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

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Dante and Our Age George D. Pancera |TX hundred years ago in Ravenna, Guido Novello da Polenta delivered the funeral ora- tion over the re- mains of his friend, Dante Al- ighieri. And so Dante, the man is dead ; but on this, the occasion of the com- memoration of his decease, when prac- tically the entire Christian world is chanting his praises, Dante, the poet- ical genius, the inspiration and stimu- lator of undeveloped and developing? genius, lives on and enjoys an ever-ex- panding assemblage of devotees with the passing decades. How do we account for this rush to pay homage to the greatness of a poet of an age of tranquilitj ' , steadfastness and solid faith, when we ostensibly are living in an age that has sought to avoid these associations? Are we of this turbulent twentieth century seek- ing to find our way back from a path that was leading into the jungle of at- avism? Are we, in our spent and be- wildered, but happily newly-awakened condition, reaching out to the Floren- tine poet, as the supreme recorder of a century that was constant and secure, to furnish a morsel of sober reality to alleviate the unwholesome taste of up-to-date philosophy and artificiality upon which we have been feasting; all the time unaware that the air was reso- nant with the rumblings of a hundred screaming tocsins? The world has been copiously dream- ing on a plane of consciousness unre- lated to our present needs and condi- tions, but is now emerging, grimly re- alizing and ready to confess its pres- ent state by inscribing on its banner the single word, repletion . It has grown tired o f lurking in the shadows of life and now seeks God ' s pure sun- light. And where does it turn to ful- fill its desire? It looks to him who is the symbol of life. Dante was human, first, last and always, whether on the journeys to his imaginary Hell, Purga- tory or Paradise. We can appreciate and feel with Dante because he is man, but the indescribable man that is tonic for the neglected soul, the plaintive and meditative heart and the misguid- ed mind. A cursory glance through the master- piece, or even the simplest sonnet, pre- sents to the mind the impression of an arresting something that seems too ten- uous or diaphanous to describe ; a mo- ment of sober reflection, however, will prove it to be his aptitude to see at all times through the human eye. Dante, as others, delves into the abstract, but the concrete element is ever there to round out the picture. The world drinks from the golden urn of Dante ' s creative ingenuity, not because he was able to wield an easy and burnished pen, but because his pen

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Entered Dec. 18, 1902. at Santa Clara. Cal.. as second-class matter, under Act of Congress of March 3, 1879 VOL. XXI SANTA CLARA, CAL., NOVEMBER. 1921 No. 1 EXILE TO DANTE HAT violing wind awakes still cKords in tKee, Once wailing in tKe winds of Paradise?— Florentian! suckling songs an ong tKe skies; Sounding the pools of deep Triunity, Thy Lyre attuned to Divinity: Virgil, to blest Bernard and Beatrice; Sad poet of the Lethe ' s slumbrous rise, And far Inferno thundering ceaselessly! Florentine bells from campaniles far, Contwined in lisping breezes fragrant still, Stir dusty memories of fantastic war, Forgotten feuds of Florence, thwarted will, Within thee while, east flowing languid are The Lethal shadows of the western hill. A. J. STEISS. IR. library University of Santa Clara

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THE REDWOOD was ever steeped into the well of logic. Dante was a slave to right order ; it was too great a part of the procedure in life to be lightly put aside. He was not the greatest poet, but he remains to the present day the supreme apostle of order, and as the dispenser of truth he stands in splendid isolation. Dante knew his philosophy and religion as he knew men and their sinful propensi- ties. His Divine Comedy then is the ap- plication of philosophy and Christian teachings to the Avorld of his creation. We cannot always appreciate and real- ize in the fullest measure the real force and thought contained in that immor- tal work ; primarily, because it is based on a conception of the world long since rejected by the modern mind. There is, however, no missing the force, vividness and splendid intensity with which he sketches his medieval age. It evades description : — we only know tliis is so and are supremely glad and happy Ihat it is. We say we may not wholly under- stand Dante, but we can marvel at the completeness of his work and the in- genious weaving of science and logic into the design. He points out his Hell as nine concentric circles comprising an inverted cone, each round represent- ing a specific degree of offense against God and containing a properly fitting punishment. The offenses increase in gravity and punishments in intensity as the circles approach the vortex, where his satanic majesty, Lucifer, is held in the terrible frozen quagmire. The whole picture is a faultless ap- plication of the rules of logic. The scenes are appalling in their grim re- ality and the morals taught by them are as sound as they are explicitly pointed out. In the descriptions of Purgatory and Heaven, we find the same perfect bal- ance maintained in every respect. There too, we have nine circles; these, however, are ascending ; each round representing a greater degree of juxta position to God, and thus as Dante and his guides clamber steadily upwards, they at last come into full view of the city of God, shining forth in all its ir- radiant splendor. It is the most gigantic undertaking ever attempted by a human hand, yet it does not bear the stigma of laborious or forced lines. To our amazement, on examination and comparison, we are brought to realize that no tale was ever attended with more brevity, poignan- cy, or completeness ; in truth, no mortal creation is more terrifyingly vivid, piti- ful or trenchantly horrible. It is untainted by doting or doubtful digressions, or useless elaborations, is fearlessly related and straightforAvard in its diction. Developed along allegor- ical lines, other works of similar na- ture are lost in the shadows of this in- spired masterpiece which sprang from a depth of feeling and a richly gifted nature. Wonderful, too, is the intel- lectual enjoyment the poet furnishes to every class of student, artist, scientist, logician, theologist, and every other man of learning finds satiety and warm sympathy in his lines. Dante never lost sight of his purpose ; to teach and glorify his Christian phil- osophy, to lash the world of vice and expose it in all its liideousness, and by his exaltation of his beloved Beatrice, the symbol of Divine Wisdom and all that is noble in the world, to bear wit-