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How does one review The Divine Comedy?

I'll stick to reviewing Robin Kirkpatrick's translation.

Kirkpatrick is a professor of literature, and I feel that guided his approach to the poem. His footnotes share some traits with both Dorothy Sayers's (religious, focused on poetic imagery) and the Hollanders' (academic, focused on grammar and context), but were most often centered on the story Dante wanted to tell: what was the point of including a specific historical figure? How does a single canto connect to themes in cantos earlier or later? Why does Dante portray his own earlier self as fearful or confused? Of the three translators I read, Kirkpatrick was probably my favorite (though to be honest, it was a close tie) and the one that most often led me to say, "Oh! Now I get it!".

The translation of the poem itself is fine, only occasionally rhyming in English. I quite liked the effect of the rare rhymes � they kept the whole thing feeling more like poetry than prose, but without the contorted syntax of forcing every line into a rhyme.