• This simile has been imitated by Chaucer, Spenser, and many more. Jeremy Taylor says:⁠— “So have I seen the sun kiss the frozen earth, which was bound up with the images of death, and the colder breath of the north; and then the waters break from their enclosures, and melt with joy, and run in useful channels; and the flies do rise again from their little graves in walls, and dance awhile in the air, to tell that there is joy within, and that the great mother of creatures will open the stock of her new refreshment, become useful to mankind, and sing praises to her Redeemer.” Rossetti, Spirito Antipapale del Secolo di Dante , translated by Miss Ward, II 216, makes this political application of the lines:⁠— “ The Florentines , called Sons of Flora , are compared to flowers ; and Dante calls the two parties who divided the city white and black flowers , and himself white-flower ⁠—the name by which he was called by many. Now he makes use of a very abstruse comparison, to express how he became, from a Guelph or Black , a Ghibelline or White . He describes himself as a flower, first bent and closed by the night frosts, and then blanched or whitened by the sun (the symbol of reason), which opens its leaves; and what produces the effect of the sun on him is a speech of Virgil’s, persuading him to follow his guidance.” ↩