In ancient times, it was considered an essential part of the funeral ritual that the women relatives or the women friends of the deceased person tear their hair, rip their clothes, and scratch their faces bloody, but in the Duecento these exaggerated manifestations of mourning were prohibited; in Florence only the widow was permitted to loosen her veil and tear her hair as she wept. Female friends rushed to her or to the daughters of the dead man, and to men in mourning relatives came by, and guild associates; however for the two sexes to be together on such occasions was considered inappropriate.93
But Voi che portate also alludes to a behaviour that is not part of the prescribed ceremony and of the accepted ritual. The invitation proffered by the poet to the mourning ladies – “piacciavi di restar qui meco alquanto,/e qual che sia di lei, nol mi celate [may it please you to stay with me awhile,/and what you know of her disclose to me]” (10–11) – describes an encounter and a dialogue that could not happen in reality, since, as Davidsohn notes, “for the two sexes to be together on such occasions was considered inappropriate.” Were such an encounter and dialogue to occur, they would be cause for “rebuke” (“riprensione” according to the more explicit Vita Nuova prose).
In other words, Voi che portate gives us a glimpse of a Dante who is not comfortable with the social norms with which he lives, a poet who uses poetry to create occasions for dialogue and encounter that are not permitted by the world around him. His intense desire to participate in the female work of mourning – caught in the imperatives “Ditelmi, donne [tell me, ladies]” (7) and “nol mi celate [don’t hide it from me]” (11) – verges on impropriety. His is a desire that threatens to trespass the rigid social barrier placed between male and female and that also risks feminizing him. We will see in the next sonnet how the ladies take action to re-establish the normal divisions between the sexes and between their roles.
Barbi-Maggini’s commentary on mourning customs in Florence sends the reader of Voi che portate to the Decameron: “Era usanza, sì come ancora oggi veggiamo usare, che le donne parenti e vicine nella casa del morto si ragunavano, e quivi con quelle che più gli appartenevano piagnevano; e d’altra parte dinanzi la casa del morto co’ suoi prossimi si ragunavano i suoi vicini e altri cittadini assai [It had once been customary, as it is again nowadays, for the women relatives and neighbours of a dead man to assemble in his house in order to mourn in the company of the women who had been closest to him: moreover his kinsfolk would forgather in front of his house along with his neighbours and various other citizens]” (Decameron, Introduction to the First Day, 32). Voi che portate is clearly informed by the custom described by Boccaccio, and contains two explicit references to ritualized female weeping: “Vedeste voi nostra donna gentile / bagnar nel viso suo di pianto Amore? [Did you now just behold our worthy lady / bathing Love with tears upon her face?]” (5–6) and “Io veggio li occhi vostri c’hanno pianto [I see your eyes, which show that you have wept]” (12).
We are not able to ascertain the occasion by which this sonnet was originally triggered. Placed in the Vita Nuova, Voi che portate advances the sense of impending mortality that hangs over the work: soon enough the narrator will move from the death of Beatrice’s father to the death of the gentilissima herself.
36 (B XVIII; FB 36; VN XXII.9–10 [13.9–10])
Voi che portate la sembianza umile, con li occhi bassi, mostrando dolore, onde venite che ’l vostro colore
You who bear a mournful countenance, with downcast eyes, revealing your distress, where do you come from that your colour seems
4
par divenuto de pietà simile? Vedeste voi nostra donna gentile bagnar nel viso suo di pianto Amore? Ditelmi, donne, che ’l mi dice il core,
to have become so similar to pity? Did you now just behold our worthy lady bathing Love with tears upon her face? O tell me, ladies, what my heart tells me,
8
perch’io vi veggio andar sanz’atto vile.
for I can see you move with dignity.
E se venite da tanta pietate, piacciavi di restar qui meco alquanto,
And if you come from grief that’s so intense, may it please you to stay with me awhile,
11
e qual che sia di lei, nol mi celate. Io veggio li occhi vostri c’hanno pianto, e veggiovi tornar sì sfigurate,
and what you know of her disclose to me. I see your eyes, which show that you have wept, and see that you return in such distress
14
che ’l cor mi triema di vederne tanto.
that my heart trembles at the sight of it.
METRE: sonnet ABBA ABBA CDC DCD. Voi che portate shares the same rhyme scheme as the other mourning sonnets, Se’ tu colui, Onde venite, and Voi donne.
37 Se’ tu colui c’ hai trattato sovente
The narrative premise of the prose framework of Vita Nuova XXII (13) is the death of Beatrice’s father and the consequent suffering not only of the gentilissima but also of her companions. In essence the framework of chapter XXII (13) is that of the “corrotto” (archaic term for funeral lament). Beatrice’s companions are the ladies with whom Dante imagines an encounter and dialogue not permitted in the social reality in which he lives. The dialogue not permitted in the prose of Vita Nuova XXII (13), but dearly wished for by him, is realized in a series of sonnets. These take the form of a fictive quasi-tenzone, imitating the classical botta e risposta structure (a tart comment with a quick reply) typical of the genre: Voi che portate la sembianza umile, in which Dante addresses imaginary questions to the ladies, is replied to by its companion piece, Se’ tu colui c’ hai trattato sovente, in which Dante imagines their responses.
