La Vita Nuova is a book of verse written by Dante Alighieri, roughly around the year of 1293. Translated from Italian, La Vita Nuova means "The New Life". It is sometimes referred to as Vita Nuova, "New Life".

History and context of La Vita Nuova

Referred to by Dante as his libello, or "little book", "The New Life" is the first of two collections of verse written by Dante in his life, with other being the Convivio. La Vita Nuova is a prosimetrum, as is the Convivio, meaning that it is a piece which is made up of both verse and prose.

Dante used each prosimetrum as a means for combining poems written over periods of roughly ten years - La Vita Nuova contains his works from before 1283 to roughly 1293, where as the Convivio contains his works from 1294 until the time of La Divina Comedia.

The structure of La Vita Nuova

A remarkable work, La Vita Nuova contains 42 brief chapters with commentaries on 25 sonnets, one ballata, and four canzoni; one canzone is left unfinished, interrupted by the death of Beatrice Portinari, Dante's life long love.

Dante's commentaries explicate each poem, placing it within the context of his life. That is to say that they present a frame story, which is not apparent from the sonnets themselves. The frame story is simple enough: it recounts Dante's first sight of Beatrice when he was nine and she eight all the way to Dante's mourning after her death, and his determination to write of her "that which has never been written of any woman".

Each separate section of commentary further refines the poet's concept of romantic love as the initial step in a spiritual development that results in the capacity for divine love. Dante's unusual approach to his piece - drawing upon personal events and experience, addressing the readers, and writing in Italian rather than Latin - marked a turning point in European poetry, where many writers abandoned highly stylized forms of writing for a simpler style.

The impersonality of La Vita Nuova

La Vita Nuova, although markedly autobiographical, is oddly impersonal. The events which it describes are notably missing any historical detail, or descriptive detail (thus making it hard to establish the true historical identity of the beloved Beatrice).

Dante's commentary also lacks a feeling of personality, opting for a generality. Names are rarely used; his sister is referred to simply as "she who was joined to be my closest proximity of love". Such a description obviously lacks any sense of endearment. His work strives to set down the greatest of emotional experiences, yet he distances his descriptions from strong emotional reactions.