How to read Dante's Divine Comedy • Old Western Culture
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- Опубликовано: 31 мар 2021
- This excerpt from a lecture in Old Western Culture helps reader's of Dante's Divine Comedy prepare to read this epic poem for the first time.
Learn more about Old Western Culture, a great books curriculum and guide:
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As an italian I can say that, for us, reading the Divine Comedy is actually hard, because it's not translated, it's written in the italian of Dante in the XIV (14th) century. It's like if an american who was born in the USA tries to read Shakespeare's works
are ye serious? How many percentage of the word in the Divine Comedy would a current normal Italien person not understand?
@@entelektuel.yolculuk he didn't say it was not understandable, he said that it's hard.
@@Bearical I mean trve but, languages change overtime. I mean, currebt American citizen can never understand most words of Shekaspeare, right? The same goes fer a normal German understanding Goethe or Kant. Same goes fer current normal Arab person understanding Ibn Hazm or Avicenna or Averroes. They understand a great amount of the mass, but not in the sense that is close to every word.
@@entelektuel.yolculuk The comparison with reading Old english Shakespare works for an english native speaker is on point.
As an italian, I can say that I understand 70% of what is literarly said. Most of the words are archaic but can be understood. The construction of the phrase is changed, so that is another hurdle. Another problem (not dependent on language) is understanding what Dante is meaning. If Dante wants to tell you the time of the year, he use the image of the sun traveling between astrology signs. If he wants to reference a city, he write about which famous people (in his time) was born in it or what war involved that city (without citing the name of the city at all). All lost reference to today reader. It's not an enjoyable reading experience, in my opinion, you are constantly reading notes after notes.
There are versions of Dante's Divine Comedy translated into modern day italian. What Wes Callihan is reading in this video sound a lot like it (given that even I can easly understand what he is reading, and English is my second language.)
Thank you for this. I've started studying the Divine Comedy and... honestly I'm at a loss on how to understand it haha! But I feel drawn to it! I want to understand it, I want to feel it, I want to understand it so well that I can quote it and integrate it into my life. I know it will be a lifelong study, but I have the desire to learn.
Hi Will. I’m Italian and I’m uploading brief videos explaining each canto, if you’re interested. I’m almost done with Inferno.
Guys, read Muslim texts too. Islamic Jurisprudence, Islamic theology, Islamic philosophy classics etc. ...
@@tomlabooks3263 wow just found your page and subscribed! Really looking forward to all the analysis videos !!
@@entelektuel.yolculuk bruh facts bruh, bruh but The Divine Comedy is very great too bruh
@@tomlabooks3263 Definitely will check it out.
Wow. This is great. I just bought all three books of the Divine Comedy. I was a bit intimidated because I though that I would have to read slowly and ponder words and phrases for deeper meaning. It is good to know that I can just read it using the tip you provided. Wish me luck.
Excellent introduction, and reading tip. Thanks for sharing this!
Very very nice. Easy to take in. Great pace. Love your confident enthusiasm and very useful knowledge.
You're a great speaker
Thank ye so much sir. ..
Thank you so much for the advise at the start about just reading it in big chunks and focusing on the details later. I would have gone crazy googeling all the references to people, places, and events of the time and the past.
Rereading the Divine Comedy is my treat for right after I finish my dissertation. Hopefully just a few weeks to go, which is when my twin baby boys will be born. I can’t wait to share Dante with them. Great video, Wes!
Congratulations on approaching the end of your dissertation! That's a great way to celebrate :)
And congratulations on the twins!!
And did you see that we are in the process of publishing a new translation of the Comedy, by Joe Carlson?
www.dantepoem.com has the details.
@@romanroads Yes, I have the first volume and guide. I’m awaiting publication of the other two volumes. Thanks!!!
Thanks for this! From the get go I was reading it slowly trying to understand every single word and every meaning and it quickly became cumbersome and not fun. I'm looking forward to giving your advice a go.
감사합니다.
Thanks.
I am from Korea to understand more this great book.
When I first looked for it I read it on a website and it was in Olde English. I tried finding an audiobook recently and they're all translated to current English.
thank youu, i started reading this and was retaining no information & it felt like such a drag! but after watching this i went back and reread it in the way you mentioned and it flows wayy better and now im enjoying the read!
hi you should totally read the way of integrity by martha beck. it’s her own interpretation of dante’s divine comedy. i loved it sm!!
Sage advice. I applied this technique to Ovid’s Metamorphosis
Can you do a video about your books again?
As eloquently as it can be stated. After the first few chapters of Inferno I was thinking this may be how I should read it.
Thank you for your help! Subscribed
Thank you! ✨
I have the Lawrence Binyon translation in "The Portable Dante" by Viking. The translation seems to be much more natural, modern and readable than the one being read here. Like reading the Bible, a good translation makes all the difference in the world for whether you get bored and toss it, or keep reading. I recommend Binyons translation.
