Vita Nuova : Poems of Youth

La Vita Nuovamarked a turning point in European literature, introducing personal experience into the strict formalism of medieval love poetry. The sequence of poems tells the story of Dante’s passion for Beatrice, the beautiful sister of one of his closest friends, transformed through his writing into a symbol of love that was both spiritual and romantic. From unrequited passion to the profound grief he experiences at the loss of his love, this work intersperses exquisite verse with Dante’s own commentary on the structure and origins of each poem, offering a unique insight into the poet’s art and skill. Barbara Reynolds’s translation, acclaimed for its lucidity and faithfulness to the original, is now enhanced with a new introduction and other material.

Dante Alighieri (1265-û1321) was born to a noble but impoverished family and achieved immortality with such works as The Divine Comedy.

Barbara Reynolds, retired lecturer in Italian at Cambridge University, holds three honorary doctorates. She translated Ariosto-'s Orlando Furioso for Penguin Classics and finished Dorothy L. Sayers-'s translation of Dante-'s Paradise after Sayers-'s death.