Dante Alighieri (26 page)

    
³
Quoted by Papanti in
Dante secondo la tradizione e i novellatori
, p. 94.

    
⁴
In the margin Gower has put “Nota exemplum cujusdam poete de Ytalia, qui Dantes vocabatur”. The above passage was omitted by Gower from the latest recension of his poem.

    
⁵
Quoted by Papanti,
op. cit
., pp. 90-1.

    
⁶
Purgatorio
, iv. 106-27.

    
⁷
Anonimo Fiorentino
.

    
⁸
See above, p. 42.

    
⁹
Novella
, cxiv.

    
¹⁰
Equivalent to our “Gee up !”

    
¹¹
Novella
cxv.

    
¹²
See pp. 193-202 of the Oxford Dante.

    
¹³
Quoted by Papanti,
op
.
cit
. pp. 47-9.

    
¹⁴
Facezie di Poggio fiorentino
, No. 1xvi.

    
¹⁵
Book iv. No. 17 (see Paget Toynbee,
Dante in English Literature
, vol. i. p. 84

    
¹⁶
Quoted by Papanti,
op. cit.
p. 157.

    
¹⁷
Edward Wright,
Some Observations made in Travelling through France
,
Italy
,
etc
.
in the Years MDCCXX
,
MDCCXXI
,
and MDCCXXII
(London, 1730), ed. 1764, p. 395 (see
Dante in English Literature
, vol i. pp. 216-17).

    
¹⁸
Ed. 1866, vol. ii. (
Anecdotes of the Fairfax Family
), p. 464 (see
Dante in English Literature
, vol. i. p. 508, and Papanti,
op
.
cit
. p. 197).

    
Italian Works—Lyrical Poems—The
Vita Nuova
—The
Convivio
.

D
ANTE'S earliest known composition is the sonnet beginning

which, as he tells us in the
Vita Nuova
, he wrote after seeing the marvellous vision which followed on the episode of his being publicly saluted by Beatrice for the first time in the streets of Florence, when they were both in their eighteenth year (i.e. in the year 1283). This sonnet, he further tells us, he sent to many famous poets of the day,
from whom he received sonnets in reply. Among those to whom he sent were his first friend, Guido Cavalcanti, Cino da Pistoja, and Dante da Majano, whose replies have been preserved.
²

    
Canzoniere
.—This sonnet and thirty other poems (twenty-four sonnets, five canzoni, and one ballata) are grouped together in a symmetrical arrangement in the
Vita Nuova
(or
New Life
), the prose text of which is a vehicle for the introduction and interpretation of the poems. Others of Dante's lyrical poems are introduced in his
Convivio
(or
Banquet
), which contains three canzoni, and in his Latin work on the vulgar tongue (
De Vulgari Eloquentia
), which contains quotations from nine poems, canzoni and sestine. In addition to these there is a collection of between ninety and a hundred lyrical poems attributed to Dante, some of which are almost certainly not his.
³
Such of the poems of the
Canzoniere
as do not belong to the
Vita Nuova
and
Convivio
appear to have been composed at various times as independent pieces, though attempts have been made to distinguish one or more definite groups. Both Villani and Boccaccio make mention of Dante's lyrical poems. The former says:
⁴
“When he was in exile he wrote about twenty very excellent canzoni, both moral and on the subject of love”. Boccaccio says:
⁵
“He composed numerous lengthy canzoni, and sonnets, and sundry ballate, both amorous and moral, besides those which are included in the
Vita
Nuova
”.
⁶
The earliest printed collection of Dante's lyrical poems is that included in
Sonetti e Canzoni di diversi antichi Autori Toscani in dieci libri raccolte
(Florence, 1527), the first four books of which contain forty-five sonnets, nineteen canzoni, eleven ballate, and one sestina, attributed to Dante. A few, however, of the canzoni and madrigali (as they are described) had been printed at Venice in 1518, and reprinted at Milan in the same year, in a collection entitled
Canzoni di Dante
.
Madrigali del detto
.
Madrigali di M
.
Cino et di M
.
Girardo Novello
. Fifteen canzoni of Dante are printed at the end of the
editio princeps
of the
Vita Nuova
(Florence, 1576).

    
Vita Nuova
.—Dante's
Vita Nuova
or
New Life
(i.e. according to some, his “young life,” but more probably his “life made new” by his love for Beatrice), the first autobiographical work in modern literature, as it has been described, was written probably between 1292 and 1295, when Dante was under thirty, and some seven or eight years before his exile from Florence. The poems were obviously written before the prose text, which was necessarily composed later than the death of Beatrice in 1290.

