Hell or Inferno?: a Comparative Analysis of Four English Translations of Extracts from Dante's Inferno

This book examines Dante's most influential work and its translation into English. It takes a look at certain features and common characteristics in his writing. There is also a brief outline of the Commedia's journey from Italy to England and America in order to understand the interest of English translators in Dante's work and the reason for the multiple translations that exist of his main work. In this study, I try to examine the truth behind the assertion that poetry is untranslatable. Thus, four of the most significant English translations were chosen in order to analyse the success of these translations as poetic works. The translators in question are: Henry Francis Cary; Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; Dorothy Sayers; and Mark Musa. With such a comparative analysis, this book spans the last two hundred years of translation, and thus brings out the latest issues in the translational field. This study is restricted to a number of crucial cantos which will serve as specimen to the whole poem.