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Reader discussion: The divine comedy
Public reader discussion about The divine comedy by Dante Alighieri.
What is the best way of tackling The Divine Comedy?
By Bucket-Bridge69
I’ll try to keep this short.
I’m really curious about *The Divine Comedy*, but I feel kind of intimidated by it. How hard is it to actually understand? Is the writing pretty complex? I struggle a bit with older books and I’m worried it might not be worth starting if I end up unable to finish.
And since the original is in Italian and I’m bilingual (Portuguese and English), would it make more sense to read it in Portuguese? I figured it might flow better since they’re both Romance languages, but I’m not sure.
Also, does anyone have recommendations for good annotated editions (or any advice in general)?
Thanks!
Opinions on The Divine Comedy as a casual reader?
By SleepyMeadow8811
I started The Divine Comedy pretty recently too, using the John Ciardi translation, and it’s not really matching up with what I thought it would be after all the stuff it’s inspired in movies and culture. I’m only about 40% into Inferno, but I keep feeling like I’m missing more than I’m getting.
Last December I read Paradise Lost and liked it a lot, and I kind of thought that would set me up for Dante: basically biblical fan-fiction for the writer’s own religious views and their issues with politics or religion of the time, plus a bunch of references to the Odyssey, Iliad, and Aeneid, none of which I’ve read. Even without much Greek myth knowledge or really deep history knowledge, I still got a lot out of Paradise Lost just from the story, the religious stuff I do know, and all the notes.
But The Divine Comedy has been a lot harder for me to enjoy in the same way. On a basic level I can follow what the notes and translator comments are saying, and I can catch some of the allegory and appreciate some of Dante’s moral and religious ideas when they show up.
The big problem is I just don’t know enough about Florentine history and politics, or Greek mythology, to really feel a lot of what’s going on. I can read the annotations and understand it logically, but that’s not the same as actually having it click from my own background or experience. The early parts of Hell felt more engaging to me, but once I got past Dis I’ve felt more and more shut out as Florence and its future keep becoming part of the discussion.
I still find it interesting and I do respect it a lot, but I can also tell my lack of knowledge on a lot of the topics is hurting how much I’m enjoying the poem.
TL;DR: I’m basically wondering if it’s worth pushing on like this, or if I should pause and come back later after learning more about some of the background stuff (Greek history and mythology, Aristotle’s Ethics and Physics, and the general history of Florence). Also curious what other more casual readers think about The Divine Comedy here.
What's the best translation for the Divine Comedy?
By acornzenith
I feel like there are a bunch of solid options in English, but none of them are perfect.
Sayers and Reynolds are trying to do Dante’s terza rima pretty directly. When it works, it’s amazing, but when it doesn’t it’s… really awkward.
Musa reads smoothly and feels clear, and sometimes there’s this quiet kind of beauty, but for me the lines don’t stick around in my head.
Ciardi is probably the most “popular” pick—really poetic—but he’s not as strict with the Dante structure as I’d like. To me it feels like he’s moving too fast.
Pinsky is interesting in a way that’s also a little maddening. He’s willing to bend things, including with terza rima, and I just don’t gel with it. He’s only done *Inferno*, too.
Same general deal with Merwin (as far as I know he only did *Purgatorio*).
The Hollanders basically get the job done and it’s pretty balanced. Their style has enough “music,” but I also suspect some of that comes from reshaping Sinclair/Singleton’s prose into verse more than anything. Their notes are insanely detailed though—kind of overwhelming—which is why I end up using them.
Durling/Martinez are good if you want more straightforward prose, and they’ve got detailed notes as well. The Hollanders and Durling/Martinez editions feel more for people who want to dig deep academically, not just read casually.
Singleton (older) is honestly great prose—I still think it’s my favorite. It’s a revision of Sinclair, and it comes as a bunch of volumes for each cantica, plus notes and commentary. Princeton also just put out a single-volume bilingual one with nice artwork.
Esolen has some really great moments, but also some weaker ones. Still, overall it’s a good translation and I’d describe it as pretty “muscular.”
Kirkpatrick is good and sometimes makes Dante sound like a huge English writer—almost Shakespeare/Milton-ish. But then he gets a little too showy, and some of the wording is… a choice. Like those four-letter-word gestures that come off a bit jarring.
Clive James is eccentric, and the quatrains thing bothers me since Dante’s using tercets for a reason. Mary Jo Bang is even more eccentric than that—still, she’ll hit you with some lines that really grab you.
Cary is super old but still readable to a degree, and Longfellow is still a wonderful early American option if you can handle the 1800s language.
Nichols is beautiful. I get this sense of it being sort of a hybrid between Mandelbaum and Musa. And yeah—also interesting that not all the translators were poets, but a lot of the poet-translators seem to catch things other people might miss.
Mandelbaum’s *Divine Comedy* is very good too. He doesn’t stick to terza rima in a strict way all the time, but when it’s natural he uses it, and overall he really does Dante well. To me he’s one of the best of the bunch.
One more thing: Michael Palma just published his whole *Commedia* in 2024, and I’m going through it now. So far I’m impressed—apparently he’s mostly managed terza rima in English. From what I’ve seen, the major English attempts at fully doing terza rima are basically Sayers and Pinsky. Others like Ciardi kind of do a “fake” terza rima setup (rhyme in the right places but with the middle line different), and even the ones that nail some moments still feel uneven overall. I’m really hoping Palma actually pulls it off.
Anyway—hope this helps. You don’t have to find “the one” right away. If you end up loving Dante, it’s totally fair to read/re-read through a couple translations and see what clicks for you. Happy reading :)