The donna gentile offers support and consolation. Beatrice too in the earthly paradise speaks of the support that she had offered in youth to Dante, always by means of visual interactions: “Alcun tempo il sostenni col mio volto:/mostrando li occhi giovanetti a lui [For some time I sustained him with my face: showing my youthful eyes to him]” (Purg. 30.121–2). But when she died Beatrice lost the capacity to direct his will, to guide him on the straight and narrow: “meco il menava in dritta parte vòlto [I led him with me turned in the right direction]” (Purg. 30.123). Her therapeutic and salvific powers could have no further effect on him after she died, because he “took himself” from her: “questi si tolse a me, e diessi altrui [he took himself from me and gave himself to others]” (Purg. 30.126). The words “questi si tolse a me” echo “E tolsimi d’inanzi a voi” in Videro gli occhi miei, and delineate the way of human emotional events, marked by the giving and the withdrawing of affection.
Often fidelity is withdrawn and reallocated in case of death, and in “normal” daily life we do not consider such a substitution sinful. In fact, we consider it healthy to accept the death of a beloved and to “move on.” Ultimately Dante does not accept the normative rules of his society and so has himself be reprimanded by Beatrice in the earthly paradise for not having remained faithful to her after her death. According to the logic of their conversation in purgatory, only after her death did Beatrice become truly “useable” (in the Augustinian sense of the tension between uti and frui: one must use the things of this world, not take delight in them), capable of directing Dante’s will beyond any mortal object towards the only correct goal, the transcendent object. All this is implicit in Li occhi dolenti, where Dante first comes up with the idea of having himself be consoled by his dead lady.
In the donna gentile sequence Dante has backed away from the radical consola-tory move of Li occhi dolenti and of the Divine Comedy, in which the dead beloved returns to life and speaks and comforts the sufferer. In Videro gli occhi miei we find a more pragmatic reaction to loss, the reaction that prevails in the everyday human social consortium whose laws can be glimpsed behind the curtains of this sonnet: the process of mourning, often eased by others’ sympathy, brings about resignation, and from the acceptance of the loss of the old love, one inevitably moves to the acceptance of a new. It is precisely this healthy and normative sequence of events, repeated over and over again in the course of human history, that Dante will ultimately refuse, not in his material life, in which he married and had children, but in his interior life, the one reflected in his writings. This refusal of normative consolation, in both its material form as the donna gentile of the Vita Nuova and in its allegorized form as Lady Philosophy in the Convivio, is the condition sine qua non of the Commedia, whose essential plot hinges on a far more radical form of self-consolation, whereby the old love is divinized.
Therefore, it is not a new lady but the original – and dead – lady who will help Dante when he finds himself lost at the beginning of the Commedia, in a condition defined by the adjective oscura: at the beginning of the poem he famously finds himself “per una selva oscura [in a dark wood]” (Inf. 1.2) and in the next canto we learn that it was Beatrice who sent Vergil to his aid and comfort. The adjective oscura is plausibly used for the first time in Videro gli occhi miei, which exists in a pre–Vita Nuova redaction; it occurs in another Vita Nuova sonnet, Spesse fiate, where it refers to the “dark qualities” that Love inflicts on him (“le oscure qualità ch’Amor mi dona” [Spesse fiate, 2]).129 In Videro gli occhi miei Dante uses oscura to modify the noun vita; this early reference to a “dark life” will later be metaphorized into a “dark wood.” Mutatis mutandis, the cause of the dismay in the first canto of the Inferno is the one already put forward in Videro gli occhi miei, where so many of the attributes of the beginning of the Inferno are present (“paura” in verse 7 and “viltate” in verse 8), and where first Dante experiences his life as oscura: “la qualità della mia vita oscura” (6).