    
The following positive dates are supplied by Dante in the course of the narrative of the
Vita Nuova
, viz. that he first saw Beatrice in the spring of 1274, when he had nearly completed his ninth year (§ 2, 11. 1-5, 15), and she
was at the beginning of her ninth year (§ 2, 11.9-15); that Beatrice saluted him for the first time nine years later, in the spring of 1283 (§ 3, 11. 1-15), when he wrote the sonnet, “A ciascun' alma presa e gentil core' (
Son
. i.), his earliest known composition; that Beatrice died on the evening of 8 June, 1290
⁷
(§ 30, 11. 1-13); that on the first anniversary of her death (8 June, 1291) he wrote the sonnet, “Era venuta nella mente mia” (
Son
. xviii.), in commemoration of her (§ 35, 11. 1-20); that not long after (i.e. probably as appears from
Convivio
, ii. 2, 11. 1-10, in September, 1291),
⁸
he saw for the first time the “donna gentile” (whom some have identified with Gemma Donati)
⁹
(§ 36, 11. 1-13). To these, if the identity of Beatrice with Beatrice Portinari be accepted, may be added the date of the death of Folco Portinari,
¹⁰
viz. 31 December, 1289 (§ 22, 11. 1-7).

    
Boccaccio, who asserts that in later life Dante was ashamed of this work of his youth,
¹¹
gives the following account of the
Vita Nuova
:—

    
“This glorious poet composed several works in his time, of which I think it fitting to make mention in order, lest any work of his be claimed by another, or the works of others be perchance attributed to him.

    
“He, first of all, while his tears for the death of Beatrice were yet fresh, when he was nigh upon his twenty-sixth
year, collected together in a little volume, to which he gave the title of
Vita Nuova
, certain small works, such as sonnets and canzoni, composed by him in rime at divers times before, and of marvellous beauty. Above each of these, severally and in order, he wrote the occasions which had moved him to compose them; and below he added the divisions of each poem. And although in his riper years he was much ashamed of having written this little book, yet, if his age be considered, it is very beautiful and delightful, especially to unlearned folk.”
¹²

    
“The
New Life
” writes Professor Norton,
¹³
“is the proper introduction to the
Divine Comedy
. It is the story of the beginning of the love through which, even in Dante's youth, heavenly things were revealed to him, and which in the bitterest trials of life—in disappointment, poverty, and exile—kept his heart fresh with springs of perpetual solace. It was this love which led him through the hard paths of Philosophy and up the steep ascents of Faith, out of Hell and through Purgatory, to the glories of Paradise and the fulfilment of Hope.

    
“The narrative of the
New Life
is quaint, embroidered with conceits, deficient in artistic completeness, but it has the simplicity of youth, the charm of sincerity, the freedom of personal confidence; and so long as there are lovers in the world, and so long as lovers are poets, this first and tenderest love-story of modern literature will be read with appreciation and responsive sympathy.

    
“It is the earliest of Dante's writings, and the most autobiographic of them in form and intention. In it we are brought into intimate personal relations with the poet. He trusts himself to us with full and free confidence; but there is no derogation from becoming manliness in his
confessions. He draws the picture of a portion of his youth, and displays its secret emotions; but he does so with no morbid self-consciousness and with no affectation. Part of this simplicity is due, undoubtedly, to the character of the times, part to his own youthfulness, part to downright faith in his own genius. It was the fashion for poets to tell of their loves; in following this fashion, he not only gave utterance to genuine feeling, and claimed his rank among the poets, but also fixed a standard by which the ideal expression of love was thereafter to be measured.

    
“This first essay of his poetic powers rests on the foundation upon which his later life was built. The figure of Beatrice, which appears veiled under the symbolism, and indistinct in the bright halo of the allegory of the
Divine Comedy
, takes its place in life and on the earth through the
New Life
as definitely as that of Dante himself. She is no allegorized piece of humanity, no impersonation of attributes, but an actual woman,—beautiful, modest, gentle, with companions only less beautiful than herself,—the most delightful personage in the daily picturesque life of Florence. She is seen smiling and weeping, walking with other fair maidens in the street, praying at the church, merry at festivals, mourning at funerals; and her smiles and tears, her gentleness, her reserve, all the sweet qualities of her life, and the peace of her death, are told of with such tenderness, and purity, and passion, as well as with such truth of poetic imagination, that she remains, and will always remain, the loveliest and most womanly woman of the Middle Ages,—at once absolutely real and truly ideal.