A good translation makes all the difference! Have you heard about our new translation from Joe Carlson?
www.dantepoem.com
Thankyou !!
Thank you very much for this video. I enjoyed your excellent explanation and interpretation. I’m reading it right now in german, and that too has its typical flows and rhythms, sounds and forms. Like you mentioned, I also noticed after a while that the attention to too much detail slows down the intended flow and rhythm. All of a sudden it clicks and you let it flow “naturally”… for me it also takes a lot of concentration to keep up reading in that flow for a longer period…😣
I suggest to listen to some italian readings (Gassman, Benigni,etc...), in the original language with rhymes. 100 chants, 14,233 lines, in rhymes! 😍
I should take this advice in stride as i go about finishing something like Neuromancer. I get way too lost in the details and archaic technobabble, and it tends to completely kill the pacing for me. I should just focus more on the big picture of the story and then i can go back later (whether its re-reading it myself or looking up summaries online) to better fill out those details.
I had this exact same problem with Neuromancer!
Using my eyes is the best way for me
I need content like for every book I read
We cover about 120 of the greatest authors and books of all time in Old Western Culture!
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I usually read a word at a time... unless I'm skimming. Is there any other ways?
first build a fast overview.. then look deep.. its the best way one can feel the book... the first part will give u the core idea and second one will make the flow easy...
ive read the divine comedy backwards, from the last page of paradise back to the first page of inferno. all the time I was doing this, I was listening to Black Sabbath on full blast whilst wearing a divers suit with giant red flippers. it made whatsoever.
How long did it take? I plan on doing the same.
What is the piece of music in the intro?
Alewife by Clairo
Cool name.✍🏼
Thank you for the video. Which translation would you recommend to start with?
Ciardi
mark musa
the best advice is to read Dante left to right
well if there's something I learned from this video is that I do not know how to read poetry.
Which translation is this?
Dorothy Sayers
@@thant09 thank you so much.
It's actually a poem
This is so could, but I don't know.
How I will go to the park? I'm not your daddy!
Yes
JOB 1:6
One day, when the son's of God came to present themselves
before the LORD, Satan also came among them. And the
Lord said to Satan, "Whence do you come?" Then Satan
answered the Lord and said, "From roaming the earth
and patrolling it."
I Was told, the Devil does not do evil, people do evil.
The devil can't make anyone do anything, he can only
provide a temptation to do evil. If a person takes the
bate, and does evil by one's own will to do so, then
the Devil can judge that person accordingly. Punishment
comes when the Devil comes for them after death.
On that day
every knee will bend
every tongue confess
Jesus Christ is Lord
The devil is not a practitioner of evil. He is a judge
of people who are a practitioner evil.
When a person says, "The Devil made me do it!" as an excuse
of doing something wrong, they can only be lying. And by
that, compounding their sins with that lie.
See, the Devil is said to be a servant of God. But he holds
the sin of pride. Pride enough to question God's judgement
of giving humanity both a soul and free will. Stating that
humanity is not worthy of such gifts. God has in turn, given
the Devil the task of finding those that may misuse the gifts
God has given. And the freedom to punish them after.
Nobody likes to be judged for any wrong doings. Humanity is
imperfect, and easy to sway via our emotions. So humanity
see the Devil as evil, due to being the enemy of those who
do bad things.
-
All, or even none of this could be true.
-
But if it is true, and calling out the Devil as a scapegoat for
the many Evils man makes, we may never truly get to the root of
the problem, and in turn, never be able to fix it.
Can we keep getting away with blaming the Devil for the many
wrongs made by humanity? Will humans never own up to our own
potential for doing evil via the free will to do so? Will we
continue to learn nothing about the truth of human nature?
The good and the bad sides of it?
-
To me, we are our own worst nightmare. Perhaps, someday, we
may wake up and be enlightened to what we are doing to ourselves,
and perhaps find a way to grow up as a people, and stop blaming
dark shadows for what we do, and instead do better.
Is that not what having free will is about?
For you love all things that are
and loathe nothing that you have made;
for what you hated, you would not have fashioned..
and how could a thing remain, unless you willed it;
or be preserved, had it not been called forth by you?
But you spare all things, because they are yours,
O Lord and lover of souls,
For your imperishable spirit is in all things!
Therefore you rebuke offenders little by little,
warn them, and remind them of the sins they are committing,
that they may abandon their wickedness
and believe in you, O LORD!
He tests the good and the bad,
He hates those who love violence
For He loves the just and just deeds;
the upright shall see his face.
When God, in the beginning, created man,
he made him subject to his own free choice.
If you choose you can keep the commandment;
it is loyalty to do his will.
There is set before you fire and water;
to whichever you choose, stretch forth your hand.
Before man are life and death,
whichever he chooses shall be given him.
Immense is the wisdom of the LORD;
he is mighty in power and all-seeing.
The eyes of God see all he has made;
he understands man's every deed.
No man does he command to sin,
to none does he give strength for lies..
O Jesus
I know not if your real
come ... come
live in me
Save Me