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Welcome to the Italian podcast.In this episode, I will read for youbegin (At the beginning, the first word of the text) Hell, the first book of Dante’s Divine Comedy.
Comedy, better known as the Divine Comedy, is a poem written by Dante Alighieri, probably from 1306 to 1321. Italian students are obliged to learn it. It is undoubtedly the most important literary work in Italian literature and one of the most important literary works in Italy. world.There are 100 hymns (The main participle form in a long poem)Or chapters, Hell 34, Purgatory 33, and Heaven 33. These are the 3 kingdoms that Dante will visit, starting from hell. Today we will read the first 27 verses of the first “Song of Hell”, which is an introduction to the work. The beginning is perhaps the most important passage in Italian literature. I am not a literary expert, but I think almost everyone in Italy knows the first line, the first step.
At first, Dante found himself in a dark woods or forest.The forest is a fable, a symbol crime (No) among them be lost (go astray),he’s lost. Dante lost”The correct way” (right way), The Way of Virtue.This song Cannot be understood literally (Should not be taken literally), The forests, seas, and hills we are talking about are not real places. They are just signs and fables. (Fable= Metaphor, its carrier may be people, places or events, representing real-world problems and events). In fact, the true story, Pedigree (decline) In hell, it starts with the second chapter.
let’s start!
In our journey of life
I found myself in a dark forest,
Because the right path has been lost.
“On the journey of our lives” means in the middle of life, in the middle of earthly life, so it means 35 years old at the time. “I found myself in a dark forest”, that is, I am in a dark forest, which is a symbol of sin. “Because I have lost the right way”, because I have lost the right way, the right way, the way of virtue.
Oh, what’s the hard thing to say
This savage and rough forest
Renew fear in your thoughts!
“Oh, what is a hard thing to say” means “it is difficult to describe how much this forest is in words”, so how much “wild, strict, strong” this forest is, that is, wild, Impervious (difficult). So it is a wild forest, it is difficult to describe in words-“Thinking renews fear!” It makes me scared to just think of it, only think of it. This forest, or his “lunacy” is too wild, only memories scare him.
It is so painful that the more deaths;
But to deal with the benefits I found there,
I will tell you other things I found there.
“More bitterness, less is death” Which means it is too bitter [questa selva], It lasts, death is just more, death is not worse. “But to be kind to the benefits I found there,” Treat, or talk, discuss the benefits I found in this place, there, “I will tell you the other things I saved for you”, I will talk about other things I “saw” in that place. Seeing is similar to “seeing, watching”. Dante found some benefits, that is the arrival of Virgil, he will be his guide and will lead him to the gate of heaven.
I don’t know how to redirect me into your way,
At that time he slept soundly
That is the truth I gave up.
“I don’t know how to redirect your inner “me””, Just don’t know how to enter this forest, “He slept very soundly”, Because I (in Old Italian to say that I replaced me) slept very well, understood as a rational sleep, a sleep of thought, “That’s the truth I gave up.”, I have given up the right way, the way of truth. Dante was confused and couldn’t remember how he entered this fable forest.
But when I was at the foot of the mountain, I arrived,
Where the valley ends
My heart was terrified,
“But when I was at the foot of the mountain, I arrived”, But has reached the foot of the mountain, or what we call the foot of the mountain today, “the end of the valley” (this sentence is almost the same in modern Italian, we will say it in the same way) “My heart is terrified” This fills me with fear, and fills my heart with fear. So Dante came to the foot of the mountain.
I looked up and saw his shoulder
Already covered with the light of the planet
Directly to other people through each call.
“I looked up and saw his shoulder”, That is, I saw ridge (Ridgeline) On the mountain, “Already covered with the light of the planet”, Illuminated by the planet’s light “This will direct others through each phone call.”In other words, the earth guides people in the right direction for every road and every road. This planet is the sun, so Dante saw the hill representing the “right way”, and the sun represented God.
Then the fear was a little quiet,
I have always existed in the lake of heart
I passed that night with great regret.
