Synopses & Reviews
Belonging in the immortal company of the great works of literature, Dante Alighieri's poetic masterpiece,
The Divine Comedy, is a moving human drama, an unforgettable visionary journey through the infinite torment of Hell, up the arduous slopes of Purgatory, and on to the glorious realm of Paradise the sphere of universal harmony and eternal salvation.
Now, for the first time, John Ciardi's brilliant and authoritative translations of Dante's three soaring canticles "The Inferno," "The Purgatorio," and "The Paradiso" have been gathered together in a single volume. Crystallizing the power and beauty inherent in the great poet's immortal conception of the aspiring soul, The Divine Comedy is a dazzling work of sublime truth and mystical intensity.
Review
"I think [Ciardi's] version of Dante will be in many respects the best we have seen." John Crowe Ransom
Review
"Dante and Shakespeare divide the world between them there is no third." T.S. Eliot
Review
"Ciardi has given us...a credible, passionate persona of the poet, stripped of the customary gauds of rhetoric and false decoration, strong and noble in utterance." Dudley Fitts
Review
"A sensitive and perceptive translation...a spectacular achievement." Archibald MacLeish
Synopsis
The authoritative translations of The Inferno, The Purgatorio, and The Paradiso--together in one volume.
Belonging in the immortal company of the great works of literature, Dante Alighieri's poetic masterpiece, The Divine Comedy, is a moving human drama, an unforgettable visionary journey through the infinite torment of Hell, up the arduous slopes of Purgatory, and on to the glorious realm of Paradise--the sphere of universal harmony and eternal salvation.
Now, for the first time, John Ciardi's brilliant and authoritative translations of Dante's three soaring canticles--The Inferno, The Purgatorio, and The Paradiso--have been gathered together in a single volume. Crystallizing the power and beauty inherent in the great poet's immortal conception of the aspiring soul, The Divine Comedy is a dazzling work of sublime truth and mystical intensity.
Synopsis
Dante Alighieri's poetic masterpiece, The Divine Comedy, is a moving human drama, an unforgettable visionary journey through the infinite torment of Hell, up the arduous slopes of Purgatory, and on to the glorious realm of Paradise-the sphere of universal harmony and eternal salvation.
Synopsis
Dante Alighieri's poetic masterpiece, The Divine Comedy, is a moving human drama, an unforgettable visionary journey through the infinite torment of Hell, up the arduous slopes of Purgatory, and on to the glorious realm of Paradise—the sphere of universal harmony and eternal salvation.
10 illustrations
@HolyHaha I have to climb a mountain now? You got to be kidding me. Is this a joke? Who the hell came up with story? VIIIRRRGGGILLLLLLLLLLL!
From Twitterature: The World's Greatest Books in Twenty Tweets or Less
Synopsis
A stunning 3-in-1 deluxe edition of one of the great works of Western literature
An epic masterpiece and a foundational work of the Western canon, The Divine Comedy describes Dante's descent into Hell with Virgil as his guide; his ascent of Mount Purgatory and reunion with his dead love, Beatrice; and, finally, his arrival in Heaven. Examining questions of faith, desire, and enlightenment and furnished with semiautobiographical details, Dante's poem is a brilliantly nuanced and moving allegory of human redemption. This acclaimed blank verse translation is published here in a one-volume edition in Penguin Classics' black-spine dress.
About the Author
Dante Alighieri was considered Italy's greatest poet. He is the author of the three canticles, The Inferno, The Purgatorio, and The Paradiso, along with La Vita Nuova. He died in 1321. John Ciardi was a distinguished poet and professor, having taught at Harvard and Rutgers universities, and is a poetry editor of The Saturday Review. He was a winner of the Harriet Monroe Memorial Award and the Prix de Rome.
Table of Contents
The Divine Comedy How to Read Dante
Translator's Note
The Inferno
Introduction
Cantos
The Purgatorio
Introduction
Cantos
The Paradiso
Introduction
Cantos