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List of English translations of the Divine Comedy

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Eight bookshelves stacked on top of each other containing translations of the Divine Comedy arranged for display
A room in Dante's House Museum [it] containing many translations of the Divine Comedy into different languages

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.[1] The three cantiche[i] of the poem, Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso, describe Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, respectively. The poem is considered one of the greatest works of world literature[2] and helped establish Dante's Tuscan dialect as the standard form of the Italian language.[3] It has been translated over 400 times into at least 52 different languages.[4]

Though English poets Geoffrey Chaucer and John Milton referenced and partially translated Dante's works in the 14th and 17th centuries, respectively,[5][6] it took until the early 19th century for the first full English translation of the Divine Comedy to be published.[7] This was over 300 years after the first Latin (1416),[8] Spanish (1515),[4] and French (1500s)[9] translations had been completed. By 1906, Dante scholar Paget Toynbee calculated that the Divine Comedy had been touched upon by over 250 translators[10] and sixty years later bibliographer Gilbert F. Cunningham observed that the frequency of English Dante translations was increasing with time.[11] As of 2023, the Divine Comedy has been translated into English more times than it has been translated into any other language.[4]

List of translations

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A complete listing and criticism of all English translations of at least one of the three cantiche (parts) was made by Cunningham in 1966.[12] 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's yearly North American bibliography[13] and Società Dantesca Italiana [it]'s international bibliography.[14] Many more translations of individual lines or cantos[ii] exist,[15] but these are too numerous for the scope of this list.

List of translations
Published Translator Nationality Publisher(s) Parts translated Form[iii] Notes
1782 Charles Rogers United Kingdom J. Nichols Inferno Blank verse First translation of a full cantica into English. Initially published anonymously[17]
1785–1802 Henry Boyd United Kingdom C. Dilly Comedy i.e. all three parts Rhymed 6-line stanzas First full translation of the Divine Comedy in English
1805–1814 Henry Francis Cary United Kingdom James Carpenter Comedy Blank verse Volume 20 in the Harvard Classics series. Reprinted by Bohn's Library in 1850 and Chandos Classics in 1871

Described by The Cambridge Companion to Dante as the first "powerful, accurate, and poetically moving" translation. Became a bestseller and was required in schools[18]

