Nel cui cospetto ven lo dir presente,
In ciò che mi rescrivan suo parvente,
Salute in lor segnor, cioè Amore.
Già eran quasi che atterzate l'ore
Del tempo che onne s tella n'è lucente,
Quando m'apparve Amor subitamente,
Cui essenza membrar mi dà orrore.
Allegro mi sembrava Amor tenendo
Meo core in mano, e ne le braccia avea
Madonna involta in un drappo dormendo.
Poi la svegliava, e d'esto core ardendo
Lei paventosa umilmente pascea:
Appresso gir lo ne vedea piangendo.
-Dante Alighieri, La Vita Nuova, III
To every captive soul and gentle heart
Into whose sight this present speech may come,
So that they may write its meaning for me,
Greetings, in their lord's name, who is Love.
Already a third of the hours were almost past
Of the time when all the stars were shining,
When Amor suddenly appeared to me
Whose memory fills me with terror.
Joyfully Amor seemed to me to hold
My heart is his hand, and held in his arms
My lady wrapped in a cloth sleeping.
Then he woke her, and that burning heart
He fed to her reverently, she fearing,
Afterwords he went not to be seen weeping.
-Dante Alighieri, La Vita Nuova, III. Translated by A.S. Kline
Most people are somewhat familiar with Dante's magnum opus, La Divina Commedia, but few know of his other great works which include among them his semi-autobiographical collection of poetry and prose, La Vita Nuova (The New Life). La Vita Nuova, like most of Dante's work, is a tribute to his great love Beatrice Portinari. It is one of the greatest examples of the tradition of courtly love, as well as one of the most moving and tragic expressions of unrequited love. Dante had little contact with Beatrice and claimed only to have met her twice. Her character in his work is a complete construction of his own mind. Her early death had a profound effect on him and heavily influenced his later work. In his Paradiso, Beatrice appears to Dante in all her heavenly radiance to be his guide through the kingdom of God.
The sonnet quoted above was adapted to music in an operatic style by Patrick Cassidy, originally for the film Hannibal (a film which hardly deserved a piece like this), but has subsequently been performed by many other artists and symphonies. You can listen to it here:
Finally, some proof that Wikipedia is both sublime and sinister: La Vita Nuova, see also: Beatrice Portinari, see also: Unrequited Love, see also: Existential Despair, see also: Social Alienation, see also: Marx's Theory of Alienation, external links: Bertell Ollman on Alienation.
Bertell Ollman is a professor of politics at New York University and author of Alienation: Marx's Conception of Man in Capitalist Society. He is my current advisor, mentor, and will probably be my thesis director this Fall.
Thanks to Wikipedia I can now blame unrequited love and existential despair on the world capitalist system!
Here's a short interview with Professor Ollman, as well as his appearance on Hannity and Colmes:
In ciò che mi rescrivan suo parvente,
Salute in lor segnor, cioè Amore.
Già eran quasi che atterzate l'ore
Del tempo che onne s tella n'è lucente,
Quando m'apparve Amor subitamente,
Cui essenza membrar mi dà orrore.
Allegro mi sembrava Amor tenendo
Meo core in mano, e ne le braccia avea
Madonna involta in un drappo dormendo.
Poi la svegliava, e d'esto core ardendo
Lei paventosa umilmente pascea:
Appresso gir lo ne vedea piangendo.
-Dante Alighieri, La Vita Nuova, III
To every captive soul and gentle heart
Into whose sight this present speech may come,
So that they may write its meaning for me,
Greetings, in their lord's name, who is Love.
Already a third of the hours were almost past
Of the time when all the stars were shining,
When Amor suddenly appeared to me
Whose memory fills me with terror.
Joyfully Amor seemed to me to hold
My heart is his hand, and held in his arms
My lady wrapped in a cloth sleeping.
Then he woke her, and that burning heart
He fed to her reverently, she fearing,
Afterwords he went not to be seen weeping.
-Dante Alighieri, La Vita Nuova, III. Translated by A.S. Kline
Most people are somewhat familiar with Dante's magnum opus, La Divina Commedia, but few know of his other great works which include among them his semi-autobiographical collection of poetry and prose, La Vita Nuova (The New Life). La Vita Nuova, like most of Dante's work, is a tribute to his great love Beatrice Portinari. It is one of the greatest examples of the tradition of courtly love, as well as one of the most moving and tragic expressions of unrequited love. Dante had little contact with Beatrice and claimed only to have met her twice. Her character in his work is a complete construction of his own mind. Her early death had a profound effect on him and heavily influenced his later work. In his Paradiso, Beatrice appears to Dante in all her heavenly radiance to be his guide through the kingdom of God.
The sonnet quoted above was adapted to music in an operatic style by Patrick Cassidy, originally for the film Hannibal (a film which hardly deserved a piece like this), but has subsequently been performed by many other artists and symphonies. You can listen to it here:
Finally, some proof that Wikipedia is both sublime and sinister: La Vita Nuova, see also: Beatrice Portinari, see also: Unrequited Love, see also: Existential Despair, see also: Social Alienation, see also: Marx's Theory of Alienation, external links: Bertell Ollman on Alienation.
Bertell Ollman is a professor of politics at New York University and author of Alienation: Marx's Conception of Man in Capitalist Society. He is my current advisor, mentor, and will probably be my thesis director this Fall.
Thanks to Wikipedia I can now blame unrequited love and existential despair on the world capitalist system!
Here's a short interview with Professor Ollman, as well as his appearance on Hannity and Colmes:
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