Medieval and Modern Philologies

Series | Medieval and Modern Philologies
Review | Theologus Dantes
Chapter | «Intelletto d’amore».

«Intelletto d’amore».

La mistica affettiva in Dante

Abstract

The essay takes into consideration the importance of the affective mysticism of the twelfth century for the beginnings and development of Dante’s poetry, starting from the novelty of ‘praise’ formulated in the Vita nova up to the most mature reworkings, in the canto XXIV of the Purgatorio and along the last cantos of the poem. The focus is on the works of William of Saint-Thierry, in particular on his Expositio in Cantica Canticorum, in which there is a first attestation of the formula intellectus amoris, a possible source for the famous Dante’s incipit Donne ch’avete intelletto d’amore and for the concept of love that follows from it. The essay then focuses on the high frequency of intertextual references to texts belonging to the tradition of affective mysticism, including the works of William himself, in early romance poetry, highlighting the continuity between this line of inspiration and Dante’s poetics.


Open access

Published Dec. 17, 2018 | Language: it

Keywords TroubadoursAffective mysticismPurgatorio XXIVWilliam of Saint-ThierryIntellect of love


read this chapter