University of Santa Clara - Redwood Yearbook (Santa Clara, CA)

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Entered Dec. S, i )n , at Santa Clara, Calif, as second-class matter, under Act of Congress of March , •879. VOL. VI. SANTA CLARA, CAL., OCTOBER, 1906. No. i. AMBITION W ci from ihe enchanied kingdom held in fee Cf anay, clu iered round with fairies bright, i: cro22 the shadowland of Jlevery (Faint echoing nnusia fills me wiblb deli£hi. J liear it Joy the lone, surf-heaien shore, Jn many a dreamy vale and cIoud-£irt hill, ( mid the city ' s tumult and the roar f)f crowded marts J feel its mystic thrill. c h, who may read the nneanin£p Jet to me hose darkling steps it oft hath nerved to rise hove the baleful depths of Jxethar£y Jt seems an an el-son from paradise. Sophomore

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Ambition (Sonnet) Sophomore i The Divina Comed-ia . . . . joh7i H. Riordan, A. M., ' 06 2 The Old Adobe (Poem) R. S., ' oy % The Heritage of Nelson - - - - James Francis Twohy, ' 07 10 Autumn (Poem) ...... Robert E. Twohy, ' 08 13 Back to Rome (Poem) Special 14 RiCARDO A. C. F., 2nd Acad. 16 My Thoughts (Poem) T.J.S., ' 12 18 Bryan J. Clinch J. D., ' 07 ig A College Friendship — Its Beginning and End - Wm. Hirst, ' 10 28 The Agnostic (Poem) .... James Francis Twohy, ' 07 28 Editorial Comment 29 College Notes 32 Alumni 38 Exchanges 40 In the Library 42 Athletics 44 Nace Printing Co. c e Santa Clara, Cal.

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THE REDWOOD THE DIVINA COMEDIA The Divine Comedy is not a comedy in the sense in which we now under- stan d the word. This was a term the ancients used to classify productions whereof the denouement was a happy one, and in which the style was neither the studiously elegant nor the common, but couched rather in a middle tone. Hence the fitness of this unique title; for its final scene was one of happiness, and its story was told in the poet ' s native tongue, the Tuscan, which was considered neither as refined nor as ele- gant as the Latin. It was not, how- ever, called Divine by Dante, but was so styled subsequently by transcribers owing to the sacredness of the theme and the seeming inspiration of the author. The poem presents an unequalled unity of construction. It consists of a hundred cantos each containing from 130 to 140 verses, the Vi bole scheme divided into three sections of thirty- three cantos each. The first canto is a kind of an introduction to the three sec- tions devoted respectively to Hell, Pur- gatory and Paradise. The measure of the poem is the ierza rima, consisting of a triple recurrence of the same rhyme alternated by another series of three. The verses, thus interlinked, are com- posed of eleven syllables, divided into five iambics, the last being an overheat; so that all through the lines have an undertone of vibrant sonorousness. All immortal poetry is the chant of the mystery that everywhere surrounds us, an investigation of the primal ques- tions — What are we? Whither do we tend? Are we sailing into the sunset, to vanish, when night has come, in the sea of oblivion, or is the bark of life straining towards the dawn? This is the question that comes to us all, that is solved only in the light of faith, that presents an enigma to the haughty, re- sulting in atheism. Dante, proud and strong-willed, his heart scalded by the injustice of his countrymen, gazed into the west with its sinking sun; but the light afterwards rose again for him unto another day. Drawn to Rome by the jubilee insti- tuted by Boniface VIII, he was thrilled by the intensity of the faith that brought the whole of Christendom on a pilgrim- age to the Vatican, and thus impressed with the sincerity of the faithful, in the splendor and pomp exhibited he saw something of the splendors of heaven. Chastened as he had been by pain and sorrow, he was now inspired to take up his visionary pilgrimage into the life that lies beyond the visible, with its three kingdoms of punishment, puri- fication and happiness. Having in vision entered the path of death, Dante begins his descent into the infernal regions. These according to him are situated directly beneath Jeru- salem, consisting of gradually narrow- ing circles terminating in the centre of the globe. On the antipodes of this the