Deeply felt but intellectually disciplined, radiant but analytical, "La Vita Nuova" reveals Dante's vision in which human love touches that of God's. Intended as a treatise for fellow poets, it consists of a sequence of astonishing and tender love poems to Beatrice, interspersed with Dante's own commentary explaining the events that went into their making and giving a detailed structural analysis. Dante chose to speak directly to his audience and write in Italian, and as his love for Beatrice deepened and matured he went on to ignore further the old poetic orthodoxies and write directly from experience. It was in the gradually increasing admittance of reality into the enclosed garden of poetic convention that Dante made his most original and creative discoveries, concludes Barbara Reynolds in her superb introduction. In this way, too, "La Vita Nuova" represents a turning point in European poetry. -- From publisher's description.

SACFinal081324