The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-11-16
TEACHERS STUDYING THE DIVINE COMEDY Dr. And Mrs. Phillips Read h.
 tereSting Papers PREPARING FOR LECTURES Mrs. Phillips Discusses Beatrice as Inspiration to Dante," While pr.
 Phillips Considers "Problem
 of the Divine Comedy"
PREPARING FOR LECTURES

An interesting meeting of the city teach
 CTS institute was held Saturday morn-
 ing in the High schood auditorium. All
 of the city teachers in connection with
 their other work are pursuing a special l course of study. One author is taken for
 the year. Instead of a professional course the teachers have adopted the divine com edy of Dante as a special culture course
 The entire session is given to the study
 of one of the great master pieces of lt- i erature in anticipation of a course of lectures which will be delivered here next April by MT. Edward Howard Griggs
 This famous lecturer delivered course of lectures in the High school auditorium l last year, and attracted so much interest that return date was requested by the teachers and large number of Birmng- l hams cultured people MT. Griggs will deliver a course of F lectures in April, ], the greater portion of them dealing with Dante and the divine comedy.
 At Saturday mornings meeting two ad dresses were delivered, one by Mrs. J. H. Phillips on Beatrice as the Inspiration of Dante, and the other by Dr. Phillips on the Problem of the Divine Comedy"
 Mrs. Phillips, in brief sketch, outlined Dante's early career and particularly his
 first meeting with Beatrice. She referred with special interest to the element of charactr in Dante which made him recep- tive to ennobling influences. The charge that he was arrogant, selfish and egotistic I,i hun dred years ago men were more candid and frank in expression than we are today. Conscious of his power he did not hesitate to express himself frankly. Beatrice Is an historical character; not mere myth, an ideal, or a symbol but a real living being, who became the inspiration of a great man. Mrs Phillips emphasized the significance of Dante's first meeting with Beatrice, he mere boy and she a child of years. It was a birthday party and while she spoke not a word, perhaps, to the youthful admirer, the impression was lasting, and the result was the ultimate production of one of the greatest mas terpieces of the ages.
 In the middle ages the subject of love was treated more seriously than it is to- day. It was customary for parents to ar range the betrothal of children.
 l Mrs Phillips emphasized the importance of childish love. This we are prone to ridicule, she said, and even to chide our girls and boys: but who can estimate it's power and significance. even in modern life2 There were many at that historic birthday party that the angelic eyes of Beatrice might have inspired, but there 1 is record of only one who received the inspiration. It is important that we de- velop the power to inspire, but it is of far greater importance that We develop the receptive power. the capacity to re- ceive inspiration. Beatrice became to Dante not only an ideal but guide and an inspiration in the trials and strug gles of a life of disappointments, leading him up through the gates of paradise and enabling him to attain the glory of the Beatific vision.
 Mrs Phillips emphasized the fact that ! Dantes love for Beatrice, in accordance with the genius of the age in which he i lived, did not mar his affection for his wife and children. His love for Beatrice 1 was different in character. After her death she became his guardian angel. beekonng him onward and upward. This 1 love was not mere affection, nor was it mere sentimental love that soothed him in his exile; it was a love that corrected his l faults and developed his character. It was a love that chided and reproved, but a love that led him ultimately from the 1 gloomy forest of his turbulent life to the highest round of happiness.
 Beatrice thus becomes to us a symbol of that ideal love which inspires love | for the true and the beautiful and urges l on to nobler deeds; a symbol of true womanhood acting in her proper sphere as the guide and inspiration of man. It is this love that gives the world it's noblest men and inspires the greatest l products of art and of literature.
 | Mrs Phillips address was one c< .ne ! most inspiring that was ever delivered ] to the teachers of the Birmingham ] schools It not only gave them an i'm | pression of and an insight into the spirit | of Dante and his true relation to Beatrice as his inspiration, but opened wide vstas of thought and inspiration to all pres | ent
 | The subject of Dr. Phillips lecture was "The Problem of the Divine Comedy" He compared the theme of Virgil with that | of Dante Virgil sang of arms and the | man. Dante in explanation of the divine comedy said, "Subjectum est homo" Not
 the man, but humanity, was Dante's s l theme, humanity in it's relation to the
 divine order in the universe. He ex- plained the several meanings of the poem,
 the literal allegorical, moral; the per- sonal political, philosophical and spiritual
 interpretations are appropriate. but the
 problem is the same in each it simply re- l quires a different statement The per-
 sonal element appeals to us The divine
 grim's Progress from the viewpoint of
 the middle ages, with it's theology and it's
 scholastic philosophy. He lived through | the scenes he describes. His own soul l was the stage, and the spectator at the l same time. It was journey-man does not sit in grandstand reviewing a pa- rade. He himself passes through these soul experiences. The inferno, purgatorio l and paradise are states or conditions of l the soul.
 l In Dante's scheme the first two are on l this planet, while the third is above the l earth. In the inferno the soul descends
 in proportion to it's weight of sin; the | .&