DanteAlighieri

r/DanteAlighieri • u/LeftoverGrease354 • 6d ago

Questions & Discussion I tried to find every person who talked about reading 3+ translations of Dante, and compared them to see what was the most popular.

15 Upvotes

This was just a thing I did as a timewaster to get ideas for versions to read. Moreso then a lot of classic literature Divine Comedy seems to be very split online regarding the best translation, so I wanted to see what people thought. Don't take this that seriously, it's a bit of a litmus test to see what's popular from people who are more dedicated Dante scholars. I did the work so I thought I might as well post it for anyone interested.

The requirements to be "entered" in this was that the user had to have read at least 3 translations, and must explicitly speak about each translation to some degree they show some knowledge about it. There are a couple vague posts online that kinda imply the user has read a certain number of translations, but they don't go into enough detail where I'm comfortable including them. The users did not have to finish the entire translation to be added to the list.

Couple additional warnings - many people did not list an exact favorite translation, so I just had to make the decision for myself what to include as their "favorites", in most of these scenarios I've just added all their multiple translations that they rated highly as their 'favorites' , which kinda inflates some numbers. This isn't exactly scholarly, again don't take this too seriously. The population pool was super small I could only find 16 people anyways.

If I've missed anyone (I'm sure I've missed a ton of academics of which their translation arguments are buried in old scholarly essays rather then posted online) or you yourself have read 3+ translations feel free to comment and let me know what you think.

Anyways the final results for favorite translation are:

John Ciardi - 7

Allen Mandelbaum - 6

Robert Hollander & Jean Hollander - 4

Mark Musa - 2 + one 2nd place

Charles S. Singleton - 2

Robert Pinsky - 2

Ciaran Carson - 2

Robert Durling - 2

Anthony M. Esolen - 1

Herbert A. Kenny - 1

Michael Palma - 1

D.M. Black - 1

Dorothy L. Sayers - 1

John Aitken Carlyle - 1

J. Gordon Nichols - 1

Sources:

2011 - stlukesguild

Source: https://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?60958-Best-Translation-of-Divine-Comedy

Preferred Translation: Robert Hollander & Jean Hollander

Other Read Translations: John Ciardi, Robert Pinsky, Allen Mandelbaum, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Note: Liked all translations. Liked Ciardi and Pinsky above Mandelbaum.

2015 - 4chandantechart@gmailcom

Source: https://i.imgur.com/VwPhA8Q.jpeg

Preferred Translation: John Ciardi, Allen Mandelbaum, Robert Hollander & Jean Hollander, Robert Durling, Charles Singleton, Ciaran Carson

Other Read Translations: Dorothy L. Sayers, Robert Pinsky, W.S. Merlin, Clive James, Mary Jo Bang, Henry Francais Cary, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John Sinclair, Mark Musa, Robert Kirkpatrick

Note: Ciaran Carson isn't put in the general recommended list, but the only one in the "special" pile that isn't given mixed reviews. Singleton, Sinclair, and Sayers were only read in part.

2016 - Callum Kiser

Source: https://flickstofaulkner.wordpress.com/2016/07/30/first-blog-post/

Preferred Translation: Robert Pinsky

Other Read Translations: Mark Musa, Robert Hollander & Jean Hollander

2018 - Alan Meehan

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BHIINTGMH4

Preferred Translation: John Ciardi

Other Read Translations: Allen Mandelbaum, Mark Musa

2020/2025 - Hayashi Manabu

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAkwEe053gQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqVj2fFw-h4

Preferred Translation: Allen Mandelbaum

Other Read Translations: Robert Hollander & Jean Hollander, John Ciardi, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Notes: Disliked Longfellow

2021 - Jennifer Brooks

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTZpHs_MfD0&t=787s

Preferred Translation: Mark Musa

Other Read Translations: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Dorothy L. Sayers, Robert Hollander & Jean Hollander, Allen Mandelbaum

Note: Also really likes Longfellow.

2021 - Alexandra Lawrence

Source: https://www.theflorentine.net/2021/03/05/best-dante-books/

Preferred Translation: Robert M. Durling

Other Read Translations: Allen Mandelbaum, John Ciardi

2022 - Steve Donoghue

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJGwserl5fA&t=82s

Preferred Translation: Allen Mandelbaum

Other Read Translations: Lawrence Binyon, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Dorothy L. Sayers, Mark Musa, John Ciardi

Notes: Mandelbaum favorite, but also recommeneds Binyon, Longfellow & Sayers. Dislikes Musa and Ciardi.

2024 - u/saturninus

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskLiteraryStudies/comments/1dj1n4y/longfellows_translation_of_the_divine_comedy/

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskLiteraryStudies/comments/1dj1n4y/longfellows_translation_of_the_divine_comedy/

Preferred Translations: Robert Hollander & Jean Hollander, John Ciardi, Dorothy L. Sayers

Other Read Translations: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Charles S. Singleton

2024 - Benjamin McEvoy

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c0GJSnMOzY&t=4104s

Preferred Translations: John Ciardi, Robert Hollander & Jean Hollander, Mark Musa

Other Read Translations: Allen Mandelbaum, Clive Jones, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Dorothy L. Sayers

Notes: "For me it would be between the Ciardi the Musa and the Hollander"

2024 - Vashik Armenikus

Source: https://armenikus.substack.com/p/join-the-2025-dantes-the-divine-comedy

Preferred Translations: Allen Mandelbaum

Other Read Translations: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Robert Kirkpatrick

Note: not 100% sure he read them all but... whatever?

