The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri is an Italian epic poem written between 1308 and 1321 that describes its author's journey through the Christian afterlife.[1] The three parts 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 49 different languages.[4]
Though English writers have been interested in Dante since the 14th century, as evidenced by the fact that both Geoffrey Chaucer[5][6] and John Milton[7] referenced and partially translated his works,[8] 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),[9] Spanish (1428),[10] and French (1500s)[11] translations had been written. By 1906, Paget Toynbee calculated that the Divine Comedy had been touched upon by over 250 translators[12] and sixty years later Gilbert F. Cunningham observed that the frequency of English Dante translations was only increasing with time.[13] As of 2024, the Divine Comedy has been translated into English more times than it has been translated into any other language.[4]
A complete listing and criticism of all English translations of at least one of the three books (cantiche; singular: cantica) up until 1966 was made by Cunningham.[14] The table below summarises Cunningham's data with additions between 1966 and the present. Many more translations of individual lines or cantos exist, but these are too numerous to allow the compilation of a comprehensive list.
Published | Name | Nationality | Publisher(s) | Parts translated | Form | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1782 | Charles Rogers | United Kingdom | J. Nichols | Inferno[15] | Blank verse | First translation of a full cantica into English. Initially published anonymously[16] |
1785–1802 | Henry Boyd | United Kingdom | C. Dilly | Comedy | Rhymed 6-line stanzas | First full translation of the Divine Comedy in English |
1805–1814 | Henry Francis Cary | United Kingdom | James Carpenter | Comedy[17] | 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 rime | |
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 | Reprinted by J.M. Dent and Sons and edited by Herman Oelsner for Temple Classics in 1900[19] |
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 rime | |
1852 | E. O'Donnell | United Kingdom | Thomas Richardson and Son | Comedy | Prose | |
1854 | Thomas Brooksbank | United Kingdom | John W. Parker and Son | Inferno | Terza rime | |
1854 | Sir William Frederick Pollock | United Kingdom | Chapman and Hall | Comedy | Blank terzine | |
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 rime | |
1862 | William Patrick Wilkie | United Kingdom | Edmonston and Douglas | Inferno | Blank terzine | |
1862–1863 | Claudia Hamilton Ramsay | United Kingdom | Tinsley Brothers | Comedy | Terza rime | |
1865 | William Michael Rossetti | United Kingdom | Macmillan and Co. | Inferno | Blank terzine | |
1865–1870 | James Ford | United Kingdom | Smith, Elder & Co. | Comedy | Terza rime | |
1867 | Henry Wadsworth Longfellow | United States | Ticknor and Fields | Comedy | Blank terzine | First complete translation by an American author. One of the best translations according to Gilbert F. Cunningham[20] |
1867–1868 | David Johnston | United Kingdom | Self-published | Comedy[21] | Blank terzine | 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 rime | |
1880–1892 | Arthur John Butler | United Kingdom | Macmillan and Co. | Comedy | Prose | |
1881 | Warburton Pike | United Kingdom | C. Kegan Paul & Co. | Inferno | Terza rime | |
1883 | William Stratford Dugdale | United Kingdom | George Bell & Sons | Purgatorio | Prose | |
1884 | James Romanes Sibbald | United Kingdom | David Douglas | Inferno | Terza rime | |
1885 | James Innes Minchin | United Kingdom | Longmans, Green, and Co. | Comedy | Terza rime | |
1886–1887 | Edward Hayes Plumptre | United Kingdom | Wm. Isbister Limited | Comedy | Terza rime | |
1887 | Frederick Kneeller Haselfoot Haselfoot | United Kingdom | Kegan Paul, Trench & Co. | Comedy | Terza rime | |
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[23] | Prose | |
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 | Sir Edward Sullivan | United Kingdom | Elliot Stock | Inferno | Prose | |
1895 | Robert Urquhart | United Kingdom | Unpublished | Inferno | Terza rime | Cunningham infers 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 terzine | |
1899 | Philip Henry Wicksteed | United Kingdom | J.M. Dent & Sons | Paradiso | Prose | Edited by Herman Oelsner for Temple Classics[25] |
1899 | Arthur Compton Auchmuty | United Kingdom | Williams and Norgate | Purgatorio | Octosyllabic terza rime | |
1899–1901 | Samuel Home | United Kingdom | Woodall, Minshall, and Co. | Purgatorio (incomplete: I-XXXI only) | Hendecasyllabic blank terzine | |
1901 | Thomas Okey | United Kingdom | J.M. Dent & Sons | Purgatorio | Prose | Edited by Herman Oelsner for Temple Classics[26] |
1901 | John Carpenter Garnier | United Kingdom | Truslove, Hanson & Combe | Inferno | Prose | |
1902 | Edward Clarke Lowe | United Kingdom | G. H. Tyndall | Comedy | Blank terzine | |
1903–1909 | Edward Wilberforce | United Kingdom | Macmillan and Co. | Comedy | Terza rime | |
1903–1911 | Sir Samuel Walker Griffith | United Kingdom | Powell and Co. | Comedy | Hendecasyllabic blank terzine | |
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 terzine | |
1910 | Agnes Louisa Money | United Kingdom | George Allen & Sons | Purgatorio | Blank terzine | |
1911 | Charles Edwin Wheeler | United Kingdom | J.M. Dent & Sons | Comedy | Terza rime | |
1914 | Edith Mary Shaw | United Kingdom | Constable and Company | Comedy | Blank verse | |
