Dante and English Epic Poetry: William Hayley’s 18th-century Adaptations of the Comedy
Abstract
This study examines the work of William Hayley, poet, patron, and translator of Dante, who appropriated the Divine Comedy in the second half of the eighteenth century in two different works, The Triumphs of Temper (1781) and An Essay on Epic Poetry (1782), in an attempt to renew and reinvigorate the epic in Great Britain. Hayley’s work demonstrates that in the eighteenth-century the Comedy took an active part not only in British epic production but also in gender discourse, developing a new type of heroic poetry aimed at female excellence.
Publication Title
Italianistica
Recommended Citation
Gaudenzi, C. (2025). Dante and English Epic Poetry: William Hayley’s 18th-century Adaptations of the Comedy. Italianistica, 54 (3), 123-133. https://doi.org/10.19272/202501303010
