Dante's "La Vita Nuova"

Paper Summary:

This paper analyzes Dante Alighieri's testament to romantic love and his own love for Beatrice in "La Vita Nuova". Through an analysis of the theme, tone and structure of the 25 sonnets contained in "La Vita Nuova", the paper explains that Dante uses the poignant sonnet form to convey the nature of his love for Beatrice and that his use of the the phrase "love and the gentle heart" refers to the type of mature love shared between the spouses in an old married couple.

From the Paper:

"The third and fourth lines of the poem use a teasingly sardonic analogy to emphasize the poet's main point. "...each from the other one as well divorced / as reason from the mind's reasoning." The use of the word "divorce" serves as a double entendre, referring both to two ordinary objects being rendered as well as to two persons dissolving their marital vows. As divorce is the exact opposite from union, the poet creates some dynamic tension through the use of phrases like "one thing" and "the other one" in conjunction with the word "divorce." The repetition of the word "one" in lines one and three acts as a unifying devise in this initial stanza. Similarly, the last line of stanza one contains another word repetition: "reason" and "reasoning." The poet could have easily selected a synonym for either "reason" or "reasoning." Dante's choice implies a conscious use of word repetition that parallels the repetition of the word "one." The repetition helps emphasize the poem's central themes. Finally, the concept of reason differs greatly from the concept of love." Love and reason are in fact often in direct opposition to one another. The irony of love being compared to reason mirrors the contrast between love and divorce in this first stanza."

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