Both these books consider how Dante’s Divine Comedy has been transmitted to and through later readers but they do so in radically different ways. One explores the poem’s influence on a selection of later writers and artists. The other republishes a single, historically important translation which the introduction flags as ‘An American Voice for Dante’. This republication is introduced by a scholarly introduction and accompanied by interpretative illustrations. I’ll look at both books in terms of what I think they can offer non-specialist literary readers, though it’s only fair to say that the republication of Charles S. Singleton’s translation seems … Continue Reading

Baudelaire uses rhyme in strikingly different ways. ‘Spleen’ and ‘L’Invitation au voyage’ can illustrate contrasting ends of one kind of spectrum.

Spleen

Pluviôse, irrité contre la ville entière,
De son urne à grands flots verse un froid ténébreux
Aux pâles habitants du voisin cimetière
Et la mortalité sur les faubourgs brumeux.

Mon chat sur le carreau cherchant une litière
Agite sans repos son corps maigre et galeux;
L’âme d’un vieux poète erre dans la gouttière
Avec la triste voix d’un fantôme frileux.

Le bourdon se lamente, et la bûche enfumée
Accompagne en fausset la pendule enrhumée
Cependant qu’en un jeu plein de sales parfums,

… Continue Reading