Studies in the Poetry of Italy Part 7

"Prompt I heard Her bidding, and encountered once again The strife of aching vision. As, erewhile, Through glance of sunlight, streamed through broken cloud, Mine eyes a flower-besprinkled mead have seen; Though veiled themselves in shade: so saw I there Legions of splendors, on whom burning rays Shed lightnings from above; yet saw I not The fountain whence they flowed. O gracious virtue!

Thou, whose broad stamp is on them, higher up Thou didst exalt thy glory, to give room To my o'erlabored sight; when at the name Of that fair flower, whom duly I invoke Both morn and eve, my soul with all her might Collected, on the goodliest ardor fix'd.

And, as the bright dimensions of the star In heaven excelling, as once here on earth, Were, in my eyeb.a.l.l.s livelily portrayed; Lo! from within the sky a cresset fell, Circling in fashion of a diadem; And girt the star; and, hovering, round it wheel'd.

"Whatever melody sounds sweetest here, And draws the spirit most unto itself, Might seem a rent cloud when it grates the thunder; Compared unto the sounding of that lyre, Wherewith the goodliest sapphire, that inlays The floor of heaven was crown'd. 'Angelic Love I am, who thus with hovering flight enwheel The lofty rapture from that womb inspired.

Where our desire did dwell: and round thee so, Lady of Heaven! will hover; long as thou Thy Son shalt follow, and diviner joy Shall from thy presence gild the highest sphere.'

"Such close was to the circling melody: And, as it ended, all the other lights Took up the strain, and echoed Mary's name.

"The robe,[17] that with its regal folds enwraps The world, and with the nearer breath of G.o.d Doth burn and quiver, held so far retired Its inner hem and skirting over us, That yet no glimmer of its majesty Had stream'd unto me: therefore were mine eyes Unequal to pursue the crowned flame, That towering rose, and sought the seed it bore.

And like to babe that stretches forth its arms For very eagerness toward the breast, After the milk is taken; so outstretch'd Their wavy summits all the fervent band, Through zealous love to Mary: then, in view, There halted; and 'Regina Coeli' sang So sweetly, the delight hath left me never."

After the pa.s.sing away of this glorious vision Dante is examined as to his faith by St. Peter, his hope by St. James, and his love by St. John; then being found worthy of being admitted into the presence of G.o.d, he rises to the Empyrean, beholds the Blessed Rose, where are seated the saints of all ages, and finally catches an instantaneous glimpse of the glory and mystery of the Trinity. In this supreme vision his desires find full fruition, and his spirit, overcome by the overwhelming glory of the G.o.dhead, fails him, and thus his vision comes to an end,

"Here vigor failed the towering fantasy: But yet the will rolled onward, like a wheel In even motion, by the love impell'd, That moves the sun in heaven and all the stars."

Such is the Divine Comedy of Dante, which has won the undying admiration of all great minds from the poet's own time down to the present. It would lead us too far to go into a detailed a.n.a.lysis of its greatness here, but with one consent men like Carlyle, Ruskin, Gladstone, Browning, and Tennyson in England; Tholuck, Witte, and Kraus, in Germany; Longfellow and Lowell in America, attribute the t.i.tle of supreme genius to this poem.

The Divine Comedy is universal in its compa.s.s, containing the elements of dramatic, epic, and lyric poetry; full of sublime imaginations, touching and pathetic episodes, and not deficient even in humor, grotesque at times, but often of a strangely sweet and tender nature.

The language is astonishingly simple and concise, and invariably represents the thought of the poet with absolute truth and fidelity. We find in this wonderfully condensed poem no mere epithets, no mere arabesques of style such as adorn the lesser thoughts of lesser men.

Each word is in its right place. "It is amazing," says Ruskin, "how every word, almost every syllable, reveals new meanings the more we study them." The metaphors of Dante are especially famous, for the most part simple and drawn from everyday life, yet unexcelled in beauty and especially in their perfect and complete adaptation to the point they are meant to ill.u.s.trate. Such are those of the old tailor threading his needle, the sheep leaving the fold in huddling groups, the fish disappearing from view in the depths of clear water, and the pearl faintly discernible on a white forehead.

