Dante's Love Poetry
Dante Alighieri and Poetry
The relationship between Dante and poetry is quite simple, the popularity of one wouldn't be as great if the other didn't exist. Dante's "Divine Comedy" is considered one of the greatest literary works of all time. As an epic poem, it helped readers better visual the Christian afterlife and helped shape the view of the Western Church.
Dante's influence on world literature did not stop there. He was a prolific writer of love poetry. His poems, like "La Vita Nuova", are still recognized as one of the most influential in history.
Dante Alighieri's Life
A short biography
Dante was born on May 29, 1265 to a wealthy family in Florence, Italy. His father, Alighiero di Bellincione, remarried after his mother died just five years after Dante's birth.
Although not much is known about Dante's education, it is assumed he was taught at home and much about Tuscan poetry. In the "Divine Comedy", it is mentioned he received some education in music and painting. After his love's death, he turned to Latin literature and philosophical studies to pass the time.
Dante was not only a poet but a soldier. During the battle of Campaldino, on June 11, 1289, he fought with fellow Florentine knights against Arezzo and later escorted Carlo Martello d'Anjou. Afterwords, he became a doctor and pharmacist. During this time, books were sold at apothecaries' shops, so naturally, he took advantage of the opportunity.
Due to battles in Florence, Dante was sent to Rome as chief of delegations. Florence was soon taken, forcing Dante to stay in Rome. He petitioned King Henry VII to help retake the city, but after the King's death Dante lost hope for a return.
Prince Guido Novello da Polenta invited Dante to Ravenna, where he would finish "Paradise."
In 1321, Dante passed away (possibly from malaria).
Kindle Poetry Book
My lady carries love within her eyes
translated by D.G. Rossetti
My lady carries love within her eyes;
All that she looks on is made pleasanter;
Upon her path men turn to gaze at her;
He whom she greeteth feels his heart to rise,
And droops his troubled visage, full of sighs,
And of his evil heart is then aware:
Hate loves, and pride becomes a worshiper.
O women, help to praise her in somewise.
Humbleness, and the hope that hopeth well,
By speech of hers into the mind are brought,
And who beholds is blessèd oftenwhiles,
The look she hath when she a little smiles
Cannot be said, nor holden in the thought;
'Tis such a new and gracious miracle.
My lady looks so gentle and so pure
translated by D.G. Rossetti
My lady looks so gentle and so pure
When yielding salutation by the way,
That the tongue trembles and has naught to say,
And the eyes, which fain would see, may not endure.
And still, amid the praise she hears secure
She walks with humbleness for her array;
Seeming a creature sent from Heaven to stay
On earth, and show a miracle made sure.
She is so pleasant in the eyes of men
That through the sight the inmost heart doth gain
A sweetness which needs proof to know it by:
And from between her lips there seems to move
A soothing essence that is full of love,
Saying for ever to the spirit, "Sigh!"
New Love and the Gentle
Love and the gentle heart are one same thing,
Even as the wise man in his ditty saith.
Each, of itself, would be such life in death
As rational soul bereft of reasoning.
'Tis Nature makes them when she loves: a king
Love is, whose palace where he sojourneth
Is call'd the Heart; there draws he quiet breath
At first, with brief or longer slumbering.
Then beauty seen in virtuous womankind
Will make the eyes desire, and through the heart
Send the desiring of the eyes again;
Where often it abides so long enshrined
That Love at length out of his sleep will start.
And women feel the same for worthy men.
La Vita Nuova
In that book which is
My memory...
On the first page
That is the chapter when
I first met you
Appear the words...
Here begins a new life