Longfellow as Translator
HWL's interleaved copy of Divina Commedia, Opere poetiche di Dante Alighieri, con note di diversi per diligenza e studio di Antonio Buttura (Paris: Lefevre, 1823).
*AC85.L8605.Zy823d. Houghton Library. |
After inserting the blank sheets, Longfellow had the two-volume edition rebound in four volumes. This is the copy he used for his teaching. The passage displayed is the beginning of Francesca da Rimini's speech in Inferno V. The notes on the facing page-references to the "Song of the Sun" (or "Solarlióð") from the Edda, Augustine's Confessions, a chapter from Goldsmith's The Vicar of Wakefield, and Jean-Jacques Ampère's Viaggio Dantesco-exemplify not only the multilingual breadth of Longfellow's reading but also give us an idea of how he assembled the notes that would accompany his translation. |