51 (B XXXI; FB 51; DR 71; VN XXXV.5–8 [24.5–8])
First Redaction
Videro gli occhi miei quanta pietate era apparita in la vostra figura
My eyes were witness to the great compassion that was evident upon your face
quando guardaste gli atti e la statura
when you observed the attitude and look
4
ch’io faccio per dolor molte fïate. Allor m’accorsi che voi pensavate la qualità de la mia vita oscura, sì che mi giunse ne lo cor paura
I show so frequently because of grief. And then I saw that you were pondering the sorry circumstances of my life, and this aroused a fear within my heart
8
di dimostrar con gli occhi mia viltate.
of showing my dejection through my eyes.
E tolsimi d’inanzi a voi, sentendo che si partian le lagrime dal core,
So I retreated from your presence then as tears began to overflow my heart,
11
ch’era somosso da la vostra vista. Io dicea poscia nell’anima trista: “Ben è con quella donna quello Amore
which was unsettled by the sight of you. And then I said within my anguished soul: “So with that lady dwells the very Love
14
lo qual mi face andar così piangendo.”
that makes me go about expressing grief.”
VN 10. si movean
METRE: sonnet ABBA ABBA CDE EDC.
52 Color d’amore e di pietà sembianti
First Redaction
The sonnet Color d’amore e di pietà sembianti, which is reproduced here in the version that precedes the one in the Vita Nuova, was later placed by Dante in chapter XXXVI (25) of the libello, where it reprises the themes explored by Videro gli occhi miei of the preceding chapter. It belongs to the cycle of lyrics that in the Vita Nuova is dedicated to the encounter with the donna gentile. If considered in a wider context, these poems treat “new love” and the fickleness of the will. This theme will be amply developed in Dante’s poetry, culminating in the encounter between Dante and Beatrice in the earthly paradise, where Beatrice reprimands Dante for having given himself to “altrui” (others) after her death (Purg. 30.124–6; see the introductory chapter to Videro gli occhi miei).
Color d’amore reprises the situation of Videro gli occhi miei and intensifies it: to the attractive qualities of the new lady, characterized by her seductive compassion in the opening line of Videro gli occhi miei quanta pietate, is added specifically her “colour of love.” The original dialectic between compassion and self-pity has thus been transformed into a dialectic of desire expressed and reciprocated. Against the background that it shares with Videro gli occhi miei, the sonnet Color d’amore sketches an erotic drama. The poet’s “dolorosi pianti [painful tears]” (4) and “la mia labbia dolente [my melancholy face]” (6) remain. But already from the first words “Color d’amore” it is clear that we are witnessing a drama that is less analytical and more erotic. The word “colore” is a clue to the difference: it is a word that belongs to the lexicon of vision, and thus remains within the visual theme of Videro gli occhi miei, but adds to it a new note of erotic expressiveness, a new, “colourful,” intensity of feeling.
On Dante’s use of the word “colore” to express the feelings that appear on the human face, here reaching its high point in the rime, see the introductory essay to Donne ch’avete intelletto d’amore. In contrast to the revelatory “Color d’amore” of our sonnet, I note the purposeful inexpressiveness of the phrase “Color di perle ha quasi [Her colour is like pearl]” in Donne ch’avete (47), which veils madonna in an exquisite and pure opacity.
The expression “color d’amore” draws on the traditional language of love poetry (Barbi-Maggini cite both Ovid and Horace),130 as does the verb prendere in the second line of Color d’amore, which we have noted as an infallible sign of passion (for example, in the opening line of A ciascun’alma presa e gentil core). Expressing himself in a complex sentence that encompasses verses
1–6 of the sonnet, the poet explains that never have love and pity so taken hold of a lady’s face (“viso di donna” [3]), as happens to her face (“come lo vostro” [5]) every time she sees his suffering countenance (“la mia labbia dolente” [6]):
Color d’amore e di pietà sembianti
non preseno così mirabilmente
viso di donna, per veder sovente
occhi gentili e dolorosi pianti,
come lo vostro, qualora davanti
vedetevi la mia labbia dolente.
