La respuesta breve
- Choose our edition if you want the whole Divine Comedy: all three parts, nothing left out, with a 15-minute summary beside it.
- For study: set a few key passages of the Divine Comedy beside a line-by-line scholarly translation.
How translations differ
Dante wrote the Divine Comedy in terza rima, a chain of three-line stanzas linked by interlocking rhymes. A translator must therefore decide how to carry the poem into English while balancing the linked sounds of its verse with its meaning.
What makes the Divine Comedy hard to translate
The journey changes guides as well as destinations. Virgil, the Roman poet, guides Dante through hell and purgatory; Beatrice leads him through paradise for most of the way. Translation must carry those changes without obscuring the course of the imagined journey. The language has to keep the guide and the traveller distinct, while making clear where Dante is going and who leads him.
The poem has three parts: Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso. Its 100 cantos are divided into 34 in Inferno and 33 in each of the other two parts. That structure gives a translator more than individual passages to consider. Each canto belongs to a part, and each part belongs to the whole poem. Decisions about phrasing must serve the passage at hand without losing that larger framework.
The kinds of translation of the Divine Comedy
| Kind of translation | What it keeps | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Prose | The story of the Divine Comedy, told plainly | A first read. |
| Verse | The rhythm of the Divine Comedy, as you can hear it | Reading aloud. |
| Line by line | The Italian of the Divine Comedy, as closely as English allows | Study, next to the Italian. |
| Library of Alexandria | The whole story of the Divine Comedy, in clear, modern English | A first read, with a 15-minute summary beside it. Open our edition |
When to set a passage beside a scholarly translation
For study, use our edition for the whole story and set a few key passages beside a line-by-line scholarly translation. In Inferno, Canto 1, notice the dark wood and the three beasts; in Inferno, Canto 5, follow the story of Francesca da Rimini. In Paradiso, Canto 33, compare how the final vision is expressed.
Questions
Is the Divine Comedy better in prose or in verse?
Prose suits a first read because it keeps the story, told plainly; Verse keeps a rhythm you can hear and suits reading aloud. The distinction is what you want to follow: the story or the audible rhythm. Line by line suits study next to the Italian.
How long is the Divine Comedy?
The Library of Alexandria edition takes about 8 hours to read at an average pace across all three parts. The poem contains 100 cantos: 34 in Inferno, 33 in Purgatorio and 33 in Paradiso.
Do I have to read all three parts of the Divine Comedy?
Read all three parts to follow the whole imagined journey through hell, purgatory and paradise. Inferno and Purgatorio follow Dante with Virgil as his guide; Paradiso continues into paradise, where Beatrice leads him for most of the way. Stopping before Paradiso leaves that final stage unread.
What is terza rima?
Terza rima is a chain of three-line stanzas with interlocking rhymes: aba, bcb, cdc. Dante uses this form in the Divine Comedy. The middle rhyme of one stanza becomes the outer rhyme of the next, linking the stanzas through sound rather than treating each as a separate unit.
Is the Library of Alexandria edition of the Divine Comedy complete?
Yes. The whole story is there, all three parts, in clear, modern language.
Start with La divina comedia, traducción completa de Longfellow
