Inferno1867 · public domain
The faithful poet’s version, and free. Longfellow abandons rhyme for unrhymed lines that follow Dante almost word for word, so as a crib to the Italian it is remarkably close, and there is real dignity in the cadence. It is also of its century: the diction is elevated and inverted (“Midway upon the journey of our life”), and modern readers feel the age of it. His notes, drawing on a circle of Boston Dante scholars, are still worth reading. Come to Longfellow for accuracy and gravity at no cost, not for a contemporary voice.