    
“The meaning of the name
La Vita Nuova
has been the subject of animated discussion. Literally
The New Life
, it has been questioned whether this phrase meant
simply early life, or life made new by the first experience and lasting influence of love. The latter interpretation seems the most appropriate to Dante's turn of mind and to his condition of feeling at the time when the little book appeared. To him it was the record of that life which the presence of Beatrice had made new.”

    
The
Vita Nuova
, which was dedicated to Dante's earliest friend Guido Cavalcanti (§ 31, 11. 22-3), consists of three distinct elements, viz. the poems, the narrative of the events which gave rise to the poems, and the expositions of the structural divisions of the poems. Two distinctive features of the work are the frequency with which Dante, in accordance with the literary traditions of the day,
¹⁴
introduces the expedient of visions, of which there are no less than seven in the book (§§ 3, 9, 12, 23, 24, 40, 43); and the important part played by the number
nine
, in connection with the hour, day, month, and year of the various events related concerning Beatrice. Thus Dante first sees Beatrice when they were both in their
ninth
year (“quasi dal principio del suo
nono
anno apparve a me, ed io la vidi quasi alla fine del mio
nono
” § 2, 11. 13-15 ; cf. § 2, 11. 1-8 : “
Nove
fiate già,” etc.); he sees her again
nine
years later (“appunto erano compiuti li
nove
anni appresso l' apparimento soprascritto,” § 3, 11. 2-3) ; and receives her first greeting at the
ninth
hour of the day (“l' ora, che lo suo dolcissimo salutare mi giunse, era fermamente
nona
di quel giorno,” § 3, 11. 16-18); his subsequent vision takes place during the first of the last
nine
hours of the night (“fu la prima ora delle
nove
ultime ore della notte,” § 3, 11. 63-5). When he was minded to write a poem containing the names of the sixty fairest ladies of Florence, the name of Beatrice would stand nowhere save in the
ninth
place (“in alcuno altro numero non sofferse il nome della
mia donna stare, se non in sul
nove
, tra' nomi di queste donne,” § 6, 11. 14-17). The third vision takes place at the
ninth
hour of the day (“trovai che questa visione m' era apparita nella
nona
ora del dì,” § 12, 11. 74-5). The vision in which he has a presentiment of the approaching death of Beatrice, when he is laid low with sickness, occurs on the
ninth
day of his illness (“nel
nono
giorno sentendomi dolore quasi intollerabile, giunsemi un pensiero, il quale era della mia donna . . . ,”§ 23, 11. 8-10). In the sonnet, “Io mi sentii svegliar dentro allo core” (
Son
. xiv.), in which Beatrice is mentioned, her name occurs in the
ninth
line
¹⁵
(§ 24, 1. 58). In the date of her death the number
nine
comes in with special significance, in connection with the day, the month, and the year, which are computed for the purpose according to the Arabian, Syrian, and Roman calendars respectively
¹⁶
(“secondo l' usanza d' Arabia, l' anima sua nobilissima si partì nella prima ora del
nono
giorno del mese; e secondo l' usanza di Siria, ella si partì nel
nono
mese dell' anno; . . . e secondo l' usanza nostra, ella si partì in quello anno della nostra indizione, cioè degli anni Domini, in cui il perfetto numero
nove
volte era compiuto in quel centinaio nel quale in questo mondo ella fu posta,” § 30, 11. 1-12). Finally, his last vision of Beatrice, when she appeared to him as she was when he first saw her, took place just on the hour of
nones
(“ si levò un dì, quasi nell' ora di
nona
, una forte immaginazione in me,” etc., § 40, 11. 1-3). Dante himself draws particular attention to the fact of this connection of the number
nine
with Beatrice, and promises to explain the reason of it (§ 29, 11. 29-38), which he subsequently does in detail (§ 30, 11. 13-32), his
conclusion being that she was “a nine, that is to say a miracle, whose root is no other than the marvellous Trinity” (“questa donna fu accompagnata dal numero del
nove
a dare ad intendere, che ella era un
nove
, cioè un miracolo, la cui radice è solamente la mirabile Trinitade,” § 30, 11. 37-41).