Reflections of a stormy petrel

Can you recommend an english translation that gives the best sense of what Dante was writing. At 55, there is little chance I will ever learn Italian well enough to read it in the original. I know that there are translations that mimic the poetry, others that are more literal. Which in your opinion would be a good start, and perhaps a second that would fill in the blanks, as it were. I was inspired to try and read a poetic translation some time ago after reading Pournelle and Niven's "update" on Hell, but found the going a tough slog.