Dante. An essay Part 10

[Footnote 139:

On every side the sun shot forth the day, And had already with his arrows bright From the mid-heaven chased Capricorn away.--IBID.]

But _light_ in general is his special and chosen source of poetic beauty. No poet that we know has shown such singular sensibility to its varied appearances--has shown that he felt it in itself the cause of a distinct and peculiar pleasure, delighting the eye apart from form, as music delights the ear apart from words, and capable, like music, of definite character, of endless variety, and infinite meanings. He must have studied and dwelt upon it like music. His mind is charged with its effects and combinations, and they are rendered with a force, a brevity, a precision, a heedlessness and unconsciousness of ornament, an indifference to circ.u.mstance and detail; they flash out with a spontaneous readiness, a suitableness and felicity, which show the familiarity and grasp given only by daily observation, daily thought, daily pleasure. Light everywhere--in the sky and earth and sea--in the star, the flame, the lamp, the gem--broken in the water, reflected from the mirror, transmitted pure through the gla.s.s, or coloured through the edge of the fractured emerald--dimmed in the mist, the halo, the deep water--streaming through the rent cloud, glowing in the coal, quivering in the lightning, flashing in the topaz and the ruby, veiled behind the pure alabaster, mellowed and clouding itself in the pearl--light contrasted with shadow--shading off and copying itself in the double rainbow, like voice and echo--light seen within light, as voice discerned within voice, "_quando una e ferma, e l'altra va e riede_"--the brighter "nestling" itself in the fainter--the purer set off on the less clear, "_come perla in bianca fronte_"--light in the human eye and face, displaying, figuring, and confounded with its expressions--light blended with joy in the eye:

luce Come letizia in pupilla viva;

and in the smile:

Vincendo me col lume d'un sorriso;

joy lending its expression to light:

Quivi la donna mia vid'io s lieta-- Che piu lucente se ne fe il pianeta.

E se la _stella si cambi, e rise_, Qual mi fec'io;--_Parad._ 5.

light from every source, and in all its shapes, illuminates, irradiates, gives its glory to the _Commedia_. The remembrance of our "serene life" beneath the "fair stars" keeps up continually the gloom of the _Inferno_. Light, such as we see it and recognise it, the light of morning and evening growing and fading, takes off from the unearthliness of the _Purgatorio_; peopled, as it is, by the undying, who, though suffering for sin, can sin no more, it is thus made like our familiar world, made to touch our sympathies as an image of our own purification in the flesh. And when he rises beyond the regions of earthly day, light, simple, unalloyed, unshadowed, eternal, lifts the creations of his thought above all affinity to time and matter; light never fails him, as the expression of the gradations of bliss; never reappears the same, never refuses the new shapes of his invention, never becomes confused or dim, though it is seldom thrown into distinct figure, and still more seldom _coloured_. Only once, that we remember, is the thought of colour forced on us; when the bright joy of heaven suffers change and eclipse, and deepens into red at the sacrilege of men.[140]

[Footnote 140: _Parad._ 27.]

Yet his eye is everywhere, not confined to the beauty or character of the sky and its lights. His range of observation and largeness of interest prevent that line of imagery, which is his peculiar instrument and predilection, from becoming, in spite of its brightness and variety, dreamy and monotonous; prevent it from arming against itself sympathies which it does not touch. He has watched with equal attention, and draws with not less power, the occurrences and sights of Italian country life; the summer whirlwind sweeping over the plain--"_dinanzi polveroso va superbo_" (_Inf._ 9); the rain-storm of the Apennines (_Purg._ 5); the peasant's alternations of feeling in spring:

In quella parte del giovinetto anno Che 'l sole i crin sotto l'Aquario tempra, E gia le notti al mezzo d sen vanno; Quando la brina in su la terra a.s.sempra L'imagine di sua sorella bianca, Ma poco dura alla sua penna tempra, Lo villanello a cui la roba manca Si leva e guarda, e vede la campagna Biancheggiar tutta; ond'ei si batte l'anca; Ritorna a casa, e qua e la si lagna Come 'l tapin che non sa che si faccia: Poi riede e la speranza ringavagna Veggendo 'l mondo aver cangiata faccia In poco d'ora, e prende il suo vincastro E fuor le pecorelle a pascer caccia:--_Inf._ 24.[141]

the manner in which sheep come out from the fold:

Come le pecorelle escon del chiuso _A una a due a tre, e l'altre stanno, Timidette atterrando l'occhio e' l muso; E ci che fa la prima, e l'altre fanno, Addossandosi a lei s'ella s'arresta_ Semplici e quete, e lo 'mperche non sanno: S vid'io muover a venir la testa Di quella mandria fortunata allotta, Pudica in faccia e nell'andare onesta.

Come color dinanzi vider rotta La luce....

Ristaro, e tra.s.ser se indietro alquanto, E tutti gli altri che veniano appresso, Non sappiendo il perche, fero altrettanto.--_Purg._ 3.

[Footnote 141:

In the new year, when Sol his tresses gay Dips in Aquarius, and the tardy night Divides her empire with the lengthening day-- When o'er the earth the h.o.a.r-frost pure and bright a.s.sumes the image of her sister white, Then quickly melts before the genial light-- The rustic, now exhausted his supply, Rises betimes--looks out--and sees the land All white around, whereat he strikes his thigh-- Turns back--and grieving--wanders here and there, Like one disconsolate and at a stand; Then issues forth, forgetting his despair, For lo! the face of nature he beholds Changed on a sudden--takes his crook again, And drives his flock to pasture from the folds.--WRIGHT.]