1807 Nathaniel Howard United Kingdom John Murray Inferno Blank verse
1812 Joseph Hume United Kingdom T. Cadell and W. Davies Inferno Blank verse
1833–1840 Ichabod Charles Wright United Kingdom Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longman Comedy Rhymed 6-line stanzas
1843–1865 John Dayman United Kingdom Longmans, Green, and Co. Comedy Terza rima
1843–1893 Thomas William Parsons United States De Vries, Ibarra and Company; Houghton, Mifflin and Company Comedy (incomplete) Quatrains and irregular rhyme
1849 John Aitken Carlyle United Kingdom Chapman and Hall Inferno Prose First British prose translation of Inferno. Reprinted by J.M. Dent and Sons and edited by Hermann Oelsner [de] for their Temple Classics line in 1900
1850 Patrick Bannerman United Kingdom William Blackwood and Sons Comedy Irregular rhyme
1851–1854 Charles Bagot Cayley United Kingdom Longmans, Brown, Green, and Longmans Comedy Terza rima
1852 E. O'Donnell United Kingdom Thomas Richardson and Son Comedy Prose First British prose translation of the whole Divine Comedy.
1854 Thomas Brooksbank United Kingdom John W. Parker and Son Inferno Terza rima
1854 Sir William Frederick Pollock United Kingdom Chapman and Hall Comedy Blank tercets
1859 Bruce Whyte United Kingdom Wright & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co Inferno Irregular rhyme
1859–1866 John Wesley Thomas United Kingdom Henry G. Bohn Comedy Terza rima
1862 William Patrick Wilkie United Kingdom Edmonston and Douglas Inferno Blank tercets
1862–1863 Claudia Hamilton Ramsay[iv] United Kingdom Tinsley Brothers Comedy Terza rima
1865 William Michael Rossetti United Kingdom Macmillan and Co. Inferno Blank tercets
1865–1870 James Ford United Kingdom Smith, Elder & Co. Comedy Terza rima
1867 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow United States Ticknor and Fields and Bernhard Tauchnitz Comedy Blank tercets First complete translation by an American author. Highly praised upon publication[20] and remains one of the most commonly reprinted translations in both the United States and the United Kingdom[21]
1867–1868 David Johnston United Kingdom Self-published Comedy Blank tercets Never placed on sale; the author sent copies directly to libraries and friends[22]
1877 Charles Tomlinson United Kingdom S.W. Partridge and Co. Inferno Terza rima
1880–1892 Arthur John Butler United Kingdom Macmillan and Co. Comedy Prose
1881 Warburton Pike United Kingdom C. Kegan Paul & Co. Inferno Terza rima
1883 William Stratford Dugdale United Kingdom George Bell & Sons Purgatorio Prose
1884 James Romanes Sibbald United Kingdom David Douglas Inferno Terza rima
1885 James Innes Minchin United Kingdom Longmans, Green, and Co. Comedy Terza rima
1886–1887 Edward Hayes Plumptre United Kingdom Wm. Isbister Limited Comedy Terza rima
1887 Frederick Kneller Haselfoot Haselfoot United Kingdom Kegan Paul, Trench & Co. Comedy Terza rima
1888 John Augustine Wilstach United States Houghton, Mifflin and Company Comedy Rhymed stanzas
1889–1900 William Warren Vernon United Kingdom Macmillan & Co. Comedy Prose
1891–1892 Charles Eliot Norton United States Houghton, Mifflin and Company Comedy Prose First American prose translation of the whole Divine Comedy. Revised in 1902
1892–1915 Charles Lancelot Shadwell United Kingdom Macmillan & Co. Purgatorio and Paradiso Marvellian stanzas
1893 George Musgrave United Kingdom Swan Sonnenschein & Co. Inferno Spenserian stanzas
1893 Edward Sullivan[v] United Kingdom Elliot Stock Inferno Prose
1895 Robert Urquhart United Kingdom Privately printed Inferno Terza rima Bibliographer Gilbert F. Cunningham inferred that "Macmillan [& Co.] arranged for the production of the book, but decided not to publish it"[24]
1898 Eugene Jacob Lee-Hamilton United Kingdom Grant Richards Inferno Hendecasyllabic blank tercets
1899 Philip Henry Wicksteed United Kingdom J.M. Dent & Sons Paradiso Prose Edited by Herman Oelsner for Temple Classics
1899 Arthur Compton Auchmuty United Kingdom Williams and Norgate Purgatorio Octosyllabic terza rima
1899–1901 Samuel Home United Kingdom Woodall, Minshall, and Co. Purgatorio (incomplete: I–XXXI only) Hendecasyllabic blank tercets
1901 Thomas Okey United Kingdom J.M. Dent & Sons Purgatorio Prose Edited by Herman Oelsner for Temple Classics
1901 John Carpenter Garnier United Kingdom Truslove, Hanson & Combe Inferno Prose
1902 Edward Clarke Lowe United Kingdom G. H. Tyndall Comedy Blank tercets
1903–1909 Edward Wilberforce United Kingdom Macmillan and Co. Comedy Terza rima
