The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1861-03-12
Dante and the Divine Comedy.

and Su.xsyRARs in our article upon the po-
ems Of HOMER the other day. We did not
rnaan 70 DENY his claims TO rank with them,
and vet the omission was not made through
tnadvertance. We were thinking Of the Di-
vine Comedy, all the time, while we were
writing the paragraph about the singular CO.
Incidence Of fate between the Grecian and the
English post. But we were calling attention
TO the loss of all knowledge with regard TO
the personal his tory of these two great men
One of them lived several centuries before the
invention of writing, so far as 1t is possible to
ascertain There were, Of course, no written
CONTEMPORARY memorials Of him. His per
.onal history was the subject of tradition
alone, and became, in the lapse OF time, SO IN
1ermingled with fables. that it is impossible
IN hx upon auy one circumstance related with
rerard TO him as an undoubted truth. The
other lived, 1t is true, in highly enlightened
age He did not, as somebody has said
stand up grand and solitary, like lRN-
RRIrpH In the midst Of the ocean. he tn
Their resembled Mont Blanc, in the middle
of the Alps He was surrounded by great
men, and he was head and shoulders tall
or than them all. 1t cannot but Sink
everybod AZ extremely singular, that W.
should know more of him, individually
than we do know. In fact, so far as the IN
doubted knowledge which we have of his acts
and sayings may serve TO give Us an idea OF MS
character, he Is as unknown TO US as HOMER
himself The names of the two men are mere
symbols-symbols of the poetic gift In Us
highest state of perfection-as entirely symoo-
heal as the name Of APOLLO, or that OF EscU-
IApIrs. We thought it singular that such |
should be the lot common to two OF the |
three men whom the world has agreed 10 call
1>,,ht Ind hn-
Their their individual obscurity might not be
the penalty of their pre- eminence in song.
If we doubted before, however, our doubts
were removed by thinking upon their com
peer, DANTE. Unlike his mighty brethren, he
has left abundant traces of his personal his
tory. No man of his day was better known
in bis dsy, and no man Of his day Is better
known to posterty. He a warrior and
legislator, as we'll az poet He stood high in
one OF the parties whose Quarrels ut that
time shook Florence to its centre. He was
eXiled for his adherence to an unfortunate
faction. OF course his life was public, and
could not fail 10 be recorded, when his poem
had given his name such wonderful power
of attraction. In a contemporary-one of the
first of Italian prose writers, as he continues
to be one of :he best--in the inimtable Boo
GAcIo, he found a biographer, whose pride il
was to record the incidents of his life with
minu tie punctuality. So far he differed from
his great rivals. IL his fate enviable in that
respect' We should think not. If we were
great poet, we should say, " remember my
works forever read them, preserve them,
hand them down to the latest posterity but
for me, individually, lay me in the grave
when am dead, throw the earth upon my
coffin, and there let me lie until sum
moned to Judgment by the last trumpet
Let not me. and my actions, and my sayings,
be the subject of prurient curiosity to the Cos
sips of future ages. Let no BOSWELL come
near me- Let me be known only by my
works" Probably no two poets that ever
Lived have said so little about themselves as
HOMER and SHAKsPEARB. This has been con-
sidered a remarkable trait in each, and the
modesty of both has been greatly praised
therefor. We see nothing remarkable and
nothing deserving Of praise In 1t. HOMER
wrote epics. SHAKsPEAKE wrote dramas
The nrtt tells the tale of heroes who had lived
century before him, under the direct inspi-
ration Of the muse. There was no means OF
dragging himself or his concerns into tho mar
Yauye. The second brings on the stage per
sons long since dead. They speak only OF
things that happened long ago, in which they
were actors. They could not speak of the
born, and they do speak as though they were
living In the world Of their own day.
DANTE on the contrary, tells his own story
His poem is a record of what he saw with hi
own eyes, and of the reflections which h
makes thereupon. 1t is like a book of travel
In which the traveller notes each particular
incident Us 1t occurs, and makes his comment
as he goes. In one respect, at least, he sur
passes all other writer's. His poem is tn
most original book that ever was written
HOMER, undoubtedly, made free use OF tn
materials that had been left by older Rhapso
dists He tells US himself that the exploits o
the Greeks at the siege of Troy had been SUM
before his day. SHAKsPRARB, not only re wrot
many old plays, but he Is indebted for all hi
plols Tor nearly ally to something that was il
print before his time. But where shall W
look for the original of DASrg' In the work
of'vIKoIL, for whom he professed a slavisl
sdmira ton, altogether unaccountable to u
who know his vast superiority over that poet
The descent Of GSEAs in to the heather Hades
and the sojourn of DANTE in the invisibl
world, bear no more resemblance to each othe
than HELEN bears to the blessed Virgin, o
ULIssKs to ST.. PAUL. The story of
vision which some enthusiast had befor
the advent Of DANTE has been repub
ushsd; but In 1t we are unable to SO
Aay traces Of the Divine Comedy =
The fact is not only the conception is original
but the language, the scope, the metaphors
are all unlike anything II Ia possible TO NEE
with any where else. The poem Is a map c
the poets mind. Upon its face Is express &c
In indeiiible traces, tho i'm preston which tn
incidents Of his age had made upon his hear
and understanding. 1t is a record of tn
experience Of life filled with incidents of III
deepest In terest. The coioring in which the
appear Is such as they receive in passir
through mind deeply religious, thorough
catholic, highly meditative. profoundly me
aucholy, and, to the last degree, poetical. L
evidently conceived his mission to be- a his
one, as we may learn from BoccAcIo, fro
whose words II seems probable that he Ia
conceived the design before he had yet becon
AN exile. Looking down." says BoooAcI
'from his high place as n ruler Of his cit
and seeing The nature Of mans life, the blir
wanderings Of tbs multitude, and the sud-.
and Unforeseen accidents TO which 1t Is e.
posed, there came thus into his mind the COZ
csption Of the 'Disina Oommedia' -
-------.--------~--
PeLirIcAL.--At q meeting of nearly all d
.Virxinia students at the University Of VI
Sinis, few days since, resolutions in fav
.ff Hfo,a