Translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Translated and commented by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. This series of Longfellow’s translation of the Devine Comedy published at includes the following publications: The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri.

In general, it shows how accurate a translation is. Furthermore, the coloration proves that the majority of the text consists of direct speech whereas the narrative parts are relatively limited in size. The goal of this publication is to illustrate the overwhelming beauty, the infinite variety and immense complexity of the Dantean text. For this colored edition, the capital letters at the beginning of the verses have been dissolved to point out the whole structure of a sentence. When the colored translation is put next to the Italian text (see the bilingual edition of this series), the corresponding parts can be immediately identified, thus facilitating further text analyses.

green-dark green, blue-dark purple, purple-dark purple. Explanatory or educational insertions, as a contrast, are marked in a darker color in bold type, e. Gold is used for abstract concepts like the scripture in heaven. Inscriptions like those on the gate of hell or on Anastasius’ tomb are marked in brown. A criterion for the choice of a color is, how well it differs from the other voices within a canto. Green, purple, orange, dark teal, aqua, dark purple, etc. Bernhard) the color blue is used according to certain illuminated manuscripts. To mark the guides in the afterworld (Virgil, Beatrice, St. In the bilingual edition of this series the corresponding verse numbers are highlighted in yellow.

The numerous similes that anchor Dante’s afterworld to this world, the terrene part is set in red italic. Dante for example is at the same time narrator (black), protagonist (red) and author (red italic) as well as sender of messages (bold red) to concrete or abstract addressees. The differentiation by colors will help identifying the various speakers and levels of speech. What didn’t exist so far is the coloration of the text according to the voices as shown in this edition. the color red for initials and canto indications as well as-on the lines of certain bible editions and similar publications-for labeling the rubrics (from Latin rubrum = red), the colors red and blue for initials and the whole palette for artful initials and illustrating miniatures. Since the earliest manuscripts colors were used for Dante’s Divine Comedy, e.

In this volume, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s translation of Dante’s Divine Comedy is colored according to the concept of “La Commedia Colorata”.

The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri