thought this would ease me gently into Dante, and instead it has me running in the opposite direction,
My feelings are very strong on the fact that this simply is not my thing, My brain cant seem to work to the levels needed to comprehend this, even merely to follow along, and all I did throughout was marvel at the beautiful writing, without a clue in the world as to what was going on, or what was being conveyed.
Despite selfproclaimed stupidity being to blame here, I also feel Penguin should have done more to help their readers, A selection of cantos from the work does not make a clever introduction its too sporadic and confusing to simpletons such as myself, It seems very much shoehorned into the collection after someone in a meeting room said, “need some Dante, ” Read all my reviews on sitelink booklikes. com
This Little Black Classic offers but a small view at the Divine Comedy, and it is a fragmentary one at that.
I understand the choice to provide several canto's from different parts of the stories, but this made it more difficult to read this on its own.
I have the full Divine Comedy as a Wordsworth edition on my TBR, but haven't gotten around yet to reading it, I will give it a try someday, but foresee it is a new possible multiyear project as it doesn't seem to be a fast read.
Little Black ClassicsThis rating seems harsh because the writing was actually nice but I just didn't enjoy this, It's just select Cantos from a whole work so it constantly felt like I could never get a grip of what I was reading.
It's like reading a book with chapters missing, I know the point was to introduce you to Dante's style but I didn't realise this is what it was and I wasn't huge on it.
Love that Moves the Sun and the Other Stars
by Dante Alighieri
Translated by Robin Kirkpatrick
Published by Penguin Classics
Goodread's Rating:.
/
My Rating:./
"Then following: 'The river and the glint
of topaz, in and out, the smile of grass these all are
shadowed prefaces that hint at their own truth.
That does not mean that any is, itself,
unripe, acid or green, The lack is yours.
Your sight as yet cannot move proudly on, ' "
This thin, pocketsize book ofpages hasCantos from one of the three Divine Comedy, which is Paradiso, It gives a snippet of what you can look for in the complete series, And oh, such beautiful words,
"But mine were wings that could not rise to that,
save that, with this, my mind, was stricken through
by sudden lightning bringing what it wished.
All powers of high imagining here failed,
But now my will and my desire were turned,
as wheels that move in equilibrium,
by love that moves the sun and other.
"
MalaysiaMembaca Really didn't enjoy this, So much for reading more classics and educating myself, I just didn't like this at all, The language reminded me too much of the latin translations I did in high school, except without the original present to make sense of the translation.
. . The writing was beautiful in the descriptions, but I had a really hard time grasping the plot or characters or anything really, This should have had an introduction of some sort, Although this was the first Ive read of Dantes,and many might say that I havent understood it completely,I am in awe of his writing style and language.
This short fraction of The divine comedy took me longer than I had wished to read,but I felt I often had to stop and live through the lines of poetry.
I loved Dantes explanation and description of Beatrice, and of love itself, It took me a while to get into,but by the end I was enraptured and satisfied with this poem, Thanks Dante. a little too christian for my liking,,
nevertheless, the beauty of such strong belief in a higher power is admirable and astonishing I don't get it why is everybody complaining about how you won't understand the whole plot of The Divine Comedy after reading this it's specified that this short book it's supposed to help the reader get a glimpse of Dante's work and writing instead of the actual plot.
also it's apages book, how can you expect to understand who these characters are and what exactly is going on
I definitely want to read The Divine comedy now, I found the verses so beautiful, and the translation was acceptable compared to other Little Black Classics.
See Homer's Circe and the Cyclops Well, I think this one just wasn't for me, I don't know enough about Christianity to appreciate and even recognise all the references, imigaries and meanings, Dante has of course some pretty oneliners and reminds me of the Shadowhunters, but that was about all I could personally take from this collection.
“Happiness beyond all words! A life of peace and love, entire and whole!”
Some cantos were great, some were not, All in all/If you only need a glimpse of Dante's Divina Commedia, this should help you form an opinion, However, I am not sure the English translation was the best choice, I've also read something in Romanian and although it may seem awkward it sounded more like the original or how I picture it.
Penguin ClassicsDANTE Love that moves the sun and other,
Wow, superb visionary writer,
What a gift to read this,
e. g.
Canto XVII
, .
Id therefore willingly receive sure words
that told what fortune now draws near to me,
Those arrows that we know will come fly slower,
. .
Not in those enigmatic words that once
entrammelled pagan fools, like birds in lime,
before the Lamb of God bore off their sin,
but clear, precise and solemn in his speech,
that fatherlove now gave me his reply,
enclosed, yet shown, in his own laughing light.
Contingency, whose sphere does not extend
beyond the margins of your earthly things,
is framed and painted in eternal sight.
. .
This much is willed, this much already sought,
And soon hell see it through, who thinks it up,
where all day long Christs self is bought and sold.
Shrill cries of blame will chase the ones who lose
they always do, But vengeance, when it falls,
will speak of that same Truth that deals it out,
Youll leave behind you all you hold most dear,
And this will be the grievous arrow barb
that exile, first of all, will shoot your way,
. .
For that ungrateful, crazy, vicious crew
will turn as one against you, Yet its them
whose brows before too long will blush with shame,
. .