(Color d’amore, 1–6)
[The colour of love and look of sympathy
have never graced a lady’s countenance
so wondrously, from often having looked
at eyes disposed to love and painful tears,
as they have yours whenever you regard
the semblance of my melancholy face.]
The masterly use of colores rhetorici heightens the intensity of Color d’amore (the wordplay is intentional, recalling that Dante himself uses the phrase “colore rettorico” twice in the Vita Nuova).131 Of colores rhetorici, we note: the skillful syntax that prolongs a sentence that winds convolutedly from the first to the sixth line, heightening the reader’s anticipation; the chiastic organization of nouns and epithets in the incipit and in line 4; the many enjambments, of which the most lovely, full of eros, is “così mirabilmente / viso di donna”; and the alliteration on the v of the visual, in “viso,” “veder,” “vostro,” “vedetevi,” which reminds us that visual stimuli have been the motor of this passion.
The two actors of this erotic drama divide up the sonnet between them. The first six lines of Color d’amore are dedicated to the feelings that she has for him; in fact the octave places the lady in the foreground and reveals her as the true protagonist of the action. She is the aggressor in this drama: she is more active, he is more passive. (We find this same assortment of attibutes by gender in a way that is certainly less expected by the reader in the dynamic between Francesca – more active – and Paolo – more passive – in Inferno 5.)132 Dante has imagined himself in a love-situation in which he is the one who receives the attention, and is more seduced than seducer.
This remarkable sex-role reversal recalls the last line of the sonnet Amore e ’l cor gentil sono una cosa, where Dante declares that a woman falls in love in the same way as a man: “E simil face in donna omo valente [The same is true of women as of men]” (14). In this way Color d’amor fulfils the theory of Amore e ’l cor gentil: Dante theorizes the woman’s agency in love in Amore e ’l cor gentil; he imagines it concretely in Color d’amore.
The octave of Color d’amore is the dramatic expression of the final line of Amore e ’l cor gentil. The erotic parity between men and women, expressed in philosophical and conceptual form in Amore e ’l cor gentil, is transformed from theory to practice in Color d’amore, where the reader witnesses the woman’s passion. She is “presa,” taken hold of (cf. “preseno” in verse 2), by the “occhi gentili e dolorosi pianti” (4) of her lover, eyes that of course reveal a noble heart, capable of loving, like the “cor gentil” in the first line of Amore e ’l cor gentil sono una cosa. Just as the poet must be an “omo valente,” as specified in the last line of Amore e ’l cor gentil, so the donna gentile is “savia” (“Questa è una donna gentile, bella, giovane e savia [This is a woman who is gracious, beautiful, young, and wise]” [VN XXXVIII.1 [27.1]), for Amore e ’l cor gentil establishes the correspondence between beauty and wisdom in women (“Bieltate appare in saggia donna pui” [9]).
The lover reacts to the stimuli coming from the new lady (her “color d’amore” and her “di pietà sembianti”) only in the last two verses of the octave, where he experiences an inner conflict as he recalls a memory that breaks his heart: “sì che per voi mi vèn cosa alla mente / che teme forte non lo cor si schianti [so that because of you a thought occurs / that makes me greatly fear my heart will crack]” (7–8). What comes to his mind (“mi vèn cosa alla mente” recalls the incipit Era venuta nella mente mia) could be the memory of a dead beloved, and commentaries to the Vita Nuova do not hesitate to suggest that it is the memory of Beatrice. But there is no way to verify for the poem a gloss that is found only in the prose.
The sestet insists on the tormented will of the poet, whose “occhi destrutti [weary eyes]” (9) cannot keep themselves from gazing “per desiderio di pianger ch’egli hanno [because of their desire to shed more tears]” (11). But the desire to cry intensified by her pity – “e voi crescete sì lor volontate / che della voglia si consuman tutti [and you increase this very wish of theirs,/so they’re consumed completely by desire]” (12–13) – leads not to release but to an impasse: “ma lagrimar dinanzi a voi non sanno [yet in your presence they cannot lament]” (14). The reiteration in the final verses of his emphatic desire (“desiderio,” “volontate,” “voglia”) does nothing but underscore that in Color d’amore the poet’s desire finds no outlet. In this sonnet of female passion, the male poet remains in a condition of abject frustration.
