The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-08


 his spiritual conquests, to let the world know how the love of one woman and the desire to keep vigil for the good of the world" could transform mans soul. So in poverty and distress, wan dering from one Italian city to another, Dante wrote most of his great epic. His final years were spent in. Ravenna, where many friends and disciples gath cred about him. The Divine Com edy" was completed only a short time before Dante's death, which occurred on September 14, 1921.
 Waited Long for Recognition
 This great poem waited. 600 years be- fore its merits were fully appreciated. In form it was drawn directly from the sixth book of Virgil's "Aeneid' and to make, this likeness all the stronger Dante makes Virgil his guide on the imaginary journey that he describes through hell and purgatory. Yet, though everything on his journey is pictured in minute de- tail, the whole is purely symbolical Dante depicts himself carried by Virgil, who represents human philosophy, through the horrors of hel land purgatory to the abode of happiness in the 'earth- iy paradise" This narrative Is full of allusions to the life of Italy of his day. His Inferno is really Italy gov- erned by corrupt popes and political leaders. and he shows by the torments of the damned how the souls of the con demned suffer because they have elected evil instead of good. In the purgatory we have the far more cheerful view of man, removing the vices of the world and recovering the moral and intellectual freedom which fits him for blessed es- tate in the "earthly paradise"
 In these two parts of the poem Dante shows how love Is the transfguring force in working the miracle of moral regener- ation. And this love is without any trace of carnal passion; 1t is the supreme aspiration, which has such power that it makes it's possessor ruler over his own spirit and master of his destiny. What power, what passion resided in the mind of this old poet that 1t could so charge his words that these should inspire the greatest writers of an alien nation. eco years after his death, to pay homage to the moving spirit of his verse. In all lt- erature nothing can be found to sur- pass the influence of this poem of Dante's, struck off at white heat at the end of life filed with the bitterness of worldly defeats and losses but glor- flied by these visions of spiritual con- quest, greater than any of the victories of this world.
 Little space Is left here to dwell on the most remarkable feature of Dantes great poem-its influence in fertilizing minds centuries after the death of its author. Florence, which once drove the poet into exile, has tried many times to recover the body of the man who has long been recognized as her greatest son. And the new and united Italy, which was ushered in by the labors of Mazzini and others, regards Dante as the prophet of the nation, the symbol of a regenerated land. All the great modern writers bear enthusiastic testimony to the inflence of Dante, Carlyle said of him: True souls h all generations of the world who look on this Dante will find a brotherhood in him; the deep sincerity of his thoughts. his woes and hopes, will speak likewise to their sincerity; they will feel that this Dante was once brother Lowell, who attributed his love of learning to the study of the Florentine poet, says: Tt is because they find in him spur to noble aims, secure refuge in that defeat which the present day seems, that they prize Dante who know and love him best. He Is not only great poet, but an influence, part of the souls resources in time of trouble"
 This tribute to the greatness of Dante cannot be ended more effectively than by referring to the sonnets of Long, fellow. Our New England poet found solace in his bitter grief over the tragic death of his wife in translating the 'Divine Comedy" in metrical form. Six sonnets he wrote depicting the comfort and peace that he found in the study of the great Florentine, The last sonnet, in which Longfellow eloquently describes the increasing influence of Dante among people In all lands. Is among the finest things that he ever wrote.