So with the beautiful picture of the goats upon the mountain, chewing the cud in the noontide heat and stillness, and the goatherd, resting on his staff and watching them--a picture which no traveller among the mountains of Italy or Greece can have missed, or have forgotten:

Quali si fanno ruminando manse Le capre, _state rapide e proterve Sopra le cime_ avanti che sien pranse, _Tacite al ombra mentre che 'l sol ferve, Guardate dal pastor_ che 'n su la verga Poggiato s'e, e lor poggiato serve.--_Purg._ 27.[142]

[Footnote 142:

Like goats that having over the crags pursued Their wanton sports, now, quiet pa.s.s the time In ruminating--sated with their food, Beneath the shade, while glows the sun on high-- Watched by the goatherd with unceasing care, As on his staff he leans, with watchful eye.--_Ibid._]

So again, with his recollections of cities: the crowd, running together to hear news (_Purg._ 2), or pressing after the winner of the game (_Purg._ 6); the blind men at the church doors, or following their guide through the throng (_Purg._ 13, 16); the friars walking along in silence, one behind another:

Taciti, soli, e senza compagnia N'andavam, _l'un dinanzi, e l'altro dopo Come i frati minor vanno per via_.--_Inf._ 23.

He turns to account in his poem, the pomp and clamour of the host taking the field (_Inf._ 22); the devices of heraldry; the answering chimes of morning bells over the city;[143] the inventions and appliances of art, the wheels within wheels of clocks (_Par._ 24), the many-coloured carpets of the East (_Inf._ 17); music and dancing--the organ and voice in church:

--Voce mista al dolce suono Che or s or no s'intendon le parole,--_Purg._ 9.

the lute and voice in the chamber (_Par._ 20); the dancers preparing to begin,[144] or waiting to catch a new strain.[145] Or, again, the images of domestic life, the mother's ways to her child, reserved and reproving--"che al figlio par superba"--or cheering him with her voice, or watching him compa.s.sionately in the wandering of fever:

Ond'ella, appresso d'un pio sospiro Gli occhi drizz ver me, con quel sembiante Che madre fa sopra figliuol deliro.--_Parad._ 1.

[Footnote 143:

Indi come orologio che ne chiami Nell'ora che la sposa di Dio surge A mattinar lo sposo perche l'ami, Che l'una parte e l'altra tira ed urge Tin tin sonando con s dolce nota Che 'l ben disposto spirto d'amor turge; Cos vid'io la gloriosa ruota Muoversi e render voce a voce, in tempra Ed in dolcezza ch'esser non pu nota Se non cola dove 'l gioir s'insempra.--_Parad._ 10.]

[Footnote 144:

E come surge, e va, ed entra in ballo Vergine lieta, sol per farne onore Alla novizia, e non per alcun fallo.--_Ibid._ 25.]

[Footnote 145:

Donne mi parver, non da ballo sciolte, Ma che s'arrestin tacite ascoltando Fin che le nuove note hanno ricolte.--_Ibid._ 10.]

Nor is he less observant of the more delicate phenomena of mind, in its inward workings, and its connexion with the body. The play of features, the involuntary gestures and att.i.tudes of the pa.s.sions, the power of eye over eye, of hand upon hand, the charm of voice and expression, of musical sounds even when not understood--feelings, sensations, and states of mind which have a name, and others, equally numerous and equally common, which have none--these, often so fugitive, so shifting, so baffling and intangible, are expressed with a directness, a simplicity, a sense of truth at once broad and refined, which seized at once on the congenial mind of his countrymen, and pointed out to them the road which they have followed in art, unapproached as yet by any compet.i.tors.[146]

[Footnote 146: For instance:--_thoughts upon thoughts, ending in sleep and dreams_:

Nuovo pensier dentro de me si mise, Dal qual piu altri nacquero e diversi: _E tanto d'uno in altro vaneggiai Che gli occhi per vaghezza ricopersi, E 'l pensamento in sogno tras.m.u.tai_.--_Purg._ 18.

_sleep stealing off when broken by light_:

Come si frange il sonno, ove di b.u.t.to Nuova luce percuote 'l viso chiuso, _Che fratto guizza pria che muoja tutto_.--_Ibid._ 17.

_the shock of sudden awakening_:

Come al lume acuto si disonna,

_E lo svegliato ci che vede abborre,_ S nescia e la subita vigilia, Finche la stimativa nol soccorre.--_Parad._ 26.

_uneasy feelings produced by sight or representation of something unnatural_:

Come per sostentar solajo o tetto Per mensola talvolta una figura Si vede giunger le ginocchia al petto, _La qual fa del non ver vera rancura Nascer a chi la vede_; cos fatti Vid'io color.--_Purg._ 10.

_blushing in innocent sympathy for others_:

E come donna onesta che permane Di se sicura, e _per l'altrui fallanza Pure ascoltando timida si fane_: Cos Beatrice tras.m.u.t sembianza.--_Par._ 27.

_asking and answering by looks only_:

Volsi gli occhi agli occhi al signor mio; Ond'elli m'a.s.sent con lieto cenno Ci che chiedea la vista del disio.--_Purg._ 19.

_watching the effect of words_: