List of English translations of the Divine Comedy

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A room in Dante's House Museum [it] containing many translations of the Divine Comedy into different languages Dante's house (Florence) translation room 03.jpg
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 vernacular as the standard form of the Italian language. [3] It has been translated over 400 times into at least 52 different languages. [4]

Contents

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

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
PublishedTranslator(s)NationalityPublisher(s)Parts translatedForm [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 partsRhymed 6-line stanzasFirst full translation of the Divine Comedy in English
1805–1814 Henry Francis Cary United KingdomJames Carpenter (The Inferno, 1805–1806); Taylor and Hessey (The Vision, 1814)ComedyBlank verseVolume 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]

1807Nathaniel HowardUnited Kingdom John Murray InfernoBlank verse
1812 Joseph Hume United Kingdom T. Cadell and W. Davies InfernoBlank verse
1833–1840 Ichabod Charles Wright United Kingdom Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longman ComedyRhymed 6-line stanzas
1843–1865John DaymanUnited 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
1849John Aitken CarlyleUnited 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
1850Patrick BannermanUnited Kingdom William Blackwood and Sons ComedyIrregular rhyme
1851–1854 Charles Bagot Cayley United Kingdom Longmans, Brown, Green, and Longmans ComedyTerza rima
1854Thomas BrooksbankUnited Kingdom John W. Parker and Son InfernoTerza rima
1854 Sir William Frederick Pollock United KingdomChapman and HallComedyBlank tercets
1859Bruce WhyteUnited KingdomWright & Co.; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co InfernoIrregular rhyme
1859–1866John Wesley ThomasUnited Kingdom Henry G. Bohn ComedyTerza rima
1862William Patrick WilkieUnited Kingdom Edmonston and Douglas InfernoBlank tercets
1862–1863Claudia Hamilton Ramsay [iv] United Kingdom Tinsley Brothers ComedyTerza rima
1865 William Michael Rossetti United Kingdom Macmillan and Co. InfernoBlank tercets
1865–1870 James Ford United Kingdom Smith, Elder & Co. ComedyTerza rima
1867 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow United States Ticknor and Fields and Bernhard Tauchnitz ComedyBlank tercetsFirst 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]
1867–1868David JohnstonUnited KingdomSelf-publishedComedyBlank tercetsNever placed on sale; the author sent copies directly to libraries and friends [22]
1877 Charles Tomlinson United KingdomS.W. Partridge and Co.InfernoTerza rima
1881 Warburton Pike United Kingdom C. Kegan Paul & Co. InfernoTerza rima
1883 William Stratford Dugdale United Kingdom George Bell & Sons Purgatorio Prose
1884James Romanes SibbaldUnited Kingdom David Douglas InfernoTerza rima
1885James Innes MinchinUnited KingdomLongmans, Green, and Co.ComedyTerza rima
1886–1887 Edward Hayes Plumptre United KingdomWm. Isbister LimitedComedyTerza rima
1887Frederick Kneller Haselfoot HaselfootUnited Kingdom Kegan Paul, Trench & Co. ComedyTerza rima
1888John Augustine WilstachUnited StatesHoughton, Mifflin and CompanyComedyRhymed stanzas
1892–1915 Charles Lancelot Shadwell United KingdomMacmillan & Co.Purgatorio and Paradiso Marvellian stanzas
1893George MusgraveUnited Kingdom Swan Sonnenschein & Co. Inferno Spenserian stanzas
1893Edward Sullivan [v] United Kingdom Elliot Stock InfernoProse
1895Robert UrquhartUnited KingdomPrivately printedInfernoTerza rimaBibliographer 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 KingdomJ.M. Dent & SonsParadisoProseEdited by Herman Oelsner for Temple Classics
1899Arthur Compton AuchmutyUnited Kingdom Williams and Norgate Purgatorio Octosyllabic terza rima
1899–1901Samuel HomeUnited KingdomWoodall, Minshall, and Co.Purgatorio (incomplete: I–XXXI only)Hendecasyllabic blank tercets
1901 Thomas Okey United KingdomJ.M. Dent & SonsPurgatorioProseEdited by Herman Oelsner for Temple Classics
1901 John Carpenter Garnier United Kingdom Truslove, Hanson & Combe InfernoProse
1902 Edward Clarke Lowe United KingdomG. H. TyndallComedyBlank tercets
1903–1909Edward WilberforceUnited KingdomMacmillan and Co.ComedyTerza rima
1903–1911 Sir Samuel Walker Griffith United KingdomPowell and Co.ComedyHendecasyllabic blank tercets
1904Caroline C. PotterUnited KingdomDigby, Long & Co.Purgatorio and ParadisoRhymed quatrains
1904 Marvin Richardson Vincent United States Charles Scribner's Sons InfernoBlank verse
1905Charles Gordon WrightUnited Kingdom Methuen & Co. PurgatorioProse
1908Frances Isabella FraserUnited KingdomS.W. SimmsParadisoBlank tercets
1910Agnes Louisa MoneyUnited Kingdom George Allen & Sons PurgatorioBlank tercets
1911Charles Edwin WheelerUnited KingdomJ.M. Dent & SonsComedyTerza rima
1914Edith Mary ShawUnited Kingdom Constable and Company ComedyBlank verse
1915Edward Joshua EdwardesUnited Kingdom Women's Printing Society InfernoBlank tercets
1915 Sir Samuel Griffith Australia Oxford University Press ComedyUnrhymed hendecasyllabic verseFirst translation by an Australian author [25]
1915Henry JohnsonUnited States Yale University Press; Humphrey Milford, Oxford University PressComedyBlank tercets
1918–1921Courtney LangdonUnited States Harvard University Press ComedyBlank verse
1920Eleanor Vinton MurrayUnited StatesSelf-publishedInfernoTerza rima
1921Melville Best AndersonUnited States World Book Company; Yonkers-on-Hydon; George G. Harrap & Co. ComedyTerza rimaReprinted in Oxford World's Classics with an introduction from Paget Toynbee in 1932
