Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-07-23
DANTE ALIGHlERl.
The Sor-owful and Cherries Life 1
1taly's Most Famous Poet.

ltaly's Most Famous Poet.
Dante Alighieri was born in the city
F, of Florence in the year 1865. The flu
ture poet was of noble family, and he
inherited apparently the bravery Of his
ancestors, who fought in the crusades.
| His education was as thorough as the
facilities of that age permitted. He
studied at the universities of Bologna
and Padua. and perhaps visited Paris
and Oxford, but in his attainment of
learning he never neglected physical
exercise and manly sports.
In his tw%enty-fourth year Dante had
an opportunity to try his metal in bat
tie. Florence was occupied by two par
ties, the Guclphs and Ghibellines, each
Of which was determined upon the SUI
premacy. BY a series of complications
which it would require pages to de-
scribe, the Florentincs engaged in war
with two neighboring cities, and in these
battles young Dante proved himself
worthy of his sircs.
There is a little romance connected
with the early years of the poet which
had a marked influence on his life and
writings. When only nine years cid he
fell in love with a little girl, Beatrice,
who had scarcely grown to be a woman
when she died. Dante never ceased to
worship her ideal as long as he lived,
and she became to him a Kind Of deity.
In the year 1900 a misfortune came to
Dante which changed his career. He
had been elected an official of Florence,
and while in Office he was compelled to
act in a way that offended one party.
While Dante was away at Rome this
faction came into power, and immedi-
ately passed a decree of Punishment
against the absent citizen. Thus, like
Cicero, Dante found himself an exile
from the city he so dearly loved. But
not like the great orator was ne to be
recalled in a few short months. His
was a lifelong Punishment, and but fo1
those long years of sad wandering from
city to city, those weary hours spent in
monastery and chapel, we might never
have had the Divine Comedy.
The death of his young love, the com
%panionship of a most ill-tcmpercd wife,
and his banishment from his native cit,
conspired to make Dante a melancholy
man. But his deeper feelings were
aroused by these misfortunes; they
wrang from the poet song that ha:
stirred the hearts of men in all succeed
ing ages. 1t vas a fitting time for ;
poet to appear. Religious enthusiasm
was at its height. Chivalry with it
fascinating attributes of courtesy, low,
and honor was in it's glory, and tn,
words ''libcrtv" and democracy wer,
on everybody's lips.
Dante wrote, before his exile, a little
volume in which he tells of his love fol
Beatrice, and he published other book:
in the Latin language, one on "Mon
archy' and another on ''The Vulgal
Tongue" His great work is the Divin,
Comedy. This he wrote not in Latin
but in the vulgar tongue;'-the Italian
Here we find q resemblance between
the first great English poet, Chaucer
and the leader of Italian song. Boil
discarded the artificial languages O
polite letters, the Norman and tn
Latin, both aimed to reach the heart
of their countrymen through the simple
everyday language that all coule
understand, and both hoped to give tn.
common speech a higher place BY show
ing its power in poetry.
The plot of the Divine Comedy is sim
pie. In company with Virgil whom
Dante enthusiastically admired, tn,
poet visits the lower world. The wor]
is divided into three parts which CORE
spond with the three divisions Of tn
after-state-hell, %purgatory and para
disc. With a terrible earncstncss an,
minuteness Dante describes the scene
in the place of torment. He meet
characters well-known in history, an,
%converses with them, until it all seem
a reality. This book is really q gran,
review of the world up to the poet
age. Men and women OF all times pas
in review; future punishment is made
revolving and awful thing, and is con
trastcd with the happiness Of paradis
through which the beloved Beatric
conducts the visitor.
Fry as he may Dante can not max,
paradise as attractive as purgatory i
repulsivc. Can we wonder at this
when we remember his life of sorrow
and misery. The Divine Comedy wa
written during the years Of wanderin!
from the time of his exile until hi
death at Ravenna in 1921. The patrol
OF his latter years. Guido Novello d
Polenta, chad the poet buried witt
great solemnity, and it is gratifying tx
know the Forentines a century late
did tardy homage to their distinguishe,
citizen.-W1de Awake.