After a full year of podcasting the Divine Comedy, we’ve now started on an earlier work of Dante – the “Vita Nuova” (New Life/Young Life)!
And in the very opening chapters – Dante is describing the vision that came to him as an 18 year old after seeing his love Beatrice for the second time “along a certain street”, all dressed in the purest white, when she turns her eyes to him and greets him “miraculously”.
This vision is super important as it in many ways inspires the life work of Dante and main themes and aspirations for the whole Divine Comedy. After the greeting Dante becomes ecstatic and goes home to his room and falls into a sweet sleep. Later he writes the following poem to describe his vision in the dream:
To every captive soul and loving heart
to whom these words I have composed are sent
for your elucidation in reply,
greetings I bring for your sweet lord’s sake, Love.
The first three hours, the hours of the time
of shining stars, were coming to an end,
when suddenly Love appeared before me
(to remember how he really was appalls me).
Joyous, Love seemed to me, holding my heart
within his hand, and in his arms he had
my lady, loosely wrapped in folds, asleep.
He woke her then, and gently fed to her
the burning heart; she ate it, terrified.
And then I saw him disappear in tears.
Dante then sent the poem to several of his friends for interpretations!
The Vita Nuova was written about ten years after this episode, somewhere between 1292 and 1300, between Dante’s 27th and 35th year.
Have a great day!
😀