Comparison of Divine Comedy Translations Lyrics
Reverend Henry Francis Cary (1805–1814):
Here sighs with lamentations and loud moans
Resounded through the air pierc'd by no star,
That e'en I wept at entering.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1867):
There sighs, complaints, and ululations loud
Resounded through the air without a star,
Whence I, at the beginning, wept thereat.
Charles Eliot Norton (1891–1892):
Here sighs, laments, and deep wailings were resounding though the starless air; wherefore at first I wept thereat.
Allen Mandelbaum (1980–1984):
Here sighs and lamentations and loud cries
were echoing across the starless air,
so that, as soon as I set out, I wept.
James Finn Cotter (1988)
Here heartsick sighs and groanings and shrill cries
Re-echoed through the air devoid of stars,
So that, but started, I broke down in tears.
Here sighs with lamentations and loud moans
Resounded through the air pierc'd by no star,
That e'en I wept at entering.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1867):
There sighs, complaints, and ululations loud
Resounded through the air without a star,
Whence I, at the beginning, wept thereat.
Charles Eliot Norton (1891–1892):
Here sighs, laments, and deep wailings were resounding though the starless air; wherefore at first I wept thereat.
Allen Mandelbaum (1980–1984):
Here sighs and lamentations and loud cries
were echoing across the starless air,
so that, as soon as I set out, I wept.
James Finn Cotter (1988)
Here heartsick sighs and groanings and shrill cries
Re-echoed through the air devoid of stars,
So that, but started, I broke down in tears.
Robert and Jean Hollander (2000–2007):
Now sighs, loud wailing, lamentation
resounded through the starless air,
so that I too began to weep.
Now sighs, loud wailing, lamentation
resounded through the starless air,
so that I too began to weep.
About
Genius Annotation
When translating the Divine Comedy, the translator often has to choose between capturing the original meaning or capturing the poetry, often choosing an intermediate between the two. The verse being compared is in Canto 3 of Inferno. They are in chronological order.
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