author
Henry Francis Cary
1772–1844
Best known for bringing Dante's Divine Comedy into flowing English blank verse, this scholar-clergyman helped introduce one of Italy's greatest poems to a wide new readership. His version was admired for its learning, clarity, and staying power.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born in Gibraltar on December 6, 1772, and educated at Christ Church, Oxford, he became an Anglican clergyman with a strong grounding in classical literature. Alongside his church career, he built a reputation as a man of letters with a deep interest in translation and biography.
His lasting fame rests on his English blank-verse translation of Dante's Divine Comedy, published in the early 19th century. The work became widely known and remained one of the standard English versions for many years, helping generations of readers approach Dante through a style that aimed to be both faithful and readable.
Later in life, he also served as an assistant librarian at the British Museum. He died in London on August 14, 1844, remembered as a translator whose work played a major part in carrying Dante into English literary culture.