Dorothy Sayer's Translation of Dante's Inferno
In Soho there’s a pub - an underground,
xxAs far from Oxford’s spires, as Dante’s deep -
xxNot fit for sight but giving off such sound,
That Harriet and Peter could not keep
xxFrom following its clamour’s Gallic fall,
xxWhose dying strain made Bunter’s shirtfront creep.
That was the place my cast and I have all
xxLeft for the literary world and hence
xxI’ve dragged us up and, heeding Virgil’s call,
I’ve laboured at translating every tense
xxOf that most famous Hell – and now all bars
xxAre shut! Yet Purgatory beckons! Hence
I’ll leave that pair in Hell. Go, kiss my arse!
Last edited by Nigel Mace; 06-30-2013 at 10:30 AM.
Reason: Virgil - the proper guide, in line 9 and consequent change to line 11
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