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CHAPTER II.
THE 'VITA NUOVA.'
The 'Vita Nuova' is Dante's earliest work. The period to which it refers, and of which it is the detailed yet visionary history, was over before the graver affairs of life and the more solemn inspiration of his great work came upon him. It begins with his ninth year, and goes on to the twenty-seventh, thus embracing almost the entire period of his youth. We know nothing else of the kind in literature which can be placed by its side. It is a love-story, but such a love-story as never was written before or since—all visionary, yet all real—profound in passion and sincerity, yet fantastic as a dream. No book, probably, has ever been so much discussed. To some critics it has seemed an allegory from beginning to end, and these writers have found in the peerless Beatrice no true woman at all, but only an emblem of heavenly wisdom, the highest light and inspiration of the soul. This far-fetched theory we are fortunately not called upon to discuss; for we cannot believe that any new reader, approaching the wonderful tale with an unbiassed mind, could ever imagine a love so tremulous with delicate passion, so absorbing and all-pervading, to be directed to
