Arguably the very best book of poetry I will ever read, though that's mostly because I hate poetry and love technical writer stuff. Seriously, the Lord of the Rings is about half as long for me as it was for it's author - I read perhaps two lines of poetry in the entire thing before giving up. Weirdly, the explanations in this one actually made me want to go back and read the poems.

Also awesome from a former-history-major standpoint. If you'd like to know how educated young people in the 13th century thought, it's a must-read.

I particularly appreciated my translator (Penguin Classics edition) - she didn't bother with "thee" and such, and made the whole thing a lot more accessible (and I say this as a girl who prefers her Bible to be the King James Version.)

The first work of Dante's I ever owned (bought in the 70s and still in my possession).

A modern translation of Dante's lyric verse.

this is a beautiful book. all the beatrice stuff is here. ( )

This is a wonderful "little book" as Dante so calls it. It really begins in the middle and works out to the beginning and end, as the book is symmetrical in structure. It consists of a collection of Dante’s poems put collectively in a story and explanations in verse. This book comes before The Divine Comedy, and is rather helpful in one’s understanding of Dante’s love for Beatrice, the love that moves the sun and other stars. If you read Musa’s translation stick to the newer version (1992?). The Oxford World’s Classics edition unfortunately does not include the Italian. -J