The purpose of this research is to examine courtly love in the Middle Ages, particularly as expressed in Dante's Divine Comedy. The plan of the research will be to set forth a working understanding of the term courtly love, and then to show, with reference to Dante's work, how the romantic language, the roots of courtly love lyric in Provencal poetry, and such concepts as divine love intersect to create a unique aesthetic of literature and cultural sensibility.
Courtly love is the name given to a style of poetry that celebrated human love, particularly the love of the poet (always a man) for a high-born and extraordinary lady. This is the outline of the notion of courtly love, but it appears to contain not only the implication of physical love but also--and perhaps more significantly--the attributes of a deeply felt relationship at the psychological level. This is implicit in Collins's description of the term:
One of the main subjects of the poetry at that time was "love," the "courtly love" celebrated in song by the medieval troubadours. Dante was very much a part of this poetic movement which had originated in southern France (La Provence), was developed in Sicily under the patronage of Frederick II, and had become extremely popular in Dante's region, Tuscany. This poetic style with its stress on the theme of love was known in Italy as the dolce stil nuovo, the "sweet new style." Its passionate celebration of human love, its adoration of a particular "lady," its romantic sighs and pathos, must have fascinated Dante in this period of his life (Collins 6).
Elsewhere, Collins makes the point that one important attribute of the lady in the case was her physical distance from the poet: "This love was usually focused on the lady of the court, the master's wife, whose identity was kept secret. The lady was idealized in the poet's imagination as a distant, unattainable dream. The poet's passionate love for her and the pra...