white colour is often referred to.[1] The peculiar, soft effect of the flakes as they fall on a wind- less day is rendered admirably by the line—
'Come di neve in alpe senza vento.'[2]
In the beautiful description of the ascent of the angels in Paradise, he compares their moving through the air to the heavy snowflakes that fall in January.[3] In still other passages we see the snow lying in the valleys and on the mountain summits, blown about and hardened by the north winds,[4] or melting under the warm rays of the sun.[5] In one vivid picture, already alluded to, we see the farmer, rising at early dawn, and filled with dismay at the sight of the fields, covered, as he thinks, with snow, but which turns out to be merely frost—
'The image of its white sister.'[6]
All through the Divina Commedia, God is represented as the sun of light and life, warming the universe. The souls of the Blessed
- ↑ Par., xxxi. 15; Purg., xxix. 126.
- ↑ Inf., xiv. 30.
- ↑ Par., xxvii. 67-69. In the Convito there is a description of a heavy snowfall, covering roads and fences, which reminds us involuntarily of Longfellow's 'Afternoon in February' (Convito, iv. 7).
- ↑ Purg., xxx. 85-87, and Inf., xxviii. 58.
- ↑ Purg., xxx. 88-90. This is a very common figure among all poets, ancient and modern.
- ↑ Inf., xxiv. 4-9.
