The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1902-11-20
REV. Mr.. DICK LECTURES ON
DANTE'S DIVINE COMEDY

had been criticized as having written his
Inferno in order TO wreak out his ven-
geance on his enemies, by roasting them
conspicuously In hell. Nothing could be
further from the spirit of Dante or the
beauty and grandeur OF his poem.
Dante first sees Beatrice when she Is
but years old and the impression made
on his mind was never to be effaced. She
is at once TO him love personined and
ever remains So So far a Dante's rela-
tions TO Beatrice were concerned she was
nothing more than a personfcation. She
may have been an historical figure but
IL so. one with whom Dante was but lit
tie acquainted. Whether historical or nc
thious. however. she Is directly or indi-
rectly the central figure in the divine
comedy.
The Divine Comedy is divided into 100
cantos: Thirty-four In the Inferno, thir-
ty-three in the Purgatorio and thirty
three In the Paradise. There Is nothing
comic or farcical about IL. IL Is so named
because II ends well. Shakespeare's great
masterpieces end In death: the tragedy
seems necessary TO their completion: not
so with Dante's Divine Comedy 1t ends
In life and that life everlasting. II is SYM
boljcal In Its character and teaching. 1t
was In the year 1900 that Dante saw his
immortal vision. In his life long devotion
to Beatrice we see the incarnation OF
that romantic conception OF love which
was tho knightly ideal OF the middle
ages In the Inferno We have a graphic
and powerful delineation OF their fears.
in the Purgatorio there Is a lucid expo
sition of their scheme OF salvation.
In the Paradise their crude system OF
astronomy is made the stairway up
which their glowing faith mounted TO the
throne OF God.
The Divine Comedy was the ushering In
Of new force into the literary world.
The Latin language had been the vehicle
of all literary thought and expression
from the time OF Rome's magniflcence un-
I'll Dante saw his immortal vision. He
clothed the beauty OF his thought In the
common language OF the every day life
OF the people. He made n new language
for Italy. The Divine Comedy is more
than the beginning OF a new language or
the Introduction OF national literature.
1t is. says Dean Church. lone OF the
landmarks OF history"
IL is one OF those rare and solemn
monuments OF the minds power which
measures and tests what IL can reach to.
which rises up ineffaceably and forever 3
time goes on marking out its advance by
grander divisions than its centuries and
adopted as epochs by the concent OF all
who come after II stands with the Iliad
and Shakespeares plays, with the writ
ings OF Aristotle and Plato, with the
Novum Organon. with Justinian's code
and with the Parthenon and ST. Peters.
II is the first Christian poem and IL
opens European literature as the Iliad did
that OF Greece and Rome end.-like the
Iliad-it has never become out Of date: It
accompanies In undeminished freshness
the literature which IL began"
Continuing DR.. Dick gave brief.
though critical analysis OF the poem
reading many selections by way of illus
tration, which gave-with the magnificent
stereopticon views-a wonderfully clear
conception OF Dante's masterpiece.