Within the deep and luminous subsistence 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 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]). How grateful unto her are prayers devout; Then unto the Eternal Light they turned, I do plan to translate the entire Comedy, but I havent started on Purgatory just yet. By any creature bent an eye so clear. 64Cos la neve al sol si disigilla; 136tal era io a quella vista nova: I've been wrestling with Dante for more than 20 years and haven't read so much at one sitting as I have here. Thanks. We unlock the potential of millions of people worldwide. 97Cos la mente mia, tutta sospesa, Dante Alighieri was born in 1265. essence of that exalted Light, three circles that Light, what there is perfect is defective. Bet that would anger a lot of people . I didnt see Ms. Sayers among your 15 translators. Dante's Paradiso is the least read and least admired part of his Divine Comedy. 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. 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). On this account to bear, so that I joined Dante died in Ravenna not long after finishing Paradiso, the last volume of The Divine Comedy. All rights reserved. Among the best-selling contemporary blank verse translations are those of Robin Kirkpatrick and Allen Mandelbaum. . 13Donna, se tanto grande e tanto vali, About the Author . 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. If but mine eyes had been averted from it; And I remember that I was more bold Its fun to see how my translation ranks in your scoring system; thanks for adding it in. 89quasi conflati insieme, per tal modo The vista nova of verse 136 marks the poems last beginning of the end, its last cosa nova, its newest encounter with the new. Pp. . 31perch tu ogne nube li disleghi what, in the universe, seems separate, scattered: substances, accidents, and dispositions Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993. Robert Hollander is a Dante scholar of unmatched reputation and his wife, Jean, is an accomplished . World we shall find by following the sun. Wherefore my sight was all absorbed therein. Was of my own accord such as he wished. In Purgatorio, still guided by the Roman poet Virgil, Dante emerges from the horrors of Hell to begin the climb up Mount Purgatory, a seven-terrace mountain with each level devoted to those atoning for one of the . But details like that hardly matter. What do you mean, though, by reading Dante without knowing it? 2umile e alta pi che creatura, Gutenberg also has the Cary translation, which is more a flight of fancy than a translation. That startled Neptune with the shade of Argo! Not bad but not great. and echoing awhile within these lines, a joy that is more ample. II. Think of your breed; for brutish ignorance Dante's masterwork is a 3 volume work written in Italian rather than Latin. Id say 0.7 is not too shabby, especially for this passage (which was rather difficult for me to render in terza rima). As a result, the poem seems simultaneously to surge forward and eddy backward. (I dont actually know much Italian, but I do have a dictionary and 15 different translations of the passage in question.) Your victory will be more understood. Tithin my heart the sweetness born of it; Even thus the snow is in the sun unsealed, More of thy victory shall be conceived! Here unto us thou art a noonday torch suited the circle and found place in it. T. S. Eliot said that poetry is a form of punctuation. Methinks I saw, since more abundantly Than our discourse, that to such vision yields, As one who sees within a dream, and, later, 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 addition, the translators refer to 73 commentaries compiled over the centuries and available at the Dartmouth Dante Project (dante.dartmouth.edu). 10Qui se a noi meridana face ISBN 0873383737. 63nel core il dolce che nacque da essa. He produced one of the first complete, and in many respects still the best, English translations of The Divine Comedy in 1867. 105 defettivo ci ch l perfetto. That one moment. With his journeys through Hell and Purgatory complete, Dante is at last led by his beloved Beatrice to Paradise. The poem feels swift because its energy has been artfully stymied, the way well-placed rocks increase the vigor of a stream. 45per creatura locchio tanto chiaro. And I, who now was nearing Him who is His work Dante compares as parallel to that of Gratian. Virgin mother, daughter of your Son, 49Bernardo maccennava, e sorridea, Versions of Dante in English offer the reader almost unparalleled opportunity for learned snobbishness. More figures from deepest antiquity thus crowd the scene in this canto of the Empyrean. 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). Wish that all of the works required by the college literature departments had already had this done this for us. The Love which moves the sun and the other stars. 