The single episode I like the most is that of Count Ugolino (Inferno 33). It's really cruel and tragic but incredibly beautiful in its tragicity.
Yes, that’s a heartrending one!
My favourite parts of the Inferno are Ulysses (how dare my English teachers give us Tennyson without showing us that! it was a major lightbulb moment when I read Dante and realized that must be where Tennyson was drawing from! ironically, Dante apparently hadn’t read the Odyssey, so his views of Ulysses were drawn from other sources) and Guido da Montefeltro (I just like the point that you can’t pre-emptively repent of something).
Purgatorio is my favourite of the three parts - I find the detailed structure of each of the terraces (songs-prayers, positive and negative examples, penances, benedictions) appealingly organized and very compelling, and it lets you draw a lot out of the comparisons and contrasts between terraces. For example, the way that the first three all have the examples given as images or words (with negative images of Pride particularly emphasized), but three of the the last four terraces, with people who are further along in their reform/purification, have the people giving the examples/reminders themselves. I love the description of the valley of the rulers in ante-puragatory, and the symbolism three steps to the entry of Purgatory, and the Earthly Paradise at the top. The conversations with Aldobrandischi and Oderisi on the terrace of Pride and Sapia on the Terrace of Envy are particularly compelling because you can see in their conversation how they’re trying to wean themselves of negative habits.
Paradisio I find more difficult, but there are definitely parts that I love - particularly in the Sphere of the Sun (the life of St. Francis is one of the most beautiful parts of the entire Commedia, and the discussion of the wisdom of Solomon appeals to me), and all the imagery of the Sphere of Jupiter, and the later imagery of the River of Light. And I only just learned that the Spheres of the Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are arranged to evoke the Four Temporal Virtues (Wisdom - Scholars, Fortitude - Martyrs, Justice - Rulers, and Temperance - Contemplatives, respectively), which was fascinating and really pulled together the symbolism of Paradisio for me (with the dialogue in the Eighth Sphere then being centred on the Three Theological Virtues of Faith, Hope, and Love).
Does anyone else want to discuss this? Thoughts on which translations you prefer? Which parts you like best?
So far, I’ve read parts of the Cary, Longefellow, Ciardi, and Sayers translations, but I think Ciardi is the onky one in which I’ve finished the whole of it. I find that Ciardi and Sayers guve a better sense of Dante’s original tone than the others because they shiftt between colloquial and elevated tones to match the Italian, whereas Cary and Longfellow maintain an elevated tone throughout.
I’ve added Cantos 14-33 of Purgatorio and 2-22 of Paradisio to the Recap page for the work, but I have more difficulty explaning the later cantos of Paradisio.
Edited by Galadriel on Oct 4th 2021 at 12:35:27 PM