The poem mingles classic mythology with satire, contemporary problems, humor and idealism. With high praise, it has been called “The Divine Comedy of the New Century.”[123] It has been compared to Shelley’s _Prometheus Unbound_, to Keats’ _Endymion_ and other epical poems. Ananke, ruler of the universe, is a vitalized character from mythology who imprisons the gods in Erebus. He permits them to start on a journey to visit the distant world while Moira, daughter of Ananke, gives springtime and peace to the world. Their joy is turned into discord and suffering as they come near;-- And from the yawning cleft the echoes’ thunder rolled, For aye no spot on earth but witnessed grief untold. The blue flower of Memory has a vital part to play. The angels chant their message of hope, their assurance of “a coming morn” when cocks will crow at the advent of a Saviour, and Part I ends in a climax of idealism. The “Winning of Hera,” Queen of the Amazons, and the choice of Herakles as wanderer on the earth, suffering any tortures for the sake of Truth, are larger themes in Part II. Marguerite Münsterberg has made an interpretive translation of parts of this epic poem which won for its author the Nobel prize.[124] There is drollery and satire, as in the plan of Aphrodite to lead mankind away like children, and the frustration by rain and burlesque features. The poetic climaxes are vigorous and the complete work is masterly and epical. Spitteler is often ranked as representative of German literature in Switzerland, in company with Gottfried Keller, Conrad Meyer, author of _The Monk’s Marriage_, and Joseph Victor Widman, author of _Saints and Beasts_. He showed influences, in prose and verse, of Goethe and Schiller but he had originality in his approach to his subject and its treatment. He endured much loneliness of spirit from neglect of his literary messages and from political bitterness. During the war he urged the neutrality of German Switzerland and so lost favor with the people who had stimulated and encouraged him; in return he gained popularity in France and was given the greeting of the French Academy when he was seventy years old. His poems vary much in tones and measures; there are musical _Bell Songs_ (_Glockenlieder_, 1906) and light, joyful _Butterflies_ of earlier years. In the later _Ballads_ he often struck a note against commercialism, with a ring of robust idealism in behalf of spiritual values, and denunciation of those “Prudes to the bone”-- For what of old our fathers virtues made They’ve chaffered for in markets or betrayed. The death of Carl Spitteler at Lucerne, in the current year, revived interest in his life and writings, and evoked recognition of his influence towards revival of the best in classicism, and his aspirations for freedom and sincerity in modern life and letters.