2025 - u/elpilgrim

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/classicliterature/comments/1j5uit6/whats_the_best_translation_for_the_divine_comedy/

Preferred Translations: Charles S. Singleton (favorite prose), J. Gordon Nichols, Allen Mandelbaum, Michael Palma

Other Read Translations: Dorothy L. Sayers, Mark Musa, John Ciardi, Robert Pinsky, W. S. Merlin, Robert Hollander & Jean Hollander, Robert M. Durling, Anthony M. Esolen, Robert Kirkpatrick, Clive James, Mary Jo Bang, Henry Francais Cary, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Note: They mention Mark Musa & John Ciardi as two of the best translations for beginners, but not to their own taste. Appears to have read the most versions I can find - seventeen! Alsoo praises Longfellow, but seemed to imply that might be a tad too archaic to be a preferred translation?

2025 - Nnenna

Source: https://www.tiktok.com/@contemplativecontrarian/video/7540812490465185029

Preferred Translations: Herbert A. Kenny (audiobook only?), John Ciardi

Memes LOL

43 Upvotes

4 comments

r/DanteAlighieri • u/Son_of_Kong • 4d ago

News & Editorials Archdiocese of Chicago unveils new sculpture "honoring" victims of suicide. Remind you of anything?

ncronline.org

25 Upvotes

4 comments

r/DanteAlighieri • u/ManuelTzetzes • 5d ago

Questions & Discussion Digital Dante

4 Upvotes

Ho apprezzato molto il corso "Digital Dante" alla Columbia.

Qualcuno conosce lezioni accademiche online, in italiano, su qualsiasi aspetto di Dante?

1 comment

r/DanteAlighieri • u/ResponseFlimsy1723 • 7d ago

Questions & Discussion How did Dante end up in the dark woods?

28 Upvotes

It might seem a dumb question since I only made some researches about the divine comedy and since this story is supposed to be an allegory, but I’ve been curious about how did Dante end up in this spiritual realm outside the earthly one we all live in and how they’re connected in the comedy.

15 comments

r/DanteAlighieri • u/ginopippio • 12d ago

Questions & Discussion Experience from classical liceum

26 Upvotes

In an italian classical liceum we study this guy first as a poet in general and then for the last three years we study the three parts of the Divine Comedy.

You have no idea how annoying it gets to smear the study of one work for so long. What makes it better is how funny it is that despite his journey being a universal allegory for redemption and yet there is not one moment in which he misses the chance to talk about Florence. Also him basically intelectually cucking his wife with Beatrice is also really funny even though its abundantly clear that atleast in writing his love is never erotic.

if you want to avoid larping accusations about him read his "Rime Petrose". Its a short run of poems in which his beloved is named Petra (stone/stoney - referring to a heart of stone) and he just straight up insults her. There are also a short humorous back and forth with Forese Donati in which he tells him he doesn't sleep with his wife.

2 comments

r/DanteAlighieri • u/dsrules • 13d ago

Memes you see it too, right?

21 Upvotes

Am I crazy?

1 comment

r/DanteAlighieri • u/Obvious-Ad-779 • 14d ago

Questions & Discussion Which of them: Divina Commedia Translations into Anglesh

2 Upvotes

0 comments

r/DanteAlighieri • u/contubernales2 • 19d ago

Original Content Divine Comedy Dual Language Edition with Commentary Online

laurelpoetry.com

20 Upvotes

0 comments

r/DanteAlighieri • u/Canto-XXXIV • 26d ago

Questions & Discussion Question on these two pieces

gallery

45 Upvotes

I am a huge Dante fan, and I have all of the artwork Dore did for it. It’s just in a softcover collection book I bought on Amazon. I also have the Dore illustrated edition that includes all his work with the poem. I have always seen Pic 2 in these collections. I just discovered Pic 1. It isn’t included in any of the collections. Can someone give me the history of this piece? Or why it was excluded?

2 comments

r/DanteAlighieri • u/Cnidaria45 • Sep 12 '26

Music & Video I made a playlist based on the Inferno using solely songs by the Decemberists

open.spotify.com

2 Upvotes

Every category of the damned gets a track in order, though I had to stretch things a bit for a few of them.

0 comments

r/DanteAlighieri • u/justinaschi • Sep 07 '26

Questions & Discussion Discord Community to Contemplate The Devine Comedy. My first problem with The Inferno. Book club.

7 Upvotes

This poem is where I decided to start a discord to discuss some of the illuminating, yet disturbing, concepts these poems introduce to your thoughts.

I have questions on how circle one fits contextually into religion. How can one be damn simply for never knowing? And how can there be no way out other than those that were chosen by god, himself, to not perish for eternity? Unbaptized children? If anyone could shed light exactly on how establishing a hell for people without the choice to follow the faith, can simultaneously be apart of a religion centered on virtue and love?

