A review by dragonlilly
Vita Nuova by Dante Alighieri

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

Lovely little book written by Dante which fully captures how enamored he was by Beatrice as a figure of beauty and as a representation of love itself. I liked the poetry in the last third more, especially Dante's canzone in chapter XXXI, which was both so beautiful and sad at once. Him talking about Beatrice's death makes me appreciate those that I have with me, and I understand a lot of the fears and feelings Dante expresses in this canzone. I enjoyed how particular he was about explaining his poetry and his reasons for writing certain things as I found it to be a neat look into his thoughts, writing process, and where he discovers inspiration. I also liked his discussion on using vernacular language for poetry, especially if the use of language is very purposeful (like discussing themes of love), and how it is just as qualified for the label "poetry" as any poetry written in Latin is. 

Dante in general sure does seem to have very imaginative and descriptive dreams and visions, and I appreciated how the last chapter predicts his great Divine Comedy, because he hopes to write of Beatrice again, but only after a period of intense study (and likely more visions) which would enable him to write about Beatrice once again, describing her full glory. He is truly dedicated to her, and to what she symbolizes to him, and I see how this work would lead him towards The Divine Comedy.