The ''

Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and ...

'' by

Dante Alighieri Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...

is an epic poem in Italian written between 1308 and 1321 that describes its author's journey through the

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

afterlife. The three ''cantiche'' of the poem, ''

Inferno Inferno may refer to: * Hell, an afterlife place of suffering * Conflagration, a large uncontrolled fire Film * ''L'Inferno'', a 1911 Italian film * Inferno (1953 film), ''Inferno'' (1953 film), a film noir by Roy Ward Baker * Inferno (1973 fi ...

'', '' Purgatorio'', and '' Paradiso'', describe

hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell ...

purgatory Purgatory (, borrowed into English via Anglo-Norman and Old French) is, according to the belief of some Christian denominations (mostly Catholic), an intermediate state after physical death for expiatory purification. The process of purgatory ...

, and

heaven Heaven or the heavens, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the belie ...

, respectively. The poem is considered one of the greatest works of world literature and helped establish Dante's Tuscan dialect as the standard form of the Italian language. It has been translated over 400 times into at least 52 different languages. Though English poets

Geoffrey Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for ''The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He wa ...

and

John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet and intellectual. His 1667 epic poem '' Paradise Lost'', written in blank verse and including over ten chapters, was written in a time of immense religious flux and political ...

referenced and partially translated Dante's works in the 14th and 17th centuries respectively, it took until the early 19th century for the first full English translation of the ''Divine Comedy'' to be published. This was over 300 years after the first Latin (1416), Spanish (1515), and French (1500s) translations had been written. By 1906, Dante scholar Paget Toynbee calculated that the ''Divine Comedy'' had been touched upon by over 250 translators and sixty years later bibliographer Gilbert F. Cunningham observed that the frequency of English Dante translations was increasing with time. As of 2022, the ''Divine Comedy'' has been translated into English more times than it has been translated into any other language.

List of translations

A complete listing and criticism of all English translations of at least one of the three ''cantiche'' (parts) was made by Cunningham in 1966. The table below summarises Cunningham's data with additions between 1966 and the present, many of which are taken from the

Dante Society of America The Dante Society of America is an American academic society devoted to the study of Dante Alighieri. the oldest scholarly societies in North America, the DSA predates both the Modern Language Association, founded in 1883, and the American Historic ...

's yearly North American bibliography and 's international bibliography. For a multilingual list of translations, see Many more translations of individual lines or

cantos ''The Cantos'' by Ezra Pound is a long, incomplete poem in 120 sections, each of which is a ''canto''. Most of it was written between 1915 and 1962, although much of the early work was abandoned and the early cantos, as finally published, date ...

exist, but these are too numerous for the scope of this list.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * ** Freely available manuscript of the above text * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

* Translations:

Rogers Rogers may refer to: Places Canada *Rogers Pass (British Columbia) *Rogers Island (Nunavut) United States * Rogers, Arkansas, a city * Rogers, alternate name of Muroc, California, a former settlement * Rogers, Indiana, an unincorporated community ...

, Cary
HowardDaymanCarlyle
Bannerman,

Whyte Whyte may refer to: *Whyte (surname), a family name * Whyte, West Virginia * Whyte Chemicals, a manufacturer and distributor *Whyte notation Whyte notation is a classification method for steam locomotives, and some internal combustion locom ...

Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include "Paul Revere's Ride", ''The Song of Hiawatha'', and ''Evangeline''. He was the first American to completely transl ...

Norton Norton may refer to: Places Norton, meaning 'north settlement' in Old English, is a common place name. Places named Norton include: Canada *Rural Municipality of Norton No. 69, Saskatchewan *Norton Parish, New Brunswick **Norton, New Brunswick, a ...

GriffithMandelbaum
Hollander and Hollander
PoemCommentary

Dante Poliglatta
{{DEFAULTSORT:English translations of the Divine Comedy Divine Comedy

Translation-related lists

List of translations

See also

Notes

References

Bibliography

Further reading

External links