I find the concept of this circle to contradict ‘the vestibule hell’ poem that states “they yearn for what they fear”. This line is translated further (in the John Ciardi’s Translation) to mean “Hell is their actual and deliberate choice, for divine grace is denied to none who wish for it in their hearts…”

How could there be a place in hell for those that came before the revelation of Christ, yet Hell be a deliberate choice?

Discord invite:

https://discord.gg/JtvmvQfFf

5 comments

r/DanteAlighieri • u/Puzzleheaded_Bee1425 • Sep 05 '26

Questions & Discussion Best Italian edition/commentary of Dante’s Divine Comedy for a medieval history student?

8 Upvotes

Hi! I’m an undergraduate student of medieval history in Italy, and I’d like to buy a good Italian edition of Dante’s Divine Comedy that I can keep and use throughout my university studies.

I’m not mainly looking for a school edition with a simple paraphrase. I’d prefer a serious, university-level commentary, especially one that is strong on the historical, political, religious, and cultural context of the late Middle Ages.

At the moment I’m considering:

Anna Maria Chiavacci Leonardi
Giorgio Inglese
Bosco-Reggio

I’m particularly interested in reading Dante not only as literature, but also as a source for the political culture, religious mentality, institutions, conflicts, and intellectual world of the 13th–14th centuries.

For someone studying medieval history, which Italian commentary would you recommend? I’m also open to other editions if there is one that is especially useful from a historian’s perspective.

I don’t mind buying the three cantiche separately if the edition is worth keeping long-term.

Thank you!

6 comments

r/DanteAlighieri • u/Good_Mood_5313 • Sep 03 '26

Photography & Artwork Gustave Doré, Lucifer King of Hell, Inferno, Canto XXXIV, 1861

213 Upvotes

6 comments

r/DanteAlighieri • u/Obvious_Tomorrow6155 • Sep 01 '26

Original Content currently making inferno in minecraft

13 Upvotes

right now im almost done building the 5th circle, thoughts? and should i drop map when im done

6 comments

r/DanteAlighieri • u/Majestic-Track9802 • Aug 27 '26

Questions & Discussion Exile itinerary

5 Upvotes

Hello,

Does anybody have a list of people Dante was hosted by while in exile and when? Where did he go directly after the news of his exile reached him, and how would he have learned?

0 comments

r/DanteAlighieri • u/Such_Star_9071 • Aug 20 '26

Questions & Discussion What translation of Dante’s Divine comedy shoould i read?

21 Upvotes

Right now, I’m between mark musas, John ciardis, and hollanders. I understand some translation are more direct, but lose the poetic style Dante wrote, like Allen mandelbaums. I’d prefer one that is loyal to his style and keeps his writing style well. Also, I would like if it has notes, since Dante uses a lot of references, and I know musas and hollanders has those. Which of these overall do you think gives the best reading experience, follows Dante’s writing, and is overall a good pick

23 comments

r/DanteAlighieri • u/waxvving • Aug 21 '26

Questions & Discussion Trying to Re-find a great online resource on the Commedia

2 Upvotes

Hello! A number of years ago in grad school, I took a class on Dante and philosophy, and the professor shared an absolutely wonderful online resource that focused on the Commedia especially, but Dante's corpus more generally.

It was a rather old, early-internet era website, but it had a bunch of different translations, line-by-line commentary and exegesis, philological remarks; the works, in short. Would love to be able to track it down again as a book club I'm a part of is reading Inferno this fall. Thanks!

1 comment

r/DanteAlighieri • u/Brief-Pickle2441 • Aug 10 '26

Questions & Discussion "In the middle of the journey of our life I came to myself within a dark wood where the straight way was lost." Dante Alighier-Inferno... How many feel, the dark wood is within one's mind?

90 Upvotes

20 comments

r/DanteAlighieri • u/Brief-Pickle2441 • Aug 09 '26

Questions & Discussion —"Dante and Shakespeare divide the world between them. There is no third." —Was stated by the poet, essayist, and literary critic T.S. Eliot.

157 Upvotes

45 comments

r/DanteAlighieri • u/Appropriate_Cut8097 • Aug 06 '26

Original Content When your little sister is questioning and hating your book choices, draw her as Dante and Virgil as yourself.

35 Upvotes

3 comments

r/DanteAlighieri • u/Kometenmelodie2 • Aug 03 '26

Memes Built different

289 Upvotes

6 comments

r/DanteAlighieri • u/MrCircleStrafe • Aug 03 '26

Photography & Artwork Dante and Virgil at the gate of Hell - Joseph Anton Koch (c1808)

63 Upvotes

1 comment

r/DanteAlighieri • u/veddiefried • Jul 30 '26

Photography & Artwork Canto 33 Inferno Drawing

186 Upvotes

The left was just a visualization of Dante's world structure that I did after I re read Inferno, and the right is my messy rendition of the beloved 3 headed Lucifer concept. Probably could have left out the left side for this post lol but I thought they looked kinda cool next to each other.
Hope ya'll enjoy the artwork.