divine comedy – Scott J. Pearson’s Book Review

The Inferno of Dante: A New Verse Translation

By Scott J. Pearson | May 24, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

Dante’s Divine Comedy is famously organized into three sections: hell (inferno), then purgatory, and finally paradise. The first section (hell) is generally considered the greatest of the three, and Robert Pinsky attempts to re-translate the verses in this edition. Dante intentionally wrote the Divine Comedy in the Italian of commoners (instead of the Latin of scholars) so that the masses could read it. Therefore, it is appropriate for Pinsky to translate the Inferno in a…

The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri

By Scott J. Pearson | April 12, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

Dante’s famous The Divine Comedy lies at the intersection of art and theology. I love artful renditions of theology. Further, it is known as the best work of poetry ever to grace the language of Italian. Therefore, I decided to look for a good translation. I’ve enjoyed Longfellow’s poetry in the past, and when I saw that he undertook an adaptation, I chose to give it a go. Unfortunately, Longfellow seemed to stick a little…