Which English translation of the Inferno is the most literary?
Just learn latin and then Italian.
>>25247465i will entertain the thought…how long did this take you and how long do you think it would take a retard
>>25247465that doesn't answer the question
>>25247465Meh. Rhyming poetry in Italian is child's play.It takes a real poet to translate it.
>>25247462I like the John Ciardi and Robin Kirkpatrick translations. If you want something more "academic" sounding, try Cary or Longfellow. Enjoy, Inferno rocks.
>>25247465I’d put money on this guy not knowing either language.
rhyming and poetic translation should be illegal. meaning is absolutely primary. a rhyme scheme is so much less unique to a poem then its precise meaning. sad reality but reality. something like pope's homer is fine, because at that point, there is no pretention of actual translation. it's more a retelling. for that reason i'd reccomend the hollander translation which comes with copious notes and the original italian on the opposite page.
>>25247977I strongly recommend the Hollander translation as well, although I disagree with your bifurcation of meaning and melody, and I would not recommend it if it didn't have a great rhythm as well. Nabokov's translation for Eugene Onegin is horrific unless you use it as subtitles while listening to the poem, in which case it is the best, and if you try it you will see how important rhythm and sound can be
>>25247462get chatgpt to translate it for you
I didn't ask for translations attempting to retain as much accuracy as possible, I want the most artful translation in English as English.
>>25247465No thanks
>>25247462longfellow
>>25247462
>>25248010>great rhythmagain, sadly, it will never be the rhythm of the actual poem, even if its forced into the same meter. nabokov's onegin works because of the "notes on prosody" and the ridiculous (definitely unnecessary, but still) amount of supplementation. prosody is important, it is the most important distinguishing factor of poetry, that may be, but it still isn't the most important factor overall. otherwise we could merely make meaningless phonetically poetic sounds. ideally translation is subtitles, with notes that turn the literal into the idiomatic and contextual. its the marriage of sounds to meanings that makes poetry, and translation has to favor the mother when it comes to custody rights.
>>25247465a bilingual verse translation of a long poem seems like a very fast way to learn a language, at the cost of sounding normal. i've just ordered a bilingual verse edition of a roman poem and will try to teach myself latin with it.
>>25248553Absolutely based