Above all, the personality of the author lends a dramatic interest to the poem and exercises a fascination on the reader. As Lowell says, "The man behind the verse is far greater than the verse itself."[18] In the midst of the wonderful landscapes of his own creation, dark and terrible, soft and beautiful, he walks among the men and woman of all ages; he talks to them and hears their stories of half-forgotten crimes and tragedies; he brands them with infamy or sets upon their brows the wreath of praise. It is his love for Beatrice--now become the symbol of spiritual life--which leads him through the realms of sin over the steep rocks of Purgatory to the glory ineffable of G.o.d.

Completely a man of his age, Dante incorporates into the Divine Comedy all its science and learning, its theology, philosophy, astronomy, use of cla.s.sical authors, way of looking at the insignificance of the present life in comparison with the life to come. All these things have still a distinct medieval stamp. Yet Dante is at the same time the most original of poets. It is his mighty individuality which, rising above the conventionality of his age and country, has made him a world-poet, as true to-day as ever in his depiction of the human heart in all its sin and sorrow, virtue, and vice, in its love and hate and its inextinguishable aspiration toward a better and happier existence in the world beyond the grave.

SUMMARY AND QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW

Visionary journeys to the unseen world in the Middle Ages--How Dante differs from them--The Ptolemaic system--Year of Dante's supposed journey--Entrance to h.e.l.l--Souls of the Ign.o.ble--Limbo and the Unbaptized--Circle II and the Licentious--III and IV, Gluttons and Misers--V, The Styx--VI, Heretics--VII, The Violent: River of blood, Wood of Suicides, Sandy Plain--VIII, The Fraudulent--IX, The Traitors. Purgatory and its seven terraces--The Earthly Paradise--The Supreme Vision--Characteristic features of the Divine Comedy--Its beauty and greatness.

1. Did Dante invent the framework of the Divine Comedy?

2. Give briefly the Ptolemaic system of the universe.

3. How old was Dante when he is supposed to have begun his journey?

4. Give the various sins punished in the nine circles of h.e.l.l.

5. Who was Francesca da Rimini?

6. Mention some of the most famous pa.s.sages in Dante's h.e.l.l.

7. Describe the scene before the gates of Dis.

8. What was the shape of Malebolge, and what kinds of sin were there punished?

9. Tell the story of the last voyage of Ulysses.

10. Describe the lowest circle of h.e.l.l.

11. Story of Ugolino and the Tower of Hunger.

12. Describe the appearance of Lucifer and the three arch-traitors.

13. Where is Purgatory situated?

14. Describe the scene on the seash.o.r.e.

15. Who were Cato, Casella, Manfred, and Buonconte?

16. What souls are punished in Ante-Purgatory?

17. Describe the scene in the Valley of the Princes.

18. How does Dante reach the gate of Purgatory?

19. Name the various sins punished in the seven terraces of Purgatory.

20. Describe the Earthly Paradise.

21. What happens to Dante there?

22. Name the various heavens in their order.

23. In which of these heavens does Dante see the souls of Piccarda, St. Thomas Aquinas, Cacciaguida, and St. Peter?

24. How does the Divine Comedy end?

25. What is your idea of the greatness and beauty of the Divine Comedy?

BIBLIOGRAPHY

(See Chapter II.)

FOOTNOTES:

[7] h.e.l.l, 4,720; Purgatory, 4,755; Paradise, 4,758.

[8] The Adriatic.

[9] Compare with what is said in Chapter 1.

[10] One of the divisions of the last circle, where traitors are punished.

[11] Dis--the emperor of the infernal regions, according to the ancients.

[12] Fiesole is a town on a high hill near Florence--the latter was said to have been settled by the people of Fiesole.

[13] Two islands in the Mediterranean near the mouth of the Arno.