DANTE ALIGHIERI - VITA NOVA

The “Vita Nova” is an early work composed between the end of 1292 and

 the early months of 1293 by Dante (1265-1321),

 

It is a collection of mainly love  poems, inspired by Beatrice, the

woman the poet  had loved since he was nine years old

 

Dante foreruns the modern autobiographical tendency  by inserting his

poems in an uninterrupted tale, told in the first person singular, where

facts, transfigured by poetry, are commented and highlighted

and Beatrice is an angel-like figure, delicate and kind , humble and heavenly.

Her mere presence is capable of generating love in the people she meets: :“e par che sia venuta da cielo in terra a miracol mostrare”.

 

The Vita Nova, i.e. Life renewed by Love, represents the highest poetical

achievement  in the Dolce Stil Novo.

 Dante does not merely describe the heavenly condition  made possible  by the presence of his beloved but goes so far as to ascribe an angelic value to

her: she is a celestial spirit sent to the Earth in order to purify Man and

raise Him to God.

 

In the “Divina Commedia” Virgil had led Dante through Hell and

Purgatory , here, in the Commedia,  it is Beatrice who elevates the supreme Poet

from the Garden of Eden to Heaven.

Francesca Marucco