1922Henry John HooperUnited Kingdom George Routledge and Sons Inferno Amphibrachic tetrameter
1927David James MacKenzieUnited Kingdom Longmans, Green and Co. ComedyTerza rima
1928–1931Albert R. BandiniUnited States (born in Italy)The People's Publishing Co.ComedyTerza rima
1928–1954 Sydney Fowler Wright United KingdomFowler Wright Ltd.; Oliver and Boyd Inferno and PurgatorioIrregularly rhymed decasyllables
1931Jefferson Butler FletcherUnited States The Macmillan Company ComedyDefective terza rima
1931Lacy LockertUnited States Princeton University Press InfernoTerza rima
1932–1935Geoffrey Langdale BickerstethUnited Kingdom Cambridge University Press ComedyTerza rima
1933–1943 Laurence Binyon United KingdomMacmillan and Co.ComedyTerza rima
1934–1940 Louis How United StatesThe Harbor PressComedyTerza rima
1938Ralph Thomas BodeyUnited KingdomHarold CleaverComedyBlank verse
1948 Lawrence Grant White United States Pantheon Books ComedyBlank verse
1948Patrick CumminsUnited States B. Herder Book Co. ComedyHendecasyllabic terza rima
1949–1962 Dorothy L. Sayers United Kingdom Penguin Books ComedyTerza rimaPrinted in Penguin Classics. After Sayers' death in 1957, the final cantos of Paradiso were completed by Barbara Reynolds.
1952Thomas Weston RamseyUnited KingdomThe Hand and Flower PressParadisoDefective terza rima
1954–1970 John Ciardi United States New American Library ComedyDefective terza rimaAudio version of Inferno recorded and released by Folkways Records in 1954 [26]
1956Glen Levin SwiggettUnited StatesUniversity Press of the University of the South ComedyTerza rima
1958Mary Prentice LillieUnited States Grabhorn Press ComedyHendecasyllabic blank tercets
1961Warwick Fielding ChipmanUnited KingdomOxford University PressInfernoTerza rima
1965William F. EnnisUnited KingdomIl Campo EditoreComedyDodecasyllabic terza rima
1965Aldo MaugeriItalyLa SiciliaInfernoBlank tercetsFirst English translation of Inferno to be published in Italy.
1966Louis BiancolliUnited StatesWashington Square PressComedyBlank verse
1966 G. W. Greene United StatesItalicaInferno (incomplete)Blank verseContains 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 StatesPenguin BooksComedyBlank verseSecond Penguin Classics translation
1969 Thomas Goddard Bergin United States Grossman Publishers ComedyBlank verse
1969Allan GilbertUnited States Duke University Press InfernoProse
1979 Kenneth R. Mackenzie United Kingdom The Folio Society ComedyVerseContains engravings from John Flaxman
1980–1984 Allen Mandelbaum United States Bantam Books ComedyBlank verseMandelbaum 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 KingdomWaddington GraphicsInfernoVerseContains original prints by Phillips
1985Nicholas KilmerUnited StatesBranden Publishing Co.InfernoBlank verse [30]
1987James Finn CotterUnited StatesAmity HouseComedyBlank verse
1990 Tibor Wlassics Hungary (published and written in the United States)In Print Inc.InfernoBlank verse
1993James S. Torrens, S.J. United States University of Scranton Press; University of London Press: University of Toronto Press ParadisoBlank verse
1994 Steve Ellis United Kingdom Chatto & Windus [31] InfernoBlank verse
1994Stephen Wentworth ArndtUnited States The Edwin Mellen Press ComedyTerza rima
1994 Robert Pinsky United States Farrar, Straus and Giroux InfernoTerza rima
1996 Peter Dale United Kingdom Anvil Press Poetry ComedyTerza rima
1997–1998 Kathryn Lindskoog United States Mercer University Press ComedyProseAdvertised as a "retelling" rather than direct translation
1998Elio ZappullaUnited States Random House InfernoBlank verse
2000Stanley AppelbaumUnited States Dover Publications Comedy (partial)Free verseContains a total of thirty-three cantos selected from different cantiche
2000 Armand Schwerner United StatesTalisman HouseInferno (incomplete)Blank verseContains only twelve cantos; Schwerner died before he could finish the translation [32]
2000 W. S. Merwin United States Knopf PurgatorioBlank verse
2000–2007 Jean Hollander and Robert Hollander United States Anchor Books ComedyFree 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 InfernoTerza rimaFirst Irish translation of Inferno .
2002–2008 Michael Palma United States W.W. Norton ComedyTerza rima
2002–2004 Anthony M. Esolen United States Modern Library ClassicsComedyBlank verse
2005–2012J. Gordon NicholsUnited Kingdom Alma Books ComedyDefective terza rima
2006–2007Robin KirkpatrickUnited KingdomPenguin BooksComedyBlank verseThird Penguin Classics translation
2007Frank SalvidioUnited States iUniverse (self-published)InfernoFree tercets
2007–2017Tom SimoneUnited StatesFocus-Hackett PublishingComedyFree verse
2009–2017 Stanley Lombardo United States Hackett Classics ComedyBlank tercets
2010 Burton Raffel United StatesNorthwestern World ClassicsComedyTerza rima
2011 Robert M. Torrance United States Xlibris (self-published)InfernoTerza rima
2013–2025 Mary Jo Bang United States Graywolf Press Inferno, Purgatorio (Paradiso scheduled for July 2025 [36] )Free verseText 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 ComedyQuatrains
2017Peter ThorntonUnited States Arcade Publishing InfernoBlank verse
2018–2020 Alasdair Gray United Kingdom Canongate Books ComedyProsaic verseRenders "Ghibelline" and "Guelph" as "Tory" and "Whig" respectively
2021–2025 David Macleod Black United Kingdom (born in South Africa) New York Review Books Purgatorio and ParadisoBlank verse
2021Ned DennyUnited Kingdom Carcanet ComedyLong, 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.
2022J. Simon HarrisUnited StatesNostra Vita BooksInfernoTerza rima
2022-2023Joe CarlsonUnited StatesRoman Roads PressComedyBlank Verse

