I've already asked it to another forum, but no one seems interested in it.

Well... Have you ever read an italian poem?
Maybe not on the original lang.. but read, anyway.....
I find italian literature extremely interesting, but of course we have miscellaneous traditions in it.
I often read greek poems, and I've always noticed how they've influenced our culture.
But I could never put apart the latin ones.
Well... have you ever tried to have a glance at them?

Would you count Dante's The Divine Comedy?

I took four years of Italian in High School but sadly I have lost most of it. Therefore I have only read the English translation. Still, it seems to me to be an amazing work.

It is so influential on our modern culture and thinking.

That's a great work(:
Of course, there are so many poems to read, and I can't keep all them in my mind at the moment, but if you want to know something about them, you can.
I really like Seneca as italian philosopher♥ and most of ancient greek philosophers too

justanumber wrote:That's a great work(:
Of course, there are so many poems to read, and I can't keep all them in my mind at the moment, but if you want to know something about them, you can.
I really like Seneca as italian philosopher♥ and most of ancient greek philosophers too

I have not gotten to Seneca yet. So much to read in so little time!

I assume that you have read Dante and other italian poets in Italian? I would imagine that we lose a lot in translation.

I once knew someone who had a good comprehension of Latin who read Virgil's Anead in its original form. He thought that the English translations that he read did not, and could not do it justice.

Emperorbjt wrote: I once knew someone who had a good comprehension of Latin who read Virgil's Anead in its original form. He thought that the English translations that he read did not, and could not do it justice.

I have had the same experiences with Koine Greek and German. The 19th century translations from either language into English are so bad they are almost opaque.

yeah, I think each translations is a waste of the real meanings... what the author wanted to say, what he wanted to make us feel.
Some very deep thoughts can't be interpretated so good in most translations, but it's just an idea about it, in my opinion.
The better thing would be to read them in the original language, I mean... we should learn latin and greek! too hard, but really interesting...

and, yes, I read them in italian