Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1902-04-17
THE FATHER OF TWO POETS.
His Curious Theory as to Works Of
Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio.

His Curious Theory as to Works Of
Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio.
To an Italian refugee who found .
safe asylum within these shores dur
ing the revolutionary troubles of the
last century England owes two bright
particular stars in her literary fir
mament, no other than the painter
poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti and his
scarcely less gifted sister, Christiana
Seldom, indeed, have the graces OF
hospitality met with such ample re-
quital. AS an author and political
agitator Gabriel Rossetti belongs to
Italy; as the father of two conspicuous
additions to the roll of English poets
he must ever remain an object of in
terest to the country that gave hin
shelter. Born of humble parentage Oh
Feb. %, 1888, at Vasto, a seacoast
town in the kingdom of Naples, Gabriel
Rossetti, like his more illustrious son,
Dante Gabriel, developed at a very
early age a dual aptitude for art and
literature. His talent secured for him
the favor of powerful patrons and the
advantages of liberal education.
For time he filed the part of Off
cial poet to the Theater of San Carlo,
but his experience of managers. prime
dome, and stage etiquette appears to
have been little to his liking, and after
producing a few dramas of more or
less merit. he turned his back on his
trionics. vowing. "Pll leave the the,
atre, for here I'm nothing but a slave
OF slaves" Through the influence M
the Minister for Home Affairs he was
soon appointed to a congenial post in
the Kings museum which he held for
fifteen years. During this period the
Neapolitan kingdom was the victim in
turn of Bourbon aud Bonapartis'
tyrannies, and Gabriel Rossetti re-
cords that he witnessed as many as
ten changes of government. His pat
riotic enthusiasm finally carried him
into the ranks of the CarbOnari, and
the revolutionary verses which made
him popular among the masses eX-
posed him to the fury of the police.
Thanks to the good offices of the
British Admiral, Sir Graham Moore,
Rossetti was smuggled out of the
country, and, after temporary stay
at Malta, he proceeded to England,
which he reached in April, 1924
The remainder of his life was spent
in London. His energies were hence
forth devoted to the teaching of italian
and literary pursuits. A professorship
of Kings college enabled him to bring
up his family in comfort. In his OWE
country he had acquired a consider
able reputation as poet and improv-
| iSatOre. In London he was better
known as the author of some curious
speculations on Dante's "Commedia."
He regarded Dante as member, both
in politics and religion, of an occult
society having close relation to what
we now call Freemasonry." He further
maintained that Dante's Beatrice was
not real woman, but an embodiment
of philosophy. Gabriel Rossetti had
strong bent toward the mystical, and
it seems to have been his aim to in
yolve the great poets of the middle
ages in the meshes of a secret brother
hood supposed to have expressed them
selves III d ld0Su Vi WHICH L0S IL
ner meaning was only understood by
themselves. His views on these mat
tiers are fairly summarized IN the fol-
lowing passage extracted from a letter
written in 1892:
ct is impossible to continue with
out exhibiting the most intimate mys-
teries of the sect, seeing that the en-
tire poem of Dante, all the lyrics of
Petrarch, almost all the works OF
Boccaccio, and, in fine, all the old
writings of, that class, are nothing else
than downright doctrine and practice
Of the Freemasons, in the strictest
acceptation Of the word. Such was the
gay science, such the Platonic love,
such the sect of the Templars, and
that of the Pauliciaps. How true this
is you will find in the published vol
ume, with numberless manuscript adj
ditions which have made to it. There
you will see developed the God of the
sect, viz, Man in freedom; there,
also, the Sectarian Trinity, the Incar-
nation, transubstantiation, and ether
matters. News.