The Washington times., 1904-01-02
Ifving'S New Play Fanciful
and Poetic, But Not Com
pact = Poet Portrayed
With Characteristic Skill.
Piaywrights Merge Dante of
History and Author Of
Inferno Through Scenes
of Intense Realism.

or intense REALISM
A poetic and tanciful drama based
upon the character of the great Dante.
WIS presented at the National Theater
Etst night as the fourth Offering by
Henry Irving. The interest of novelty
and the extraordinarily wide impress
sion made on the community by this
visit OF the foremost actor Of our day
united 10 evoke the most brilliant audi
cnce OF the week. and that audience, like
its predecessors, extended TO Mr.. Irv-
ing its loudcst praises and most gen.
erous good wishes. But the drama gave
the actor so much less opportunity than
The Merchant of Venice. - THE Bells. Z"
Waterloo" and Louis XI' that the
performance was histriOnically neither
so brilliant nor so impressive as those
others which Mr.. Irving has performed
so proftably this week
In the course of recent years Mr.
Irving has embodied the recorded char
acteristics Of several great men-Robe-
spierre, Napoleon, and Louis XI of
France. and Thomas Beckett and
Charles / OF England Now Dante is
added to this list, a poet enrolled in the
y
2 warrior monarch. and a churchman.
Each Of these earlier representations was
distinguished for a startling deIineation
Of the characteristics which history has
recorded Of each personality. His
Charles l has been called "a sort of in
carnation of Vandyke. His Robe
a1ierre was "A variable "sea-green in
corruptible," as Carlyle described the
great chief citizen. Irving's Napoleon
was acceptable even TO the French.
Thomas "a Beckett was at his hands the
incarnation Of the ecclesiastical spirit
militant.
A Clouded Personality.
But the playwrights who would deal
with Dante-in this case they were Vic
torien Sardou and Emile Lioreau-had
a more difficult subject than any of
these. Where extended memoirs. or
state record. or the written testimony of
eyewitnesses, or the year books Of the
church shed luminous and clear light
on those characteristics. that OF Dante
glimmers from medieval history con-
fused, obscured, clouded and conflicting.
Even today when his reputation and his
likeness are known everywhere his
poetry is not read. but like that of Mil
tomas some one else has said--is re-
garded as a safe object of that conven-
uonal esteem with which the public
takes great name on trust
What is known of his life would not
clear away much of the haze. The ac-
cepted dates are 1865 and I321 1t is es-
tablished he was early "A writer. and
that his early verse was passionate.
His morals and his conduct were free.
He became involved in political strug-
giles between the great parties OF Flor
ence and was exiled While little more
than a youth he saw and loved a young
patrician named Beatrice, whose sud
den death left its imprint on all the
poets work. Yet. If Beatrice was his
first love, as is said she was far from
being his last, mention being even made
that Dante had three wives
II has been said most OF this informa-
ton was dubious More than that. most
Of il is in one way or another fatty
contradicted. The student is left. there
fore. to create his own poet and TO the
students who understand and enjoy his
poetry the personality thus created is
that of an austere. lowering. forebod-
ing. sorrow-laden poet of exalted mind,
spiritually isolate from his fellows. Such
is the teaching Of his Divine Comedy"
and an extremely wide reading of his
other poems is necessary to correct it.
The Human Dante.
In this instance the associate authors
have sought to stamp that conception
all over with the qualities Of human
temptation and human strength They
have followed Longfellow. who wrote.
out of full appreciation II the great
Florentine;
Tuscan. that wandered through the realms Of
gloom,
With thoughtful face and sad, majestic eyes
Stern thoughts and awful nom thy soul arise.
Like Fsranita from his fiery tomb.
Thy sacred song Is Ike the trump Of doom,
Yet In thy heart what human syrnpathies
What soft compassion glow as in the skies
The tender stars their clouded lamps relumel
Methinks / see thee stand with palhd checks
BY FRA Hilario in his diocese.
As mp the convent walls IN golden streaks
The ascending sunbesms mark the days de-
crease;
And as he asks what there the stranger seeks.
Thy voice along the cloister whispers ''Peace"'
When made concrete this abstract view
disturbs the popular judgment Dante
is exhibited not only as a man of vigor-
Gus human impulses but the father Of an
iuegitimate child. the reverent lover OF
another mans wife. resourcefuF ad-'
worldly sorrow and the most appalling
eternal punishment To this end
shadowy allusion i'm the twenty-fourth
canto Of the ''Purgatory" is seized
upon-a reference TO a woman the poet
is thought to have met and loved long
after the death Of Beatrice. Madonna
Gentucca of Lucca. This character is
given the name of Pia del Tolomei. the
child born to them is called Comma her
sweetheart is named Bernardino. and
the posture Of events comprehends the
murder of Pia through imprisonment in
a fever swamp. many efforts to separate
or destroy the young lovers and the wild
antagonism to Dante which his person
atty and his genius combined to create.
Play Lacking in Form.
The contributory circumstances are
most favorable. Florence in the time
OF Dante was the most progressive and
enlightened city in the world. It's
chief citizens were the most prominent