52 (B XXXII; FB 52; DR 72; VN XXXVI.4–5 [25.4–5])
First Redaction
Color d’amore e di pietà sembianti non preseno così mirabilmente
The colour of love and look of sympathy have never graced a lady’s countenance
viso di donna, per veder sovente
so wondrously, from often having looked
4
occhi gentili e dolorosi pianti, come lo vostro, qualora davanti vedetevi la mia labbia dolente, sì che per voi mi vèn cosa alla mente
at eyes disposed to love and painful tears, as they have yours whenever you regard the semblance of my melancholy face, so that because of you a thought occurs
8
che teme forte non lo cor si schianti.
that makes me greatly fear my heart will crack.
Io non posso tener gli occhi destrutti che non riguardin voi molte fïate
For I cannot prevent my weary eyes from looking almost ceaselessly at you,
11
per desiderio di pianger ch’egli hanno; e voi crescete sì lor volontate che della voglia si consuman tutti;
because of their desire to shed more tears; and you increase this very wish of theirs, so they’re consumed completely by desire;
14
ma lagrimar dinanzi a voi non sanno.
yet in your presence they cannot lament.
VN 2. preser mai c. – 4. gentili o d. – 8. Ch’io temo – 10. voi spesse f. – 12. cresceste (Gorni)
METRE: sonnet ABBA ABBA CDE DCE.
53 L’amaro lagrimar che voi faceste
L’amaro lagrimar does not exist in a redaction prior to the one in the Vita Nuova and so is not included in his edition of the Rime by De Robertis, with the result that I reproduce the poem as it is printed in De Robertis’ Vita Nuova. Interestingly, however, De Robertis goes out of his way to note, with respect to this poem and its successor, that an earlier redaction is probable: “it may be that this poem [L’amaro lagrimar] and the following poem, Gentil pensero, had their own tradition prior to the book [Vita Nuova], without however there being any textual divergence” (ed. comm., p. 411).
In contrast with the poems contained in the first sections of the Vita Nuova, written according to typical courtly conventions, the poems of the cycle on the donna gentile are ideologically atypical, from the point of view of standard courtly love. Their irregularity derives from their theme: a conflict between the poet’s dead original love and a new beloved.
Dante had already written poems that treat the subject matter of new love in a conventional manner. For example, Ballata, i’ voi openly proclaims its provenance from the Occitan escondig, the poetic genre in which the lover defends himself from slander; the poet replies that, even if Love forced him to look at other women (“li fece altra guardare” [Ballata, i’ voi, 23]), he has been true to his first love. The theme of the changeableness of the will is present also in Cavalcando l’altr’ier.
But the fickleness tre
ated in Ballata, i’ voi had not been provoked by the death of madonna. When the poet declares he has always remained faithful to madonna, of having “sì fermata fede [such steadfast faithfulness]” (Ballata, i’ voi, 26), he is speaking about a faithfulness that is untested by death.
The case in the cycle of sonnets united in the Vita Nuova around the donna gentile is very different: here the ideologically innovative move is the introduction of the death of the original beloved. Even before situating these poems in the Vita Nuova, even before having contrived the donna gentile as she is described in the prose, Dante pushed the courtly game in a new, ideologically original direction by introducing the issue of fidelity to a dead beloved. This is the issue introduced in Videro gli occhi miei and Color d’amore, and resolved in L’amaro lagrimar: “resolved” in the sense that L’amaro lagrimar codifies clear rules according to which fidelity to the dead beloved is the lover’s obligation.
Dante's Lyric Poetry: Poems of Youth and of the 'Vita Nuova' Page 40