The Divine Comedy

Dante Alighieri was born in Florence in 1265 and belonged to a noble but impoverished family. His life was divided by political duties and poetry the most of famous of which was inspired by his meeting with Bice Portinari whom he called Beatriceincluding La Vita Nuova and The Divine Comedy. He died in Ravenna in 1321.Robin Kirkpatrick is a poet and widelypublished Dante scholar. He has taught courses on Dantes Divine Comedy in Hong Kong Dublin and Cambridge where is Fellow of Robinson College and Professor of Italian and English Literatures.The perfect balance of tightness and colloquialism . . . Likely to be the best modern version of DanteKirkpatrick brings a more nuanced sense of the Italian and a more mediated appreciation of the poems construction than nearly all of his competitorsWe gain much from Kirkpatricks fidelity to syntax and nuance... His introduction...tells you very readable indeed pretty much all you need for a heightened appreciation of the workRobin Kirkpatricks masterful verse translation of The Divine Comedy tracing Dantes journey from Hell to Purgatory and finally Paradise is published here for the first time in a single volume. The volume includes a new introduction notes maps and diagrams and is the ideal edition for students as well as the general reader who is coming to the great masterpiece of Italian literature for the first time. The Divine Comedydescribes Dantes descent into Hell with Virgil as a guide: his ascent of Mount Purgatory and encounter with his dead love Beatrice: and finally his arrival in Heaven. Examining questions of faith desire and enlightenment the poem is a brilliantly nuanced and moving allegory of human redemption. The perfect balance of tightness and colloquialism... likely to be the best modern version of Dante Bernard ODonoghueThe most moving lines literature has achieved Jorge Luis BorgesThis version is the first to bring together poetry and scholarship in the very body of the translation a deeplyinformed version of Dante that is also a pleasure to read Professor David Wallace University of PennsylvaniaIndividual editions of Robin Kirkpatricks translation Inferno Purgatorio and Paradiso are also available in Penguin Classics and include Dantes Italian printed alongside the English text. Dante Alighieri was born in Florence in 1265 and belonged to a noble but impoverished family. His life was divided by political duties and poetry the most of famous of which was inspired by his meeting with Bice Portinari whom he called Beatrice including La Vita Nuova and The Divine Comedy. He died in Ravenna in 1321.Robin Kirkpatrick is a poet and widelypublished Dante scholar. He has taught courses on Dantes Divine Comedy in Hong Kong Dublin and Cambridge where is Fellow of Robinson College and Professor of Italian and English Literatures.