Dante moving from courtly love

The troubadours write about courtly love in their poetry. The relationship focuses on the distance of the beloved and the mingling of eroticism and religion. Dante moves past this tradition by focusing less on the divinity of God, and more on the divinity of love itself.  

Bernart de Ventadorn’s poem “You’ve Asked, My Lords, for Song” exemplifies courtly love. It features erotic and divine language, and it depicts the beloved as far away. Ventadorn establishes the role of religion in the poem by stating,

When God who reigns above

Gave much, I took my gains;

Now when his gifts abate,

I’ll suffer that as much, (85) 

Ventadorn establishes the sovereignty of God and shows deference to him. God is depicted as the highest power that the lover appeals to in order to win his lady. Ventadorn reiterates this request when he writes, “May God give heart and mind / To Escudor and me” (85). Again in this passage, Ventadorn is asking God to grant his request and to bring his beloved to him. God is the highest authority the lover appeals to. Although the poem is meant to praise the beloved, religion is present and highly important to the lover’s suit of the beloved.

Dante differs from the troubadour lyric tradition because of the greater emphasis he places on the omnipotence of love, which he personifies and makes more god-like. The personification Love is his higher power, not God. Dante’s poem in Chapter III of Vita Nuova demonstrates his invocation of love when he states, “greetings I bring for their sweet lord’s sake, Love” and also when he writes, “Joyous Love looked to me while he was holding / my heart within his hands” (7). Dante depicts love as a being and an all powerful being able to control him.  He even uses the word, “lord” to establish the power of Love. Where the troubadours might have beseeched God, Dante claims that Love itself is his highest authority. The phrase, “heart within his hands” demonstrates how Love has total control over him. Even the beloved Beatrice is “obedient” to Love (7). Traditional religion is present in Vita Nuova, but the difference comes because Dante does not appeal to God to woo his beloved, but rather relies on the power of Love and attraction.