Translations: Dante - Inferno, Canto Xxvi Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABBAACCDDEE FFGGHHIIJJKKL LEEMMAANNOOIIPPQQNE NNNNNRRNNEENNEESSTTU UVVIIWWAAUUII IIEEXXIIYYTTNNMMYYII AAZZNNJJSSNNA2A2NNNN IIXXII PMMWWNNA2A2NNOONNB2B 2AAAAA

Florence rejoice For thou o'er land and seaA
So spread'st thy pinions that the fame of theeA
Hath reached no less into the depths of HellB
So noble were the five I found to dwellB
Therein thy sons whence shame accrues to meA
And no great praise is thine but if it beA
That truth unveil in dreamings before dawnC
Then is the vengeful hour not far withdrawnC
When Prato shall exult within her wallsD
To see thy suffering Whate'er befallsD
Let it come soon since come it must for laterE
Each year would see my grief for thee the greaterE
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-
We left and once more up the craggy sideF
By the blind steps of our descent my guideF
Remounting drew me on So we pursuedG
The rugged path through that steep solitudeG
Where rocks and splintered fragments strewed the landH
So thick that foot availed not without handH
Grief filled me then and still great sorrow stirsI
My heart as oft as memory recursI
To what I saw that more and more I reinJ
My natural powers and curb them lest they strainJ
Where Virtue guide not that if some good starK
Or better thing have made them what they areK
That good I may not grudge nor turn to illL
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As when reclining on some verdant hillL
What season the hot sun least veils his powerE
That lightens all and in that gloaming hourE
The fly resigns to the shrill gnat even thenM
As rustic looking down sees o'er the glenM
Vineyard or tilth where lies his husbandryA
Fireflies innumerable sparkle so to meA
Come where its mighty depth unfolded straightN
With flames no fewer seemed to scintillateN
The shades of the eighth pit And as to himO
Whose wrongs the bears avenged dim and more dimO
Elijah's chariot seemed when to the skiesI
Uprose the heavenly steeds and still his eyesI
Strained following them till naught remained in viewP
But flame like a thin cloud against the blueP
So here the melancholy gulf withinQ
Wandered these flames concealing each its sinQ
Yet each a fiery integumentN
Wrapped round a sinnerE
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On the bridge intentN
Gazing I stood and grasped its flinty sideN
Or else unpushed had fallen And my guideN
Observing me so moved spake saying BeholdN
Where swathed each in his unconsuming foldN
The spirits lie confined Whom answeringR
Master I said thy words assurance bringR
To that which I already had supposedN
And I was fain to ask who lies enclosedN
In the embrace of that dividing fireE
Which seems to curl above the fabled pyreE
Where with his twin born brother fiercely hatedN
Eteocles was laid He answered MatedN
In punishment as once in wrath they wereE
Ulysses there and Diomed incurE
The eternal pains there groaning they deploreS
The ambush of the horse which made the doorS
For Rome's imperial seed to issue thereT
In anguish too they wail the fatal snareT
Whence dead Deidamia still must grieveU
Reft of Achilles likewise they receiveU
Due penalty for the PalladiumV
Master I said if in that martyrdomV
The power of human speech may still be theirsI
I pray and think it worth a thousand prayersI
That till this horned flame be come more nighW
We may abide here for thou seest that IW
With great desire incline to it And heA
Thy prayer deserves great praise which willinglyA
I grant but thou refrain from speaking leaveU
That task to me for fully I conceiveU
What thing thou wouldst and it might fall perchanceI
That these being Greeks would scorn thine utteranceI
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So when the flame had come where time and placeI
Seemed not unfitting to my guide with graceI
To question thus he spoke at my desireE
O ye that are two souls within one fireE
If in your eyes some merit I have wonX
Merit or more or less for tribute doneX
When in the world I framed my lofty verseI
Move not but fain were we that one rehearseI
By what strange fortunes to his death he cameY
The elder crescent of the antique flameY
Began to wave as in the upper airT
A flame is tempest tortured here and thereT
Tossing its angry height and in its soundN
As human speech it suddenly had foundN
Rolled forth a voice of thunder saying WhenM
The twelvemonth past in Circe's halls againM
I left Gaeta's strand ere thither cameY
Aeneas and had given it that nameY
Not love of son nor filial reverenceI
Nor that affection that might recompenseI
The weary vigil of PenelopeA
Could so far quench the hot desire in meA
To prove more wonders of the teeming earthZ
Of human frailty and of manly worthZ
In one small bark and with the faithful bandN
That all awards had shared of Fortune's handN
I launched once more upon the open mainJ
Both shores I visited as far as SpainJ
Sardinia and Morocco and what moreS
The midland sea upon its bosom woreS
The hour of our lives was growing lateN
When we arrived before that narrow straitN
Where Hercules had set his bounds to showA2
That there Man's foot shall pause and further none shall goA2
Borne with the gale past Seville on the rightN
And on the left now swept by Ceuta's siteN
Brothers ' I cried that into the far WestN
Through perils numberless are now addressedN
In this brief respite that our mortal senseI
Yet hath shrink not from new experienceI
But sailing still against the setting sunX
Seek we new worlds where Man has never wonX
Before us Ponder your proud destiniesI
Born were ye not like brutes for swinish easeI
But virtue and high knowledge to pursue '-
My comrades with such zeal did I imbueP
By these brief words that scarcely could I thenM
Have turned them from their purpose so againM
We set out poop against the morning skyW
And made our oars as wings wherewith to flyW
Into the Unknown And ever from the rightN
Our course deflecting in the balmy nightN
All southern stars we saw and ours so lowA2
That scarce above the sea marge it might showA2
So five revolving periods the softN
Pale light had robbed of Cynthia and as oftN
Replenished since our start when far and dimO
Over the misty ocean's utmost rimO
Rose a great mountain that for very heightN
Passed any I had seen Boundless delightN
Filled us alas and quickly turned to doleB2
For springing from our scarce discovered goalB2
A whirlwind struck the ship in circles threeA
It whirled us helpless in the eddying seaA
High on the fourth the fragile stern uproseA
The bow drove down and as Another choseA
Over our heads we heard the surging billows closeA

Alan Seeger



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