29pi chi fo per lo suo, tutti miei prieghi . No one said the journey was going to be easy. And this is what Carson brings out, even if he sometimes resorts to slang ("why do you eyeball me? Prof. Hollander referred many times to Singletons notes and scholarship, so when Singletons translation was published, I got that and read it, too. Thanks for this post I am organising a reading and am looking for a good translation. to set my eyes on the Eternal Light 2014. brief moments of plot,where the pilgrim does something or something happens to him, distinguished by the past tense; metapoetic statements about the insufficiency of the poet to his task; apostrophes to the divinity praying for aid. Conformed itself, and how it there finds place; But my own wings were not enough for this, 4 ckerr4truth Feb 4, 2009, 4:48 pm 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. 82Oh abbondante grazia ond io presunsi through perils without number (Nicholls) 1, who . The result is awkward at best. 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 limit fixed of the eternal counsel. 133Qual l geomtra che tutto saffige Thank you very much for this most informative post. The absence of rhyme is not necessarily the problem. London and Toronto: University of Scranton Press, 1993. 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. 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. through perils numberless (Carson) 1, who through a hundred thousand perils (Ciardi, Lombardo, Longfellow, Sinclair, Singleton) 3, who have borne innumerable dangers (Esolen) 1, who in the course of a hundred thousand perils (Hollander) 3, a hundred thousand perils you have passed (Kirkpatrick) 2, who having crossed a hundred thousand dangers (Mandelbaum) 3, who through a hundred thousand perils have made your way (Musa) 2, who . In saying this I feel that I rejoice. 87ci che per luniverso si squaderna: 88sustanze e accidenti e lor costume 54de lalta luce che da s vera. Here I want to expand that exercise, comparing 15 different translations in a more systematic way. 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. The prayer to the Virgin, uttered by Saint Bernard, requests intercession for the pilgrim that he may complete his quest to attain the beatific vision: a vision of the Transcendent Principle that holds the universe together, bound by love in one volume (Par. In presence of that light one such becomes, Anyone can read what you share. in you is generosity, in you Dante, through his experiences and encounters on the journey, gains understanding of . He first states unequivocally that he reached the goal of his quest lardor del desiderio in me finii (I consummated the ardor of my desire [48]) and then describes how he looked upward, training his gaze more and more (pi e pi now takes the place of pi e meno) along the divine ray (46-54). I read the Sayers translations of Inferno and Purgatorio when I was fifteen. can find its way as clearly as her sight. Dante's Paradise other editions or translations of 'The Divine Comedy.' Please refer to the end of this file for supplemental materials. Dante hopes that his efforts will win him the poet's crown of laurel. "), clich ("once in a blue moon") or bizarre turns of phrase ("scarlet woman"). his sentiments preserve their perseverance. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. 78se li occhi miei da lui fossero aversi. 33: 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. By James Torrens, s.j. Merwin's Purgatorio, and Anthony Esolen's Paradiso. Considered Italy's greatest poet, this scion of a Florentine family mastered the art of lyric . Im not a big fan of rhyming stressed and unstressed syllables, either. This accords, by the way, with my reading of Longfellow: every time Ive checked his translation against the original, Ive found it rigorously faithful. In me by looking, one appearance only Your mettle was not made; you were made men, Translated by C. H. Sisson, with an Introduction by David H. Higgins. 4tu se colei che lumana natura Invisible Ink. Commento Baroliniano, Digital Dante. 116de lalto lume parvermi tre giri The best crib available is still John D Sinclair's facing-page text from OUP; the best translation of the entire work is Allen Mandelbaum's (published by Everyman). 109, the fifth and most beautiful lightSolomon, whose Song of Songs was considered a wedding hymn of the Church and God. To feel in, stoop not to renounce the quest the universe, up to this height, has seen But then my mind was struck by light that flashed the passion that had been imprinted stays, And I, who never hurned for my own seeing Here vigour failed the lofty fantasy: And I, who to the end of all desires The end of the second movement, line 105 in the original numbering, is now line 60. 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. His self, his singular and historical self, is now revolving with the spheres. He believes he saw the forma universal because he feels joy as he speaks of it: dicendo questo, mi sento chi godo (saying this, I feel that I take joy [93]). (Road/ head? the lives of spirits, one by onenow pleads. Appeared in thee as a reflected light, And by the second seemed the first reflected This translation preserves the body and intent of Dante's original poem while accessibly and skillfully presenting his work to a modern audience. What through the universe in leaves is scattered; Substance, and accident, and their operations, 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. As you point out, any attempt at terza rima in English is doomed by lack of rhymes. 50perch io guardassi suso; ma io era 46E io chal fine di tutt i disii 144s come rota chigualmente mossa. In it he quotes from Binyons 1934 translation. There is no consensus. 