1903–1911 Sir Samuel Walker Griffith United Kingdom Powell and Co. Comedy Hendecasyllabic blank tercets
1904 Caroline C. Potter United Kingdom Digby, Long & Co. Purgatorio and Paradiso Rhymed quatrains
1904 Henry Fanshawe Tozer United Kingdom Clarendon Press Comedy Prose
1904 Marvin Richardson Vincent United States Charles Scribner's Sons Inferno Blank verse
1905 Charles Gordon Wright United Kingdom Methuen & Co. Purgatorio Prose
1908 Frances Isabella Fraser United Kingdom S.W. Simms Paradiso Blank tercets
1910 Agnes Louisa Money United Kingdom George Allen & Sons Purgatorio Blank tercets
1911 Charles Edwin Wheeler United Kingdom J.M. Dent & Sons Comedy Terza rima
1914 Edith Mary Shaw United Kingdom Constable and Company Comedy Blank verse
1915 Edward Joshua Edwardes United Kingdom Women's Printing Society Inferno Blank tercets
1915 Sir Samuel Griffith Australia Oxford University Press Comedy Unrhymed hendecasyllabic verse First translation by an Australian author[25]
1915 Henry Johnson United States Yale University Press; Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press Comedy Blank tercets
1918–1921 Courtney Langdon United States Harvard University Press Comedy Blank verse
1920 Eleanor Vinton Murray United States Self-published Inferno Terza rima
1921 Melville Best Anderson United States World Book Company; Yonkers-on-Hydon; George G. Harrap & Co. Comedy Terza rima Reprinted in Oxford World's Classics with an introduction from Paget Toynbee in 1932
1922 Henry John Hooper United Kingdom George Routledge and Sons Inferno Amphibrachic tetrameter
1927 David James MacKenzie United Kingdom Longmans, Green and Co. Comedy Terza rima
1928–1931 Albert R. Bandini United States (born in Italy) The People's Publishing Co. Comedy Terza rima
1928–1954 Sydney Fowler Wright United Kingdom Fowler Wright Ltd.; Oliver and Boyd Inferno and Purgatorio Irregularly rhymed decasyllables
1931 Jefferson Butler Fletcher United States The Macmillan Company Comedy Defective terza rima
1931 Lacy Lockert United States Princeton University Press Inferno Terza rima
1932–1935 Geoffrey Langdale Bickersteth United Kingdom Cambridge University Press Comedy Terza rima
1933–1943 Laurence Binyon United Kingdom Macmillan and Co. Comedy Terza rima
1934–1940 Louis How United States The Harbor Press Comedy Terza rima
1938 Ralph Thomas Bodey United Kingdom Harold Cleaver Comedy Blank verse
1939–1946 John Dickson Sinclair United Kingdom The Bodley Head Comedy Prose Republished by Oxford University Press in 1948
1948 Lawrence Grant White United States Pantheon Books Comedy Blank verse
1948 Patrick Cummins United States B. Herder Book Co. Comedy Hendecasyllabic terza rima
1949–1953 Harry Morgan Ayres United States S. F. Vanni Comedy Prose
1949–1962 Dorothy L. Sayers United Kingdom Penguin Books Comedy Terza rima Printed in Penguin Classics. After Sayers' death in 1957, the final cantos of Paradiso were completed by Barbara Reynolds.
1952 Thomas Weston Ramsey United Kingdom The Hand and Flower Press Paradiso Defective terza rima
1954 Howard Russell Huse United States Rinehart Comedy Prose
1954–1970 John Ciardi United States New American Library Comedy Defective terza rima Audio version of Inferno recorded and released by Folkways Records in 1954[26]
1956 Glen Levin Swiggett United States University Press of the University of the South Comedy Terza rima
1958 Mary Prentice Lillie United States Grabhorn Press Comedy Hendecasyllabic blank tercets
1961 Warwick Fielding Chipman United Kingdom Oxford University Press Inferno Terza rima
1962 Clara Stillman Reed United States Self-published Comedy Prose
1965 William F. Ennis United Kingdom Il Campo Editore Comedy Dodecasyllabic terza rima
1965 Aldo Maugeri Italy La Sicilia Inferno Blank tercets First English translation of Inferno to be published in Italy.
1966 Louis Biancolli United States Washington Square Press Comedy Blank verse
1966 G. W. Greene United States Italica Inferno (incomplete) Blank verse Contains only thirty-one of the Inferno's thirty-four cantos; Greene died in 1883 without publishing the work[27]
1966 BBC Third Programme United Kingdom British Broadcasting Corporation Inferno
Contains work from twelve translators who presented their translations on the BBC Third Programme[28]
1967–2002 Mark Musa United States Penguin Books Comedy Blank verse Second Penguin Classics translation
1969 Thomas Goddard Bergin United States Grossman Publishers Comedy Blank verse
1969 Allan Gilbert United States Duke University Press Inferno Prose
