Divine Comedy

If there is an afterexistence in which the individual human consciousness continues, I imagine Dante Alighieri is thanking the Creator for giving him, at last, a Michael Palma.Marilyn Nelson, author of A Wreath for Emmett TillWhen Michael Palmas translation of the Inferno appeared in 2002, it defied the conventional wisdom of literary commentators who had long argued that Dantes intricate terza rima form simply could not be rendered in rhyme-poor English. But Palmas achievement in rhyming tercets was quickly received as a spectacular feat of poetic artistry that was accurate... admirably clear, and readable (Richard Wilbur) and that, in capturing the sense, sound, and spirit of the original... comes close to perfection (X. J. Kennedy). Now, more than two decades later, Palma has applied the same virtuosic attention to the form and flow of the Purgatorio and Paradiso, attending to both the tiniest details and the grand design of the entire Commedia and offering a fluid and readable English version that reveals to contemporary readers the sound, sense, and awe-inspiring beauty of Italian literatures greatest poem.