Synopses & Reviews
In
The Purgatorio, Dante describes his journey to the renunciation of sin, accepting his suffering in preparation for his coming into the presence of God. This brilliant translation of Dante?s canticle crystallizes the great poet?s immortal conception of the aspiring soul.
Synopsis
Smiling said she to me, Recollect thee now
That thou this very day hast drunk of Lethe . . .
America's most popular poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-82) spent many of his working years producing translations of European works. During the 19th century the Classic tradition was still vibrantly alive, in the countries across the Atlantic -- and through his verse translations Longfellow hoped he might help it acquire similar importance among readers in the young republic of the United States.
Many of these translations stand alongside Longfellow's most famous original poems -- The Psalm of Life, The Children's Hour and Hiawatha. Perhaps his most important were those based upon Dante, which he began in 1843. This second volume, The Purgatory -- with its visions of the Wanton, the Gluttonous, the Sodomites, the Tree of Knowledge and the River Lethe -- is second in the three-volume poem that begins with the Inferno.
About the Author
John Ciardi was a distinguished poet and professor, having taught at Harvard and Rutgers universities, and a poetry editor of The Saturday Review. He was a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Institute of Arts and Letters. In 1955 he won the Harriet Monroe Memorial Award, and in 1956, the Prix de Rome. He died in 1986.