1970–1975 Charles S. Singleton United States Princeton University Press Comedy Prose Literal prose translation. Published as six volumes, with one volume of translation facing Italian text and one volume of commentary for each cantica
1979 Kenneth R. Mackenzie United Kingdom The Folio Society Comedy Verse Contains engravings from John Flaxman
1980–1984 Allen Mandelbaum United States Bantam Books Comedy Blank verse Mandelbaum was awarded a Gold Medal of Honor from the city of Florence for his translation.[29] Certain editions contain illustrations from Barry Moser.
1981 C. H. Sisson United Kingdom Oxford World's Classics Comedy Free tercets
1983 Tom Phillips United Kingdom Waddington Graphics Inferno Verse Contains original prints by Phillips
1985 Nicholas Kilmer United States Branden Publishing Co. Inferno Blank verse[30]
1987 James Finn Cotter United States Amity House Comedy Blank verse
1990 Tibor Wlassics Hungary (published and written in the United States) In Print Inc. Inferno Blank verse
1993 James S. Torrens, S.J. United States University of Scranton Press; University of London Press: University of Toronto Press Paradiso Blank verse
1994 Steve Ellis United Kingdom Chatto & Windus[31] Inferno Blank verse
1994 Stephen Wentworth Arndt United States The Edwin Mellen Press Comedy Terza rima
1994 Robert Pinsky United States Farrar, Straus and Giroux Inferno Terza rima
1996 Peter Dale United Kingdom Anvil Press Poetry Comedy Terza rima
1996–2007 Robert M. Durling United States Oxford University Press Comedy Prose
1997–1998 Kathryn Lindskoog United States Mercer University Press Comedy Prose Advertised as a "retelling" rather than direct translation
1998 Elio Zappulla United States Random House Inferno Blank verse
2000 Stanley Appelbaum United States Dover Publications Comedy (partial) Free verse Contains a total of thirty-three cantos selected from different cantiche
2000 Armand Schwerner United States Talisman House Inferno (incomplete) Blank verse Contains only twelve cantos; Schwerner died before he could finish the translation[32]
2000 W. S. Merwin United States Knopf Purgatorio Blank verse
2000 A. S. Kline United States Poetry in translation Comedy Prose
2000–2007 Jean Hollander and Robert Hollander United States Anchor Books Comedy Free verse[33] Known for its extensive scholarly notes; the full text is over 600 pages.[34] The Hollanders were given a Gold Florin award from the city of Florence for their translation.[35]
2002 Ciaran Carson Ireland (published in the United Kingdom) Granta Books Inferno Terza rima First Irish translation of Inferno.
2002–2008 Michael Palma United States W.W. Norton Comedy Terza rima
2002–2004 Anthony M. Esolen United States Modern Library Classics Comedy Blank verse
2005–2012 J. Gordon Nichols United Kingdom Alma Books Comedy Defective terza rima
2006–2007 Robin Kirkpatrick United Kingdom Penguin Books Comedy Blank verse Third Penguin Classics translation
2007 Frank Salvidio United States iUniverse (self-published) Inferno Free tercets
2007–2017 Tom Simone United States Focus-Hackett Publishing Comedy Free verse
2009–2017 Stanley Lombardo United States Hackett Classics Comedy Blank tercets
2010 Burton Raffel United States Northwestern World Classics Comedy Terza rima
2011 Robert M. Torrance United States Xlibris (self-published) Inferno Terza rima
2013–2021 Mary Jo Bang United States Graywolf Press Inferno, Purgatorio (Paradiso in progress as of November 2021[36]) Free verse Text of poem contains anachronistic references to figures such as Sigmund Freud, Vladimir Mayakovsky, and Stephen Colbert[37]
2013 Clive James Australia (written in the United Kingdom) Picador Comedy Quatrains
2017 Peter Thornton United States Arcade Publishing Inferno Blank verse
2018–2020 Alasdair Gray United Kingdom Canongate Books Comedy Prosaic verse Renders "Ghibelline" and "Guelph" as "Tory" and "Whig" respectively
2020–2021 David Macleod Black United Kingdom (born in South Africa) New York Review Books Purgatorio Blank verse
2021 Ned Denny United Kingdom Carcanet Comedy Long, loosely-rhyming couplets in twelve-line, 144-syllable stanzas (an average of nine per canto). A "poet's version... in the interpretative tradition of Chapman, Dryden and Pope" and titled simply B (After Dante) - with the canticas becoming Blaze, Bathe and Bliss - this is the only translation to recast the Commedia into a wholly original form.
2021 Gerald J. Davis United States Insignia Publishing Comedy Prose
2022 J. Simon Harris United States Nostra Vita Books Inferno Terza rima
2022-2023 Joe Carlson United States Roman Roads Press Comedy Blank Verse