The light in which the treasure I found there
was smiling still, first blazed in corruscations
as will a ray of sun in golden mirrors,
.
.
For if at first your voice tastes odious,
still it will offer, as digestion works,
lifegiving nutriment to those who eat.
. .
Canto XXIII
Compare: a bird, among her wellloved boughs,
has rested all night long while things lie hid,
poised where her dear brood sleeps within their nest
and then, to glimpse the looks shes longed to see,
and find the food her fledglings feed upon
these efforts weigh with her as pure delight
before dawn comes she mounts an open sprig,
and there, her heart ablaze, awaits the sun,
eyes sharpening, fixed, till day is truly born.
. .
What richness, what abundance now wellstored
within such overflowing barns which were
good husbandmen who sowed the seed below.
Here life is lived rejoicing in that hoard,
gained ever weeping in the exile years
of Babylon, when gold was put aside.
And here beneath the most exalted Son
of God and Mary, in His victory,
with all the new and all the ancient court,
triumphs the one who holds such glorys key.
. .
Canto XXVII
To Father
and Son and the Holy Ghost,
glory on high! all Heaven here began,
till I, at that sweet song, reeled drunkenly.
And what I saw, it seemed, was now the laughter
of the universe, So drunkenness, for me,
came in through hearing and, no less, through sight,
The joy of that! The happiness beyond all words!
A life of peace and love, entire and whole!
Riches all free of craving, troubleless!
.
.
And then I heard: If I change colour now,
dont be amazed at that, For all of these,
as I go on, youll see change colour, too,
. .
With that same colour that a cloud takes on,
morning or evening, when it meets the sun,
I saw, in every part, the heavens flush.
. .
When Sun and Goat Horn touch as winter signs,
the air in our terrestrial atmosphere
floats down in falls of frozen vapour flakes.
. .
Though art or nature, to possess our minds,
may, in its paintings or in flesh itself,
produce beguiling pastures for our eyes,
these all would seem as nothing when compared
with that divine delight which shone on me
when I turned round to see her smiling look.
. .
Canto XXX
Maybe, around six thousand miles away,
the sixth hour, close to noon, flares out, while earth
inclines its shadowcone to rest, near level.
At this same time, the midpoint of the sky
will start, so deep above us, to transform,
and some lose their semblance in those depths.
Then brightest Aurora who serves the sun
advances and, dawning, the skies, vista
by vista, are closed till even the loveliest is gone.
. .
So now, it seemed, these flowers and flecks of light
altered, to join and celebrate still more,
And I saw, now made known, both heavenly courts,
Splendour of God! Through you I came to see
triumph exalting in the realm of truth,
Grant me true strength to say what then I saw,
There is, above us there, a light that makes
the AllCreator in creation seen
by those who only seeing Him have peace.
This light became a circle in its form,
extending its circumference so far
as might a belt too generous round the sun.
All that appears is made there by a ray
reflected from the curve of that First Sphere
which draws its life and movings from that light.
It is as though the incline of some hill
were mirrored in a lake below, as if
to view itself adorned in flower and richest green.
. .
Canto XXXIII
Virgin and mother, daughter of your son,
greater than all in honour and humility,
you are the point that truth eternally
is fixed upon.
And you have made the nature
of the human being proud, Its maker, then,
did not disdain to make himself his making,
Love, in your womb, was fanned to fire again,
And here, in this eternal peace, the warmth of love
has brought the Rose to germinate and bloom,
You are, for us, the noontime torch of love,
You are, among those mortals there below,
the clearest fountain of their living hopes,
You are, in dignity and power, Our Lady,
All who, in wanting grace, do not seek help
from you, might wish to soar yet lack the wings,
Nor in your kindness do you give your aid
to those alone who ask, but often run,
before they ask, to them in generous freedom.
In you is pity, in you compassion,
in you allgiving power, All good in you
is gathered up that creature form can bear,
. .
You raise yourself so far, O highest light,
above our dying thoughts! Now lend once more
some little part of what it seemed you were,
and make my tongue sufficient in its powers
that it may leave at least one telling spark
of all your glory to a future race.
Returning somewhat to my memory,
reechoing a little in my verse,
your triumph over all will be more known.
. .
Rather, as sight in me, yet looking on,
grew finer still, one single showingforth
me, changing mutely laboured me more near.
Within the being lucid, bright and deep
of that high brilliance, there appeared to me
three circling spheres, threecoloured, one in span.
And one, it seemed, was mirrored by the next
twin rainbows, arc to arc, The third seemed fire,
and breathed to first and second equally,
How short mere speaking falls, how faint against
my own idea, And this idea, compared
to what I saw well, little hardly squares,
Eternal light, you sojourn in yourself alone,
Alone, you know yourself, Known to yourself,
you, knowing, love and smile on your own being,
An intercirculation, thus conceived,
appears in you like mirrored brilliancy,
But when a while my eyes had looked this round,
deep in itself, it seemed as painted now,
in those same hues to show our human form.
At which, my sight was set entirely there,
. .
“But by now my desire and will were turned, like a balanced wheel rotated evenly, by the love that moves the sun and the other.
”
.