The original
Divina Commedia, 1308–1321
Dante Alighieri1265–1321
A poem in three canticles — Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso — of 33 cantos each (plus an introductory one), in terza rima. All three canticles end with the same word: “stars” (le stelle). The Italian text has long been in the public domain.
public domain
For the English versions
Who we quote in English
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow1807–1882
The first American translation of the Comedy (1867), in blank verse — a classic of English-language Dante, made by a poet who spent decades with the text.
In our English versions, every verbatim quote is Longfellow's, checked line by line against the edition.
quoted verbatimpublic domain
Modern English translations (Hollander, Musa, Kirkpatrick and others) are under copyright: we neither quote them verbatim nor paraphrase them closely.
Other languages of the project
Russian, Spanish, Portuguese
Dmitry Min1818–1885 · ru
The first complete Russian verse translation, in terza rima (published 1852–1904). The basis of all verbatim quotes in the Russian version.
for the ru versionspublic domain
Bartolomé Mitre1821–1906 · es
A late-19th-century translation in terza rima — the classic Spanish Comedy for Latin America.
for the es versionspublic domain
José Pedro Xavier Pinheiro1822–1882 · pt
The Brazilian translation in terza rima (late 19th century). The backbone of our future Portuguese versions.
for the pt versionspublic domain
Method
How we handle quotes
One rule: the reader always knows what they are looking at.
If it says “quote” — the text is verbatim, checked against a specific edition; the page number is recorded in the line's data, so the check can be repeated. Where verbatim is impossible (a protected translation), or the source gives only the sense — it is a retelling, and labelled as such.
Quotes work the same way across all our story-lines — from the Odyssey to the heroes: each one carries a source and a status.
A question for the road
We check every line against an edition before trusting it. What do you check the things you're told against?