A Metamorphosis of Love in Dante and Others.

Chapter 18 of Dante's Vita Nuova² is pivotal in the development of the love story between the poet-narrator and Beatrice. In this chapter, one of the Florentine ladies who have witnessed the emotional crises into which the writer falls when in the presence of his lady voices her perplexity:

"A che fine ami tu questa tua donna, poi che tu non puoi sostenere la sua presenza? Dilloci, ché certo lo fine di cotale amore conviene che sia novissimo."

(VN 18.3)

Beatrice's faithful admirer replies:

"Madonne, lo fine del mio amore fue già lo saluto di questa donna, forse di cui voi intendete, e in quello dimorava la mia beatitudine, ché era fine di tutti li miei desiderii. Ma poi che le piacque di negarlo a me, lo mio segnore Amore, la sua merzede, ha posto tutta la mia beatitudine in quello che non mi puote venire meno."

(VN 18.4)

The speaker for the group of ladies begs him to reveal where his bliss now rests.

Ed io, rispondendo lei, dissi cotanto: "In quelle parole che lodano la donna mia." Allora mi rispuose questa che mi parlava: "Se tu ne dicessi vero, [End Page S-xxi] quelle parole che tu n'hai dette in notificando la tua condizione, avrestù operate con altro intendimento." Onde io, pensando a queste parole, quasi vergognoso mi partio da loro, e venia dicendo fra me medesimo: "Poi che è tanta beatitudine in quelle parole che lodano la mia donna, perché altro parlare è stato lo mio?" E però propuosi di prendere per matera de lo mio parlare sempremai quello che fosse loda di questa gentilissima[.]

(VN 18.6-9)

The writer had addressed his poetry to the lady in order to convince her that his devotion never faded through the years and to win her mercy by describing the torments of his love. Now he decides to stop writing to her about himself. He will not try to convince her, but will instead be content to sing her praises. Detaching himself from a distressing realm, one in which he is subject to the rules set by his beloved/antagonist, he will enter one which he can control. The purpose of singing will not be to modify behavior; its effect will be to create an alternative reality. Having relinquished his identity as agens, the auctor will find his bliss (the only bliss allowed) in the realm of poetic creation: where love and love poetry coincide.

By planning a disinterested singing of praise, the writer gives, as a justification for this choice of theme, the pleasure derived from his laudatory activity. An articulated interpretation of the psychological dynamics at play in this activity would take us far from the goals set for this study. It may suffice to see, in the exaggerated praise of the Antagonist, an attempt to "exorcise" her. Given a frustrating situation of emotional turmoil, of separation in which his lady's behavior (denying her greeting, etc.) plays a decisive role, the poet no longer responds by trying to bridge the gap. On the contrary, he makes an abyss of the distance between himself and the source of his desire and unrest. Through his praise, he elevates Beatrice (Petrarch will do the same with Laura) to a lofty, semi-divine level of humanity, and exalts her in excelsis. The secret, subconscious mental dynamics and rewards of this operation can perhaps be outlined as follows: the more distant the object clad in its exceptional attributes, the more acceptable for the suitor is the failure to obtain it. The poetry of praise seems to serve, among other purposes, that of pushing and keeping an unsettling essence at a safe distance.

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In Petrarch's Canzoniere³ we find a consciousness of the sequence of stages in a love story that reminds us of the one in Dante's Vita Nuova. Sonnet 217 defines it very clearly: [End Page S-xxii]

Già desïai con sí giusta querelae 'n sí fervide rime farmi udire,ch'un foco di pietà fessi sentireal duro cor ch'a mezza state gela;        4...