Divine Comedy translation.

This is just my own little attempt at translating the first few stanzas of the Divine Comedy. For terza rima, the noblest Italian poetic form, I've substituted blankverse iambic pentameter, the noblest English poetic form. Enjoy!

THE ITALIAN ORIGINAL

Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita

mi ritrovai per una selva oscura

ché la diritta via era smarrita.

Ahi quanto a dir qual era è cosa dura

esta selva selvaggia e aspra e forte

che nel pensier rinova la paura!

Tant’è amara che poco è più morte;

ma per trattar del ben ch’i’ vi trovai,

dirò de l’altre cose ch’i’ v’ho scorte.

Io non so ben ridir com’i’ v’intrai,

tant’era pien di sonno a quel punto

che la verace via abbandonai.

Ma poi ch'i' fui al piè d'un colle giunto,

là dove terminava quella valle

che m'avea di paura il cor compunto,

guardai in alto, e vidi le sue spalle

vestite già de' raggi del planeta

che mena dritto altrui per ogne calle.

________________

MY TRANSLATION

Halfway upon the pathway of our life

I found myself within a dusky wood

Where the straight road had been utterly lost.

Oh, how difficult for me to say

What this wood was, wild, furious, raw,

Whose very memory renews my fear!

It was so bitter death scarce more could be;

But as some good too came of this, therefore

Shall I speak of what I found therein.

I have no memory of my entry there there,

So weary, dreary, was I at the moment

That I abandoned the straightforward way.

But after I reached the mountain’s root

Where the dreadful valley had its end

Which with fear had pierced my heart full through

I looked up, and upon its shoulders saw

Them vested with the cloak of the planet’s rays

Which guide the others right on every road.

Later, hopefully to-morrow, I'll do a post about 'Why Paradise Lost Is So Beautiful'. Hint: it's because John Milton is the baddest sunuvabitch in post-Renaissance literature. Dude's rhymes were so dope, as somebody who is decidedly not me might say.