. Florence in poetry, history and art . nce. lectures is still continued in Or San Michele, butin 1378 the lectures were delivered in the Ca-thedral of Santa Maria del Fiore and the lec-turer appointed by the Republic was GiovanniBoccaccio. The Florentines have Dantes portrait on thewalls of the Bargello, painted by Giotto, as wehave said. ON A PORTRAIT OF DANTE BY GIOTTO. 1 Can this be thou, who, lean and pale, With such immitigable eyeDidst look upon those writhing souls in bale, And note each vengeance, and pass byUnmoved, save when thy heart by chanceCast backward one forbidden glance,And
. Florence in poetry, history and art . nce. lectures is still continued in Or San Michele, butin 1378 the lectures were delivered in the Ca-thedral of Santa Maria del Fiore and the lec-turer appointed by the Republic was GiovanniBoccaccio. The Florentines have Dantes portrait on thewalls of the Bargello, painted by Giotto, as wehave said. ON A PORTRAIT OF DANTE BY GIOTTO. 1 Can this be thou, who, lean and pale, With such immitigable eyeDidst look upon those writhing souls in bale, And note each vengeance, and pass byUnmoved, save when thy heart by chanceCast backward one forbidden glance,And saw Francesca, with childs glee,Subdue and mount thy wild-horse knee,And with proud hands control its fiery prance? With half-drooped lids, and smooth, roundbrow, And eye remote, that inly seesFair Beatrices spirit wandering now In some sea-lulled Hesperides,Thou movest through the jarring street,Secluded from the noise of feetBy her gift-blossom in thy hand,Thy branch of palm from Holy Land;—No trace is here of ruins fiery sleet. 66. Portrait of Dante Giotto The Poet. Yet there is something round thy lips That prophesies the coming doom,The soft, gray herald—shadow ere the eclipse Notches the perfect disk with gloom;A something that would banish thee,And thine untamed pursuer be,From men and their unworthy fates,Though Florence had not shut her gates,And Grief had loosed her clutch and let thee ! he who follows fearlessly The beckoning of a poet-heartShall wander, and without the worlds decree, A banished man in field and mart;Harder than Florences walls the barWhich with deaf sternness holds him farFrom home and friends, till deaths release,And makes his only prayer for peace,Like thine, scarred veteran of a lifelong war!—James Russell Lowell. INSCRIPTION FOR A PORTRAIT OF DANTE. Dante Alighieri, a dark oracle Of wisdom and of art I am; whose mindHas to my country such great gifts assignd That men account my powers a miracle. My lofty fancy passed as low as Hell,
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidflorenceinpo, bookyear1913
