La Vita Nuova

 

Dante's "little book" with larger implications.  

If I wasn't debilitated linguistically by not being able as yet to read it in its native Medieval Italian, I might see more artistry in the structure and words of the sonnets, but most of what I saw was a young Dante Alighieri thunderstruck ever since first catching sight of his lifelong muse, Beatrice Portinari.  

Dante lived in a time when citizens of a commune like Firenze were stratified by status and fortified by faith and community.  Marriages were arranged early between families so that often times a young man or woman  would find themselves caught between betrothal and love. Such was the case with Dante who carried quite the flame for Beatrice but was betrothed to Gemma Donati of a prominent political family. Beatrice for her part was likely familiar with Dante, but she had been betrothed and married to Simone dei Bardi, a well off banker.  

Beatrice died at the tender age of 25 in June of 1290 leaving behind a deep wound in Dante's heart that he expressed in this, his first collection of poetry published in 1294. 

Break it down however you like in technicalities and literary significance; the beauty of it to me was to feel a connection to this future genius living in a late Medieval society, struggling not only to fit in with that society, but also with the paralyzing and crippling fear that swept down upon him whenever he was in the presence of his beautiful lady. And after these encounters that he longed for, he would find himself shaking uncontrollably or embarrassingly mocked by the other ladies or led away by a kindly friend. Later he would do what he knew best.... write about it.  Or sob himself to sleep.  How could I not be reminded of contemporary "teen torture movies" where the protagonist is a cripplingly shy teen completely overwhelmed by the presence of his beautiful crush?  While a bit base... it does create such a direct connection between this young budding poet of 1294AD and us in the 21st Century.  Some might ask of his wife and four children...  "contracted marriage." He did not need to work up any nerve to approach Gemma Donati, we can assume, nor did he ever write such flowing sonnets about her as he did Beatrice. So while I enjoyed reading his sonnets and his thoughts about those sonnets, it's the insight into the young man's life and thinking that I felt equally enriching. 

The book itself has two flavors - deep flowing love sonnets about Beatrice, her greatest qualities, descriptions of meeting or greeting her.....  and then deepest grief. Not just his, but for the entire city after her passing.  In these I found a sense of great connection.  In lost love or death, one can often find great insult in the way life carries on without taking any notice of the loss.  The days keep turning, people go driving by.  The birds keep chirping. And you want most of all for everyone to stop what they're doing and take notice.  This man from the 1290's was no different.  Writing sonnet after sonnet of his lost muse, his grief, the grief of others. One was written in the attempt to get religious pilgrims passing through Florence to know what the city had lost.  

In this sense, would I call it a great masterwork of all time? I probably would not. But I would most certainly call it touching, moving, and a great foreshadowing of the works to come. In the English translation I'm still compelled to read, there are still flashes of greatness in his turns of phrases and style that had me thinking... what must his friend and fellow poet Guido Cavalcanti thought....