La Vita Nuova

The promise of a new life at a wedding is an optimistic rebirth; the loss of a lover is an obligatory uprooting. Allegra Goodman’s “La Vita Nuova” records the changed life of a freshly dumped bride-to-be. As she endures her altered life, Amanda occupies herself by babysitting her student Nathaniel. Amanda uses irony, dark humor, and juxtaposition as a coping mechanism; instead of facing the new life she has to live, she uses sardonic reflection to elongate her mourning period. When Amanda digs up

1. IL POSTINO Beatrice "Bice" di Folco Portinari (1266–1290) was a Florentine woman who has been commonly identified as the principal inspiration for Dante Alighieri’s Vita Nuova (New Life) in which Dante expresses the medieval idea of courtly love (see next paragraph for details on this). In Vita Nuova, Dante tries to write love poetry that was less centered on the self and more aimed at love as such: he intended to elevate courtly love poetry, many of its tropes and its language, into sacred

spirit up in throws of ecstasy, and cast it down in utter despair. Loves power has suggested to many that it serves as a link to the divine, and that the feeling instilled in man by love comes from the supernatural, be it God or otherwise. In La Vita Nuova Dante Alighieri makes it clear that he believes in the

In pre-Raphaelite paintings, a famously known model, Elizabeth Siddal appears as an idealised form of female body. In the 19th century, she was the central figure of the muse that often combined with man’s fantasy and sensuality with poetic idealism. Although Rossetti and Siddal’s marriage was not so idealised rather a tragedy, but they formed a relationship of an artist and the muse. After the death of Siddal, Rossetti departed from the notion of ideal women but he was preoccupied with the theme

After reading Dante’s Divine Comedy or Dante’s Inferno by Dante Alighieri, it would appear that this is a story about a man describing how his exile is leading him towards hell. At the beginning of the story, Dante starts out by saying, “In the middle of the journey of our life I found myself within a dark woods where the straight way was lost” (page 27). The reader will assume that this story is about Dante explaining his views of hell separated into nine circles. Alighieri’s writings gave context

Beata Beatrix is an oil on canvas painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, finished on 1870. Dante has described a woman figure at the moment of her death, based on the image of Beatrice Portinari from Dante Alighieri’s poem La Vita Nuova. The poem tells the story of Dante’s one-sided love for Beatrice Portinari and later on his sadness over her premature death. Rossetti was inspired by this story and drawn the artwork which represents his imaginary of Beatrice described from Dante’s text, shows Beatrice

in the year 1274, on May Day in Florence, Italy. Beatrice is from a wealthy Florentine family and was eight years old the first time they meet and did not speak a word to each other (Cotter, 21). She was the principle inspiration for Dante’s La Vita Nuova, a book about Dante’s love connection to her (Passages to the Past). Dante and Beatrice have only met twice, but Dante was so touched by both meetings he shares his love for Beatrice with the reader. The second encounter occurred when they passed

interrelation of these two concepts, crucially important for symbolism, that lies in the artwork “Beata Beatrix” made by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The subject of this artwork is the scene from the emotionally autobiographical work of Dante Alighieri “La Vita Nuova”, at the moment of Beatrice Portinari’s death, who the author loved deeply. Rossetti depicts the moment of Beatrice’s death on her parents’ balcony in 1290, however, for the artist this scene means much more, than just a visual interpretation of

was basically a style where poets would discuss their feelings of love and theorize about love. 3. Dante’s wife, Gemma Donati, does not have as large an influence on his work as Beatrice Portinari, his first love. Many of Dante’s poems in the Vita Nuova are based on his love for Beatrice and the passion that he feels for her. 4. Dante held the occupations of a patrician in Florence, a poet and author in Florence, a soldier at the battles of Sienese and Campaldino, a student at the convents of

the first time she had ever spoken to me, I was filled with such joy that, my senses reeling, I had to withdraw from the sight of others. So I returned to the loneliness of my room and began to think about this gracious person. (La Vita Nuova III) Though The Vita Nuova suggests that she is a real woman , Beatrice hardly has any life outside Dante’s own mind. She effects him physically enough ; she makes him sigh , tremble . weep . But she has neither body nor character of her own . She is just a