1915 | Edward Joshua Edwardes | United Kingdom | Women's Printing Society | Inferno | Blank terzine | |
1915 | Sir Samuel Griffith | Australia | Oxford University Press | Comedy | Unrhymed hendecasyllabic verse | First translation by an Australian author[27] |
1915 | Henry Johnson | United States | Yale University Press; Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press | Comedy | Blank terzine | |
1918–1921 | Courtney Langdon | United States | Harvard University Press | Comedy | Blank terzine | |
1920 | Eleanor Vinton Murray | United States | Self-published | Inferno | Terza rime | |
1921 | Melville Best Anderson | United States | World Book Company; Yonkers-on-Hydon; George G. Harrap & Co. | Comedy | Terza rime | 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 | Unrhymed amphiambics | |
1927 | David James MacKenzie | United Kingdom | Longmans, Green and Co. | Comedy | Terza rime | |
1928–1931 | Albert R. Bandini | United States (born in Italy) | The People's Publishing Co. | Comedy | Terza rime | |
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 rime | |
1931 | Lacy Lockert | United States | Princeton University Press | Inferno | Terza rime | |
1932–1935 | Geoffrey Langdale Bickersteth | United Kingdom | Cambridge University Press | Comedy | Terza rime | |
1933–1943 | Laurence Binyon | United Kingdom | Macmillan and Co. | Comedy | Terza rime | |
1934–1940 | Louis How | United States | The Harbor Press | Comedy | Terza rime | |
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 rime | |
1948–1954 | Thomas Goddard Bergin | United States | Appleton-Century-Crofts | Comedy | Blank verse | |
1949–1953 | Harry Morgan Ayres | United States | S. F. Vanni | Comedy | Prose | |
1949–1962 | Dorothy L. Sayers | United Kingdom | Penguin Books | Comedy | Terza rime | Printed in Penguin Classics. After Sayers' death in 1957, Paradiso XXI-XXXIII completed by Barbara Reynolds. |
1952 | Thomas Weston Ramsey | United Kingdom | The Hand and Flower Press | Paradiso | Defective terza rime | |
1954 | Howard Russell Huse | United States | Rinehart | Comedy | Prose | |
1954–1970 | John Ciardi | United States | New American Library | Comedy | Defective terza rime | Audio version of Inferno recorded and released by Folkways Records in 1954.[28] |
1956 | Glen Levin Swiggett | United States | University Press of the University of the South | Comedy | Terza rime | |
1958 | Mary Prentice Lillie | United States | Grabhorn Press | Comedy | Hendecasyllabic blank terzine | |
1961 | Warwick Fielding Chipman | United Kingdom | Oxford University Press | Inferno | Terza rime | |
1962 | Clara Stillman Reed | United States | Self-published | Comedy | Prose | |
1965 | William F. Ennis | United Kingdom | Il Campo Editore | Comedy | Dodecasyllabic terza rime | |
1965 | Aldo Maugeri | Italy | La Sicilia | Inferno | Blank terzine | |
1967–2002 | Mark Musa | United States | Penguin Books | Comedy | Blank verse | Second Penguin Classics translation |
1970–1991 | 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 canticle. |
1980–1984 | Allen Mandelbaum | United States | Bantam Books | Comedy | Blank verse | |
1981 | C. H. Sisson | United Kingdom | Oxford World's Classics | Comedy | Blank verse | |
1994 | Steve Ellis | United Kingdom | Chatto & Windus[29] | Inferno | Blank verse | |
1995 | Robert Pinsky | United States | Farrar, Straus and Giroux | Inferno | Terza rime | |
1996 | Peter Dale | United Kingdom | Anvil Press Poetry | Comedy | Terza rime | |
1996–2007 | Robert M. Durling | United States | Oxford University Press | Comedy | Prose | |
1998 | Elio Zappulla | United States | Random House | Inferno [30] | Blank verse | |
2000 | W. S. Merwin | United States | Knopf | Purgatorio | Blank verse | |
2000 | A. S. Kline | United States | Poetry in translation | Comedy | Prose | |
2000–2007 | Robert and Jean Hollander | United States | Anchor Books | Comedy | Blank verse | Known for its extensive scholarly notes; the full text is over 600 pages.[30] |
2002 | Ciaran Carson | Ireland | Granta Books | Inferno | Terza rime | |
2002 | Michael Palma | United States | W.W. Norton | Inferno | Terza rime | |
2002-2004 | Anthony M. Esolen | United States | Modern Library Classics | Comedy | Blank verse | |
2006-2007 | Robin Kirkpatrick | United Kingdom | Penguin Books | Comedy | Blank verse | Third Penguin Classics translation |
2009-2017 | Stanley Lombardo | United States | Hackett Classics | Comedy | Blank terzine | |
2010 | Burton Raffel | United States | Northwestern World Classics | Comedy | Terza rime | Uses "suggested" instead of perfect rhymes[31] |
2012 | J. Gordon Nichols | United Kingdom | Alma Classics | Comedy | Defective terza rime[32] | |
2013-2021 | Mary Jo Bang | United States | Graywolf Press | Inferno, Purgatorio (Paradiso currently in progress[33]) | Free verse[34] | Text of poem includes anachronistic references to figures such as Sigmund Freud, Vladimir Mayakovsky, and Stephen Colbert.[35] |
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[36] |
2020-2021 | David Macleod Black | United Kingdom (born in South Africa) | New York Review Books | Purgatorio | Blank verse[37] | |
2022 | J. Simon Harris | United States | Nostra Vita Books | Inferno | Terza rime |
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.
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.
((cite book))
: CS1 maint: others (link)
((cite journal))
: Cite journal requires |journal=
(help)
((cite book))
: CS1 maint: others (link)
((cite book))
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
((cite book))
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)