atmosphere there are thousands of readers who still find in his
writings, a solace in grief, a strength in temptation, a deep sense of
reality, permanent though unseen, of the love of God and of His justice.
The reasons are not far away.

"Our poet," says Grandgent "was a many sided genius who has a message
for nearly everyone."

Dante's compelling renown among us, is due says Dr. Frank Crane both "to
the intrinsic greatness of the man's personality and to the sheer beauty
of his craftsmanship."

"The secret of Dante's power" writes James Russell Lowell "is not far
to seek. Whoever can express _himself_ with the full force of
unconscious sincerity will be found to have uttered something ideal
and universal."

Whether one or all these reasons are the true explanation of the
twentieth century's great interest in Dante, the fact remains, as
Tennyson said, that far from being a waning classic, Dante "in power
ever grows," and the interest he calls forth constitutes, as James Bryce
observed in his Lowell Institute lectures "the literary phenomenon of
England and America."

Now to Dante as the man let us turn. To know the fibre of his manhood
will help us to appreciate the genius of his art. "It is needful to know
Dante as man" wrote Charles Elliot Norton, "in order fully to
appreciate him as poet." The thought is expressed in another way by
James Russell Lowell: "The man behind the verse is far greater than the
verse itself and Dante is not merely a great poet but an influence, part