Love

Vita Nuova: 'Beyond the sphere which spreads to widest space'

by Dante Alighieri 1265–1321

Translated by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1861; text of the Ellis and Elvey edition, 1899) · From La Vita Nuova

Love

Beyond the sphere which spreads to widest space
Now soars the sigh that my heart sends above:
A new perception born of grieving Love
Guideth it upward the untrodden ways.
When it hath reached unto the end, and stays,
It sees a lady round whom splendours move
In homage; till, by the great light thereof
Abashed, the pilgrim spirit stands at gaze.
It sees her such, that when it tells me this
Which it hath seen, I understand it not,
It hath a speech so subtile and so fine.
And yet I know its voice within my thought
Often remembereth me of Beatrice:
So that I understand it, ladies mine.

MLA

Dante Alighieri. “Vita Nuova: 'Beyond the sphere which spreads to widest space'.” Translated by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/dante/30/.

Chicago

Dante Alighieri. “Vita Nuova: 'Beyond the sphere which spreads to widest space'.” Translated by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/dante/30/.

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