Appendix N 



Father Nile 



scatters 



largess 



Dullness 



is 



dismal 



The 



all-seeing 

 poet sees 

 all 



Italia, 



Italia, tu che 

 hai il don 

 funeste della 

 belta! 



1 must learn 

 Tuscan one of 

 these days 



Lo, in the distance rises broad and tall 

 (By storied Nilus sprawling turbidly) 



A giant massive which the sages call 

 The Pyramid of Cheops, unexcelled 

 In its chaste grandeur, overtopping all, 



Which through the aeons men have ever held 

 The emblem of perfection. Let it be 

 A symbol of the homage we may yield 



To Genius on the plains of Poesy, 



Midst mole- and ant-hill poetasters planned, 

 The Dismalcy of Mediocrity! 



Thus towering Dante, in whose austere hand 



Divinest secrets all unveiled lie, 



As from a dominating pyramid 

 Looks down upon each flitting century, 



And nothing from his searchant gaze is hid; 



Ecstatic visions granted him alone! 



Far glimpses of the Everlasting Love! 



But "syllables that breathe of the Sweet South,' 

 A speech our race has not inherited, 

 Are ill-befitting to a Northern mouth; 



His inmost meaning to us all unknown 



Or felt but vaguely till to him we climb, 

 No slight adventure, for we find, in truth, 



Acute the angles, smooth the polished stone 

 Wrought in firm masonry of triple rhyme. 



A great 

 adventure 



A great 

 reward 



IL PARADISO 



To thee, my friend, the lifelong task was given 

 To lift us to the apex where alone 

 Is held the key to open Hell and Heaven; 



A staircase hast thou builded, broad and fair 

 Of rough-hewn blocks of Saxon granite riven, 

 On which we climb through circumambient air 



O'er ant-hill, mole-hill, toward the very stars, 

 Where in far lucent azure swims the vast 

 Perspective of great Dante's Universe! 



c 834 : 



