In La Vita Nuova, Dante expresses his views on romantic love and literary creation, arguing essentially that the two are inextricably bound together. This does not mean that as love goes, so necessarily goes literary creation. To the contrary, Dante seems clearly to be saying at times that the most critical periods in his relationship with Beatrice have produced the most passionate and remarkable poetry. The study will argue that the process whereby Dante comes to understand and experience love in a mature, spiritual and transcendent sense is a process which for him requires the recording of his experiences in poetry which crystallizes those experiences for his vigilant examination. Love for Dante is a means of spiritual and creative awakening.
To a poet of passion such as Dante, what matters is not a "healthy" or "non-dysfunctional" relationship such as might be the goal of couples today, but rather a romantic, passionate, even turbulent relationship--with communication or not, with sex or not. For the sake of both the romantic heart of the poet and the vitality of his poetry, the relationship must run hot and wild. Running hot and wild, however, does not necessarily mean that Dante is finding success in his effort to win Beatrice's love.
As long as the interchange between Dante and Beatrice is driven by strong feelings, negative or positive, the poet's love is increased and he is simultaneously charged to write poetry. In the following lines, Dante shamelessly uses his own humiliation at the hands of a rejecting Beatrice as fuel for literary creation:
With your companions you make fun of me,
Not thinking, Lady, what the reason is
I cut so strange a figure in your eyes
When, raising mine, your loveliness I see.
If you but knew, Pity no more could be
Severe toward me in her usual guise (49).
To Dante, the power and truth of his love will eventually win Beatrice, despite the apparent rejection...