Full Prose Translations

List of translations
PublishedTranslator(s)NationalityPublisher(s)Notes
1852 Reverend E. O'DonnellUnited KingdomThomas Richardson and SonFirst British prose translation of the whole Divine Comedy
1880–1892 Arthur John Butler United KingdomMacmillan and Co.
1891–1892 Charles Eliot Norton United StatesHoughton, Mifflin and CompanyFirst American prose translation of the whole Divine Comedy . Revised in 1902
1889–1900 William Warren Vernon United KingdomMacmillan & Co.
1904 Henry Fanshawe Tozer United Kingdom Clarendon Press
1939–1946John Dickson SinclairUnited Kingdom The Bodley Head Republished by Oxford University Press in 1948 with emendations. Heavily annotated literal translation that is considered the most accurate and most faithful to the original Italian
1949–1953 Harry Morgan Ayres United StatesS. F. Vanni
1954Howard Russell HuseUnited States Rinehart
1962Clara Stillman ReedUnited StatesSelf-published
1970–1975 Charles S. Singleton United StatesPrinceton University PressLiteral prose translation. Published in 6 volumes with 1 volume of translation facing Italian text and 1 volume of commentary for each cantica
1996–2007 Robert M. Durling United States Oxford University Press
2000A. S. KlineUnited StatesPoetry in translation
2021Gerald J. DavisUnited StatesInsignia Publishing

See also

Notes

  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

  1. Delmolino 2017.
  2. Bloom 1994.
  3. Lepschy 1977.
  4. 1 2 3 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. "Paradiso | Cream & Amber". creamandamber.com. 2025-07-08. Retrieved 2025-01-13.
  37. Acocella 2013.

Bibliography

Further reading