Inferno I Earth

Dante realizes that he has lost his way from the virtuous path, he tried to climb the mountain of joy but is faced with three beasts blocking his way. Virgil explains “he has been sent to lead Dante from error. There can, however, be no direct ascent past the beats; the man who would escape them must go a longer and harder way. First, he must descend through Hell (The recognition of Sin), then he must ascend through Purgatory (the Renunciation of Sin) and only then may he reach the pinnacle of joy and come to the Light of God” (Ciardi 3)

• Each translator has their own voice and tone for the introduction Canto of Inferno but they stay remarkably similar. Mandelbaum is the only translator who chooses not to include the word “Midway” in this opening. Translators have agreed that Dante is referring to the midpoint of his earthly life “at the age of 35, the middle point of a man’s early pilgrimage of three-score and ten years” (Sayers), “half way through his biblically allotted threescore years and ten” (Palma).
• Sayers is the only translator who uses a term besides ‘shade’ in her poetry, though she uses the term in her description of Canto I “he is fleeing back into the wood, he is stopped by the shade of Virgil” (71).
• Each translator shows some discrepancy on how they describe Dante’s meeting of Virgil, “bashful forehead” (Longfellow), “Awe-struck head” (Sayers), “My voice grew tremulous” (Ciardi) and “Shame” from both Mandelbaum and Palma.