750th anniversary of Dante's birth
Published on 17th December 2015
Dante Alighieri was born in Florence in the summer of 1265, 750 years ago. He is recognised as Italy's foremost poet for his masterpiece 'La Divina Commedia'. As well as being a poet, philosopher and linguistic theorist, he was active in Tuscan politics. After political upheaval in Florence in 1301 he was forced to leave the city, never to return. He died in Ravenna in 1321.
Much of Dante's work is addressed to Beatrice, his unattainable love. She is a compelling presence in his Vita nuova, a sequence of lyric poems, and the Divina Commedia. Like Shakespeare's 'dark lady' Beatrice's identity has been debated over the centuries. She is now thought to be Beatrice Portinari who died in Florence in 1290.
Dante is considered the father of Italian literature for his use of the vernacular Italian, based on the regional Tuscan dialect, in his works, at a time when literary works were mostly written in Latin. From the point of view of Italian literature he was the first to use vernacular Italian so successfully as a literary language.
Living at the same time as the artist Sandro Botticelli we are fortunate to have Dante's portrait painted by the artist. Today the poet is represented by frescoes and statues in many Italian cities, including his home town of Florence, where his statue can be seen in the Piazza di Santa Croce and at the Uffizi Gallery. Statues in Verona and Naples, and frescoes and murals in Florence and Orvieto give us an accurate representation of his appearance.
La Divina Commedia is recognised as a masterpiece of world literature. It is made up of three poems divided into 100 canti, telling the story of the author’s journey through Hell, Purgatory and Heaven. On his visit to Hell and Purgatory Dante is guided by the Roman poet Virgil, when he reaches Paradise at the top of the mountain he is greeted by Beatrice dressed in robes of flame.
Inferno, is dated to about 1306, Purgatorio to 1313-1314, and Paradiso to about 1316. Boccaccio made an important revision of the text between 1350 and 1370. The poem was first printed in Foligno (Umbria) in 1472, followed by editions from Mantua, Venice, and Florence in 1481 with engraved vignettes from designs by Botticelli.
Dante's work was very influential and La Divina Commedia has been translated into scores of languages. The first English translation of the entire work was completed by Rev. Henry Boyd in 1802, his Inferno appearing first in 1785. The best known English translation is by H.F. Cary, entitled The vision of Hell, published with the Italian text in 1805-6, followed by the two other parts by 1814. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow translated it in 1865-67. Dorothy L. Sayers, creator of Lord Peter Wimsey, translated it for Penguin Classics between 1949 and 1962. In recent times Seamus Heaney has done a verse translation of Ugolino (Inferno canti 32 and 33), published in Fieldwork (1979) and Ciarán Carson has done a translation of The Inferno of Dante Alighieri (2002).
An Irish language translation was undertaken by an tAthar Pádraig de Brún, but his death in 1960 meant that the translation was not completed. Ifreann was published on its own in 1963. A new edition translated into Irish by Dr Ciarán Ó Coigligh is based on de Brún's work. The full poem was published in Irish as An Choiméide Dhiaga in 1997.
The 1785 translation of Inferno by Henry Boyd was published by subscription in Dublin in the same year as the London edition. A two-page list of subscribers gives us a window into the purchasers of this translation in Ireland. A high-profile readership is evident, with members of the nobility and gentry and higher clergy very much in evidence. Men and women are present from all over Ireland and fellows of Trinity College are prominent on the list.
We can see that Lord Charlemont purchased 10 copies of the book. Charlemont (1728-1799), born in Dublin in 1728 was very much an Italophile from the time of his grand tour of Europe and the near East from 1746 to 1754. He spent much of this time in Italy absorbing the culture and language and purchasing art works and statues, which later adorned his Dublin town house in Rutland Square (now the Hugh Lane Gallery in Parnell Square) and his country home at Marino where he built the Casino. He became fluent in Italian and while in Italy was elected to many of the academies in different Italian cities. He collected an extensive library which held a large amount of Italian literature.
Samuel Whyte, headmaster of the English Grammar School at 75 Grafton Street, ran one of the best known schools in 18th-century Dublin (1758-1811). Here he taught boys and girls of the middle classes and gentry, and prepared boys for entry into Trinity College. He educated many of the most prominent figures of late 18th- and early 19th-century Ireland.
Joseph Cooper Walker (1762-1810) lived at Eccles Street, Dublin, and St Valeri near Bray. He went to Italy for his health, he became fluent in Italian and was devoted to Italian language and literature. He worked in the Treasury Office in Dublin Castle and collected a very fine library. His letters to the popular English poet, William Hayley (1745-1820) from 1786 to 1812 are held in the Gilbert Library, here at Dublin City Library and Archive (Ms 146). In these letters he discusses Italian literature with Hayley, recommending books and exchanging information on new publications.
Search for Dante Alighieri in the library catalogue.