with the comic story-teller Boccaccio and the poet Petrarch, he forms the classic trio of Italian authors. Dante Alighieri was born in the city-state Florence in 1265. He first saw the woman, or rather the child, who was to become the poetic love of his life when he was almost nine years old and she was some months younger. In fact, Beatrice married another man, Simone di' Bardi, and died when Dante was 25, so their relationship existed almost entirely in Dante's imagination, but she nonetheless plays an extremely important role in his poetry. Dante attributed all the heavenly virtues to her soul and imagined, in his masterpiece The Divine Comedy, that she was his guardian angel who alternately berated and encouraged him on his search for salvation.

Politics as well as love deeply influenced Dante's literary and emotional life. Renaissance Florence was a thriving, but not a peaceful city: different opposing factions continually struggled for dominance there. The Guelfs and the Ghibellines were the two major factions, and in fact that division was important in all of Italy and other countries as well. The Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor were political rivals for much of this time period, and in general the Guelfs were in favor of the Pope, while the Ghibellines supported Imperial power. By 1289 in the battle of Campaldino the Ghibellines largely disappeared from Florence. Peace, however, did not insue. Instead, the Guelf party divided between the Whites and the Blacks (Dante was a White Guelf). The Whites were more opposed to Papal power than the Blacks, and tended to favor the emperor, so in fact the preoccupations of the White Guelfs were much like those of the defeated Ghibellines. In this divisive atmosphere Dante rose to a position of leadership. in 1302, while he was in Rome on a diplomatic mission to the Pope, the Blacks in Florence seized power with the help of the French (and pro-Pope) Charles of Valois. The Blacks exiled Dante, confiscating his goods and condemning him to be burned if he should return to Florence.

Dante never returned to Florence. He wandered from city to city, depending on noble patrons there. Between 1302 and 1304 some attempts were made by the exiled Whites to retrieve their position in Florence, but none of these succeeded and Dante contented himself with hoping for the appearance of a new powerful Holy Roman Emperor who would unite the country and banish strife. Henry VII was elected Emperor in 1308, and indeed laid seige to Florence in 1312, but was defeated, and he died a year later, destroying Dante's hopes. Dante passed from court to court, writing passionate political and moral epistles and finishing his Divine Comedy, which contains the Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. He finally died in Ravenna in 1321.' to 'Dante Alighieri, or simply Dante (May 14/June 13 1265 – September 13/14, 1321), is one of the greatest poets in the Italian language; with the comic story-teller Boccaccio and the poet Petrarch, he forms the classic trio of Italian authors. Dante Alighieri was born in the city-state Florence in 1265. He first saw the woman, or rather the child, who was to become the poetic love of his life when he was almost nine years old and she was some months younger. In fact, Beatrice married another man, Simone di' Bardi, and died when Dante was 25, so their relationship existed almost entirely in Dante's imagination, but she nonetheless plays an extremely important role in his poetry. Dante attributed all the heavenly virtues to her soul and imagined, in his masterpiece The Divine Comedy, that she was his guardian angel who alternately berated and encouraged him on his search for salvation.

Politics as well as love deeply influenced Dante's literary and emotional life. Renaissance Florence was a thriving, but not a peaceful city: different opposing (less)

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“Do not be afraid; our fate
Cannot be taken from us; it is a gift.” — 374 people liked it

“The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.” — 270 people liked it

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