1.113]). And that text is largely the subject of Dante in Translation, a free online course taught by Yale's Giuseppe Mazzotta. Now you too can think about Dante with this award-winning new translation of the Inferno. . O Light Supreme, that dost so far uplift thee This correspondence makes it easy for a reader to move between the English and the Italian, but it also makes the translation feel inert. In this way he is able to conclude the poem with a present tense. 115, the flame of that candleDionysus the Areopagite, a judge who, in Acts (12:34), was converted to Christianity by the Apostle Paul. 3termine fisso detterno consiglio. The First Heaven, the Moon: Spirits who, having taken Sacred Vows, were forced to . Proffer to thee, and pray they come not short. 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. 111che tal sempre qual sera davante; 112ma per la vista che savvalorava 40Li occhi da Dio diletti e venerati, Of the High Light which of itself is true. through a hundred thousand perils, surviving all (Pinsky) 0, who through a hundred thousand dangers (Simone, Sisson) 3, have reached the west (Carson, Ciardi, Lombardo, Longfellow, Pinsky, Sinclair, Singleton) 3, to reach the setting of the sun (Esolen) 1, at last have reached the west (Hollander) 2, and reached the Occident (Kirkpatrick) 3, to the west . Your loving-kindness does not only answer This is a great post!! Thanks again. that startled Neptune with the Argos shadow! Pinskys lines are even more strategically at odds with the syntax than Merwins. Fastened upon the speaker, showed to us Who still his tongue doth moisten at the breast. Ms. Sayers renders the passage in question thus: Brothers, said I, that have come valiantly The twenty-five centuries that have passed since the sailing of the first ship, the Argo, have not incurred more forgetfulness than the one nanosecond in which Dante viewed all creation bound together in one volume: the nanosecond in which he saw La forma universal di questo nodo (the universal shape of that knot [Par. That I should upward look; but I already 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). After so great a vision his affections. Carson says his experience of sectarianism in Belfast gave him an insight into what Dante's faction-ridden Florence must have been like; but that can't be the only factor determining the success of his Inferno. (LogOut/ And make my tongue of so great puissance, 77del vivo raggio, chi sarei smarrito, "One more tercet," Robert Pinsky would moan in bed, as his wife confiscated his pen. I can recall that I, because of this, It's a poetic translation that's very faithful to the original, insofar as that's possible when translating Italian terza rima into English. O grace abounding, through which I presumed Consider now the seed that gave you birth: Shorter henceforward will my language fall Not because more than one unmingled semblance The poet compares to his own moment of stunned comprehension the moment when Neptune looked up and saw the shadow of the first ship. 74e per sonare un poco in questi versi, was in the Living Light at which I gazed 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. A complete listing and criticism of all English translations of at least one of the three cantiche (parts) was made by Cunningham in 1966. 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, unless you have a strong background in Medieval Italian history, politics, philosophy, theology, literature, art, etc.) Note: An updated and expanded version of this post is available here: Nineteen translations of Dante ranked by fidelity. Exactly what I wanted. May your protection curb his mortal passions. You can either try to get the sound right, and so lose out on the literal sense; or you can concentrate on the meaning, and miss out on the poetry, hoping, perhaps, to use your holiday Italian as a basis for understanding the original Tuscan while using a crib for the more arcane vocabulary. 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 . To follow after knowledge and excellence., Compared to some of the others, it isnt terribly faithful. So that the seeing I consumed therein! 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. What an interesting way to analyze these translations. If we analyze Paradiso 33 by dividing it, searching for the narrative line that it resists, we begin by distinguishing the oratorical prelude of the cantos first third, its first 45 verses, from the ensuing story of the pilgrims final ascent. 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. "The Man who without sin was born and lived. 36dopo tanto veder, li affetti suoi. That he who wishes grace, nor runs to thee Nicholas Lezard salutes Ciaran Carson's new translation of The Inferno, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. that Light, sublime, which in Itself is true. Let thy protection conquer human movements; was bolder in sustaining it until 41fissi ne lorator, ne dimostraro 8.99. A rhymed poem highlights this tension, since rhyme encourages us to hear where lines end. Much has been written about the transcendent stelle with which the Commedia ends. 11di caritate, e giuso, intra mortali, Were the soothsayings of the Sibyl lost. The Ascent to the First Heaven. 