Dante's Beatrice and Petrarch's Laura
Dante's Beatrice and Petrarch's Laura Dante Alighieri's Beatrice and Francesco Petrarca's Laura influenced the lives and writings of these two great authors. Francesco Petrarca, better known to the literary world as Petrarch, met the woman who would become the driving force behind his writing on Good Friday, April 6, 1327. In a Church of Santa Chiara in Avignon, Petrarch first lay eyes on Laura de Sade, wife of Hugues de Sade (Jerrold 19). Though her existence has been doubted, most critics agree that the evidence supports the idea that such powerful words must have had a living, breathing inspiration. When putting together Petrarch's Laura, and Laura de Sade, one notices similarities, such as the same name, suitable age, wealth, illnesses and frequent childbirths, and the burial in a Franciscan church. Petrarch's Laura dies April 6, 1348. Laura de Sade made her will April 3, and died of plague shortly after. Plague commonly killed in three days (Bishop 65). Laura's wonderful beauty is certain, as is the fact that the poet felt a certain passion for it (Jerrold 20). She is described mostly in Petrarch's Italian poems, however the descriptions of her beauty are never very detailed and specific. Her hair was golden, her complex
In the Vita, Dante's image of himself changes, but all occurs within his cult of the love of Beatrice (Fergusson 88). In order to appreciate his work, one must become acquainted with its subject matter. From that mouth came a sweet voice, singing thrillingly. From the year 1327, the poet's life is colored by his love, and his actions, motives, and decisions cannot be understood apart from it (Jerrold 20). Perhaps the most important part of Dante's youth was his relationship with Beatrice, which was so tenuous that it is hardly to be described as a relationship at all. Beatrice is susceptible to multiple interpretations, ranging from the traditional Revelation to the analogue of Christ in her appearance to Dante at the summit of the Mount of Purgatory (Bergin 263). Laura embodies ideal Womanhood as Beatrice becomes Divine Philosophy (Jerrold 275). He met her yet again nine years later, and was privileged enough to receive her salute (Bergin 34). Beatrice is depicted at this first meeting as gentle and winning in her ways, with manners and speech far more sedate and modest than her small age required. The poet began to endow her poetic image with the characteristics necessary to convert her into a lady-guide to the Christian heaven (Bernardo 30). Vita Nuova shows that Dante was learning to use philosophy and theology to understand love, but that work was limited to the love which Beatrice had awakened in him (Fergusson 51). He believed that Laura's beauty reflected the very essence of life, and his concept of her was impregnated with classical overtones. ion snowy, with ebony eyelashes and black eyes. In some poems Dante replaces her with a donna gentile, but interprets her as philosophy and not a woman, as a part of his apology for his abandonment of Beatrice (Fergusson 62).
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