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queensnyatty t1_j6l5sll wrote

A big part of the problem is not the language but the allusions. If you don’t know who made the “Great Refusal” or what a White Guelf is than you are going to need to stop reading the poem and read a long footnote. That’s guaranteed to kill your momentum and enjoyment.

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Kris98tin t1_j6mkzmd wrote

I was supposing since OP is reading it in college that the professor is explaining some of that history in class... if the professors don't, American students have my deepest admiration tbh because how is anyone supposed to understand Dante who wrote about his contemporary history without... a lecture on his contemporary history...?

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Frankennietzsche t1_j6l7neh wrote

The last time that I tried, I gave up and just read the footnotes.

By the way, there is a famous translation by HW Longfellow.

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