20in te magnificenza, in te saduna Thus the Sibyls oracles, on weightless leaves, lifted by the wind, were swept away. now fixed upon the supplicant, showed us The Divine Comedy is much more than just an interesting medieval text about Christianity.It's really, really well-written. 22Or questi, che da linfima lacuna To reach the West, you will not now deny. desire and will were moved alreadylike Here is the Binyon version: Brothers, I said, who manfully, despite 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. with you, through grace, to grant him so much virtue . to answer freely long before the asking. 96che f Nettuno ammirar lombra dArgo. 60rimane, e laltro a la mente non riede. Even such was I at that new apparition; Of what I yet remember, than an infants and memory fails when faced with such excess. so long that I spent all my sight on it! 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. 33s che l sommo piacer li si dispieghi. This declaration of arrival is situated in a passage whose rhyme words offer a veritable archeology of the Commedias thematics. I always find myself greatly indecisive when it comes to book translations! 76Io credo, per lacume chio soffersi Notes not only illuminate the Paradiso, but stress the links among all three volumes of the Commedia, something seldom-done in other editions Original Italian appears on the left-hand page opposite the English language translations, allowing for easy comparisons and reference Dante's Paradise: Translation and Commentary. As the geometer intently seeks The living ray that I endured was so you were not made to live your lives as brutes, . 75pi si conceper di tua vittoria. Dante's Paradiso with a translation into English triple rhyme by Dante Alighieri and John Ciardi 0 Ratings 37 Want to read 2 Currently reading 1 Have read Overview View 165 Editions Details Reviews Lists Related Books Publish Date 1943 Publisher Macmillan and Co. Ltd. Self-known, You love and smile upon Yourself! 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 (It is, incidentally, quite possible to make yourself understood in Italy by using Dante's vocabulary, even though it's seven centuries old.) Consider well your origin, your birth: One moment is more lethargy to me, you are so high, you can so intercede, This, too, O Queen, who can do what you would, that he who would have grace but does not seek Dantes God is not just the unmoved mover, not just the love that moves the stars. Relieved of the task of rhyming, she is able to stay closer to Dante's wording. 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. Pingback: 3 Resources to understand The Inferno by Dante Easy read blog. Of the uninhabited world behind the sun. At this point begins the last, and longest, of Paradiso 33s three circulate melodie. Think on the seed ye spring from! Eternal Light, You only dwell within The Comedy is a poem, and any translation has to be true to that basic fact. O Highest Light, You, raised so far above more than I burn for his, do offer you All interfused together in such wise The Dante industry is unstoppable, and people can't get enough of Hell. lifted my longing to its ardent limit. Im returning to another translation project (the Iliad in the epic hexameter) for a while; and Im also about to start a new chapter in my professional life, which is soaking up a lot of my time. That with his eyes he may uplift himself my vision reached the Infinite Goodness. 59che dopo l sogno la passione impressa Especially for a long narrative poem, I think it sounds a little more natural in English than full rhymes every time. Translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Australia (written in the United Kingdom), This page was last edited on 17 April 2023, at 18:11. Remains, and to his mind the rest returns not. The three circular movements were almost right. includes Italian text and Mandelbaum s translation of the Divine Comedy a gallery Paradiso Dante Wikipedia April 29th, 2018 - World of Dante Multimedia website that offers Italian text of Divine Comedy Allen Mandelbaum s translation gallery interactive maps timeline What the Hell The New Yorker The eyes that are revered and loved by God, [1] The end of the first movement, line 75 in the original, visible, numbering, is now line 30 in the numbering produced by Dantes invisible ink. As a periphrasis it does not belong to the diegetic time-line of the plot, and it allows Dante to end the Commedia with an eternal present: A final note. And not because more than one simple semblance Beatrice turns and exhorts the pilgrim to give thanks to Jesus, the "Sun of angels" by whose grace Dante has been raised so high. The two best known are Dorothy L. Sayers and John Ciardi. Rendezvous/hitherto?) as rainbow is by rainbow, and the third My mind in this wise wholly in suspense, These can also be considered three circulate melodie, three jumps by which the poet zeroes in on his poems climax. 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. Back in the 1980s Hugh Kenner wrote a review that compared Musa, singleton, sisson and Mandelbaum. About Paradiso. 110fosse nel vivo lume chio mirava, In you compassion is, in you is pity, 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. Recently, I took another course on Inferno that used the Esolen translation. Is gathered all in this, and out of it 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.