“Then the fear is a little quiet,”, Or rather, the fear calmed down a bit (today we have the word quiet or quiet), “That used to make me spend in the lake of heart” In the lake of heart, it is understood that the depth of the heart has been sustained or persisted, we will say today, “The night I spent with great regret” The night I spent in pain and compassion. Dante spent a night, or a period of confusion and confusion.
Just like those energetic people,
Leave the sea to the shore,
Turn to dangerous and vigilant water,
“Same as those who are full of energy”, And as he or a person, who has gasping, heavy breathing, or “Out of breath” (Shortness of breath) We will say today, (among other things, today’s lena still uses expressions such as “of good lena”) “Go to Sea to Shore” When he came out of the water and reached the shore, “he turned to dangerous water and Gua water”, he turned, turned his eyes, that is, turned, looked, and observed the dangerous waters he had just passed through.
So my soul still runs away,
He turned around and stared at the pass
Who hasn’t let anyone alive yet.
“So my soul still escaped” So, in the same way, my soul is still running away, “He turned around and looked at the steps” He turned around, and today we will say “He turned around” In Italy In modern language, “It never made a person alive.” I never made anyone alive, and no one survived the sea. Dante is like a man going ashore, watching the dangerous sea and the forest he has just conquered with difficulty.
Now we hear the first 27 lines in a row, but I will not reread them, but Roberto Benigni, a famous actor, won an Oscar for his movie “Life Is Beautiful”, as you may know.
In our journey of life
I found myself in a dark forest,
Because the right path has been lost.
Oh, what’s the hard thing to say
This savage and rough forest
Renew fear in your thoughts!
It is so painful that the more deaths;
But to deal with the benefits I found there,
I will tell you other things I found there.
I don’t know how to redirect me into your way,
At that time he slept soundly
That is the truth I gave up.
But when I was at the foot of the mountain, I arrived,
Where the valley ends
My heart was terrified,
I looked up and saw his shoulder
Already covered with the light of the planet
Directly to other people through each call.
Then the fear was a little quiet,
I have always existed in the lake of heart
I passed that night with great regret.
Just like those energetic people,
Leave the sea to the shore,
Turn to dangerous and vigilant water,
So my soul still runs away,
He turned around and stared at the pass
Who hasn’t let anyone alive yet.
This is the first 27 lines, I want to say we can stop here. Of course, Bernini’s expressiveness and the way he reads can’t be compared to mine. But he is an actor, I am not. If you are interested in Youtube-if you are at a high level-there is a video of Bernini, who recites and explains the entire Divine Comedy, I have left you some links on the website.
(The First Song of Hell is narrated and explained by Bernini)
The entire song contains 136 verses-we have seen 27 of the 136 verses-you think the entire Divine Comedy contains them 14,233! This is a very long and huge work, containing rich cultural, historical, theological, literary, and philosophical references and so on. This is why it is considered a masterpiece.It is incredible to think that only one person can conceive such a long and rich work, especially if we think of structure, which is characterized by Chain triplets (ABA, BCB, CDC, etc.-so if we take the last word of each verse, we have life-darkness-lost / hard-strong-fear / death-discovery-stocks, etc.) Eleven syllable verses ( Each sentence has 11 syllables, for example. 1 in 2 Midrange 4 del 5cam-min 6 of 7 Amtrak 8 Life etc.). Therefore, this pattern repeats more than 14,000 lines, which is impressive.
As already mentionedItalian Dialect InterludeDante’s language, especially the language of comedy, is the basis of Italian itself. Although some words are obviously a bit outdated, I think this language is not completely different from the current Italian in your opinion, because it is not, it is very similar and largely understandable, as explained in the dialect plot Like that. Try to get the English text from 1300, you will not understand anything!
In short, this comedy is an incredible work of great importance to the Italian language and culture. Thousands of books, analyses, reviews, studies, etc. have been written over the centuries. I obviously can’t describe my humble episode of the Internet podcast in detail, but I hope it will interest you!
Hope you like this episode, thank you for your attention, and see you next time!
