Reviews for The Divine Comedy

The average rating for The Divine Comedy based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-07-16 00:00:00 Gloria Gehrt Paradiso = Paradise = Heaven (La Divina Commedia #3), Dante Alighieri Paradiso is the third and final part of Dante's Divine Comedy, following the Inferno and the Purgatorio. It is an allegory telling of Dante's journey through Heaven, guided by Beatrice, who symbolizes theology. In the poem, Paradise is depicted as a series of concentric spheres surrounding the Earth, consisting of the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the Fixed Stars, ... It was written in the early 14th century. Allegorically, the poem represents the soul's ascent to God. The glory of Him who moveth everything Doth penetrate the universe, and shine In one part more and in another less. Within that heaven which most his light receives Was I, and things beheld which to repeat Nor knows, nor can, who from above descends; Because in drawing near to its desire Our intellect ingulphs itself so far, That after it the memory cannot go. Truly whatever of the holy realm I had the power to treasure in my mind Shall now become the subject of my song. O good Apollo, for this last emprise Make of me such a vessel of thy power As giving the beloved laurel asks! One summit of Parnassus hitherto Has been enough for me, but now with both I needs must enter the arena left. Enter into my bosom, thou, and breathe As at the time when Marsyas thou didst draw Out of the scabbard of those limbs of his. O power divine, lend'st thou thyself to me So that the shadow of the blessed realm Stamped in my brain I can make manifest, Thou'lt see me come unto thy darling tree, And crown myself thereafter with those leaves Of which the theme and thou shall make me worthy. So seldom, Father, do we gather them For triumph or of Caesar or of Poet, (The fault and shame of human inclinations,) That the Peneian foliage should bring forth Joy to the joyous Delphic deity, When any one it makes to thirst for it. A little spark is followed by great flame; Perchance with better voices after me Shall prayer be made that Cyrrha may respond! To mortal men by passages diverse Uprises the world's lamp; but by that one Which circles four uniteth with three crosses, With better course and with a better star Conjoined it issues, and the mundane wax Tempers and stamps more after its own fashion. Almost that passage had made morning there And evening here, and there was wholly white That hemisphere, and black the other part, When Beatrice towards the left-hand side I saw turned round, and gazing at the sun; Never did eagle fasten so upon it! And even as a second ray is wont To issue from the first and reascend, Like to a pilgrim who would fain return, Thus of her action, through the eyes infused In my imagination, mine I made, And sunward fixed mine eyes beyond our wont. There much is lawful which is here unlawful Unto our powers, by virtue of the place Made for the human species as its own. Not long I bore it, nor so little while But I beheld it sparkle round about Like iron that comes molten from the fire; And suddenly it seemed that day to day Was added, as if He who has the power Had with another sun the heaven adorned. With eyes upon the everlasting wheels Stood Beatrice all intent, and I, on her Fixing my vision from above removed, Such at her aspect inwardly became As Glaucus, tasting of the herb that made him Peer of the other gods beneath the sea. تاریخ نخستین خوانش: سال 1968میلادی عنوان: بهشت؛ نویسنده: دانته آلیگیری؛ برگردان: شجاع الدین شفا؛ تهران، امیرکبیر، 1335؛ چاپ دیگر 1347؛ جلد سوم از سه جلد؛ چاپ ششم 1378؛ شابک جلد دوم 9640003999؛ چاپ بیست و یکم 1393؛ جلد نخست دوزخ؛ جلد دوم برزخ؛ جلد سوم بهشت؛ ترجمه از زبان ایتالیائی؛ موضوع شعر شاعران ایتالیائی - سده 14م سرود اول بهشت: (جلال ِ آن کس که گرداننده ی همه چیز است، سرتاسر جهان آفرینش را به فرمان خویش دارد.؛ ولی در اینجا (آسمان) بیشتر، و در جاهای دیگر کمتر متجلی است.؛ بدان آسمانی رفتم، که بیش از هر آسمان دگر از فروغ او بهره مند است، و چیزهایی را دیدم، که آن کس که از آن بالا فرود آمده باشد، نه میداند و نه میتواند باز گفت.؛ زیرا که حس ادراک ما، با نزدیکی به مایه ی اشتیاق خود، چنان مجذوب میشود، که حافظه ی ما را یارای همراهی با آن نمیماند؛ با این همه، آنچه را که از قلمرو مقدس (بهشت) در گنجینه ی اندیشه، جای توانسته ام داد، اکنون مایه ی این سرود خویش میکنم، و بازش میگویم. ای «آپولوی» نیک نهاد، برای این سهم آخرین، مرا آن اندازه، از نبوغ خویش عطا کن، که برای سپردن تاج افتخار محبوب خود به کسان، از آنان طلب میکنی...)؛ تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 05/12/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی

Review # 2 was written on 2016-11-15 00:00:00 Stephanie Borrego The journey with Dante and his spiritual guides through the afterlife concludes appropriately with Paradiso. Written around 1319 to just before he died in 1321, it is his ultimate vision of God and Heaven and a wild ride. The pace is much faster - or at least it seemed to me - than Inferno and Purgatorio and he and Beatrice fly through the Heavenly Sphere (yes, you need a lot of suspension of disbelief and lots of Scholastic philosophy - even Aquinas himself is a tourguide at one point), so it is almost like a science fiction/space travel book. At times, it reminded me of the incomprehensible end of 2001: A Space Odyssey with colors and light and memories flooding by. It requires perhaps the least use of footnotes (see my lamentations in my Purgatorio review) and was fun to read. I felt like I was really surfing sometimes and enjoyed the conclusion with - as in the other two canticles - stars in the sky. It gave me pause to think that as Dante was writing this, the Pope was in Avignon, Giotto was working on his frescoes in Padua, and Copernicus had not yet talked about the sun being the center of the solar system. Quite a time warp... To describe this with a painting, no less than Mathias Grünewald's Isenheim mantlepiece could do - particularly the inner panel with Christ shown in a blinding glow of light. I went to Colmar this year to finally see this piece in person and it gave me the same giddy, light-headed feeling as Paradiso did.