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Latin-derived term for the three parts of the Divine Comedy. The singular form is cantica.
  2. ^ Each cantica is divided into thirty-three or thirty-four cantos so that the Comedy has a total of one hundred
  3. ^ The Divine Comedy was originally written in hendecasyllabic terza rima, i.e. eleven-syllable lines and a rhyme scheme of ABA BCB CDC ...YZY Z. Most English translations that attempt to replicate the rhyme scheme replace the hendecasyllables with iambic pentameter, a ten-syllable form more common in English-language poetry. Many translations use a simplified rhyme scheme of ABA CDC EFE, described by Cunningham and listed here as "defective terza rima".[16]
  4. ^ Born Claudia Hamilton Garden. Used pen name "Mrs. Ramsay"[19]
  5. ^ Son of Sir Edward Sullivan, 1st Baronet[23]

References

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  1. ^ Delmolino 2017.
  2. ^ Bloom 1994.
  3. ^ Lepschy 1977.
  4. ^ a b c Tavoni 2022.
  5. ^ Chaucer 2008, Section 7.6: "Whoever wants to hear [the tale of Ugolino] in a longer version, read the great poet of Italy who is called Dante, for he can all narrate in great detail; not one word will he lack".
  6. ^ Milton 1641, p. 30: "Dante in his 19. Canto of Inferno hath thus, as I will render it you in English blank Verse. 'Ah Constantine, of how much ill was cause / Not thy Conversion, but those rich demaines / That the first wealthy Pope receiv'd of thee.' So in his 20. Canto of Paradise hee makes the like complaint".
  7. ^ Jacoff 1993.
  8. ^ Zanobini 2016.
  9. ^ Holekamp 1985.
  10. ^ Hainsworth 2018.
  11. ^ Cunningham 1966.
  12. ^ Cunningham 1966, pp. v.2 5-9.
  13. ^ "American Dante Bibliography". Dante Society of America. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
  14. ^ "Bibliografia Internazionale Dantesca" [International Dante Bibliography]. Retrieved 12 November 2022. For a multilingual list of translations, see Dante Alighieri > Works > Commedia (Comedy) > Editions > Complete work
  15. ^ Toynbee 1921, See pages 156–280 for a comprehensive list of English Dante translations up to 1921, including single lines and cantos.
  16. ^ Cunningham 1954, pp. 115, 177.
  17. ^ Cunningham 1954, p. 28.
  18. ^ Jacoff 1993, p. 245-246.
  19. ^ Gifra, Pere. "An eye for detail - 01 Nov 2015". Catalonia Today. Retrieved 2022-09-10.
  20. ^ "Longfellow's Translation of Dante's Divina Commedia". The Atlantic. 1 August 1867. Retrieved 12 November 2022. It is not to Mr. Longfellow's reputation only that these volumes will add, but to that of American literature. It is no little thing to be able to say, that, in a field in which some of England's great poets have signally failed, an American poet has signally succeeded ; that what the scholars of the Old World asserted to be impossible, a scholar of the New World has accomplished ; and that the first to tread in this new path has impressed his footprints so deeply therein, that, however numerous his followers may be, they will all unite in hailing him...
  21. ^ Cunningham 1954, p. 229.
  22. ^ Cunningham 1954, p. 255.
  23. ^ Cunningham 1954, p. 406.
  24. ^ Cunningham 1954, p. 428.
  25. ^ Cooper 1989.
  26. ^ "The Inferno (Dante Alighieri): The Immortal Drama of a Journey through Hell". folkways.si.edu. Retrieved 20 June 2022.
  27. ^ Harrison 1966.
  28. ^ "American Dante Bibliography for 1967 | Dante Society". www.dantesociety.org. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
  29. ^ Grimes 2011.
  30. ^ Hollander, Robert (26 August 2003). "Translating Dante into English Again and Again". Divine Comedies for the New Millennium. pp. 43–48. doi:10.1017/9789048505241.003. ISBN 9789048505241.
  31. ^ Josephine Balmer (13 March 1994). "BOOK REVIEW / The lost in translation: 'Hell' - Dante Alighieri". The Independent. Retrieved 2017-04-20.
  32. ^ "American Dante Bibliography for 2000 | Dante Society". www.dantesociety.org. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
  33. ^ Parks, Tim (8 January 2001). "Hell and Back". The New Yorker. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
  34. ^ Barbarese 2009.
  35. ^ "Hollander to be honored in Italy". Princeton University. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
  36. ^ Johnson 2021.
  37. ^ Acocella 2013.

Bibliography

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Further reading

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