Se’ tu colui begins with the opening query of the ladies: they want to make sure of the identity of their interlocutor, whose appearance (“figura”) is disfigured by grief (similarly, the grieving ladies are “sfigurate” in the preceding sonnet: “e veggiovi tornar sì sfigurate” (Voi che portate [13]). Barbi-Maggini recall the encounter with Forese Donati in Purgatorio 23, in which Dante’s friend Forese is rendered physically unrecognizable by his emaciated appearance: “Mai non l’avrei riconosciuto al viso;/ma ne la voce sua mi fu palese / ciò che l’aspetto in sé avea conquiso” (“I never would have recognized him by his face; and yet his voice made plain to me what from his appearance was erased” [Purg. 23.43–5]). As in purgatory Forese, so here Dante is recognized by his voice: “Tu risomigli a la voce ben lui,/ma la figura ne par d’altra gente [The tenor of your voice resembles his,/but by your look you’re clearly someone else]” (3–4). Identification by “voice” is particularly suited to a poet, and these ladies know and classify Dante as a poet: “Se’ tu colui c’ hai trattato sovente / di nostra donna, sol parlando a nui? [Are you the one who’s often written poems / about our lady, speaking just to us?]” (1–2). De Robertis notes that Dante is here identified specifically “as a poet who has ‘spoken to ladies,’ alluding to Donne ch’avete,” and that the ladies’ question “anticipates that of Bonagiunta in Purg. 24.49–51, a typical identification of the poet by his work” (VN, p. 150).
Recognition by means of voice is a topos that connects to Florentinity, in our sonnet and with Forese in Purgatorio; and indeed, one has to know someone first hand to recognize his voice. (A variant is provided by Farinata, a Florentine from the previous generation who recognizes not Dante’s voice but his inflection: “La tua loquela ti fa manifesto / di quella nobil patrïa natio [Your speech shows that you are a native of that noble homeland]” [Inf. 10.25–6].) The sounds of life in Florence are present in these sonnets. In Se’ tu colui we hear the mourning of the Florentine community, a practice that is recorded lexically in the sonnet’s five uses of piangere and pianto: “E perché piangi tu sì coralmente [Why do you weep so inconsolably]” (5); “Vedestù pianger lei [Is it because you saw her weep]” (7); “Lascia piangere noi [Leave weeping to us]” (9); “che nel suo pianto l’udimmo parlare [for we’re the ones who heard her speak with tears]” (11); “sarebbe innanzi lei piangendo morta
[she would have died before her shedding tears]” (14).
In this sonnet and in its predecessor, Dante imagines being able to cross over the social boundary that separates women from men in the rigid context of the corrotto: he wants to participate in the women’s work of weeping. The very existence of this imaginary dialogue is proof of Dante’s wish to trespass an established boundary – or rather, of his wish to test a boundary that he then ends up reaffirming. This reaffirmation comes by means of the imagined response of the women, who do not show themselves as even slightly open to the role-change implicitly suggested by the poet. Rather, they strongly reconfirm the division of tasks established by the social structure: “E perché piangi tu sì coralmente,/che fai di te pietà venire altrui?/Vedestù pianger lei, che tu non pui / punto celar la dolorosa mente? [Why do you weep so inconsolably / that you make others want to pity you?/Is it because you saw her weep that you / cannot conceal the sorrow that you feel?]” (5–8).
There is a thinly disguised reprimand in the ladies’ rhetorical question, “Vedestù pianger lei,” literally “Did you see her weep?”: they know that Dante did not have the experience, permitted only to the company of women, of direct participation in madonna’s mourning. He did not see her weep: how then can he insist that he suffers as they do, when they have seen her and have had full rights to such participation? His public suffering is excessive, not socially legitimate or acceptable, given that he does not belong to the family circle and is not part of the group – a female group – to which is designated the task of mourning. It would be better if he could refrain from the too-public manifestation of a grief that is experienced “sì coralmente” (literally, in such a heartfelt fashion). Given that he has not seen madonna, and given that he does not have the right to see her – given, in other words, that he is a man – he ought to be able to conceal his sorrow. The public display of grief belongs to women, while men have the duty of behaving discreetly and of knowing how to hide their suffering (“celar la dolorosa mente”).
When the women say, “Lascia piangere noi e triste andare [Leave weeping and unhappiness to us]” (9), they are reaffirming the division of social duties on the basis of sex. The duties of women described in verse 9 of Se’ tu colui are those of weeping – “piangere” – and of proceeding sadly: “triste andare.” The allusion to the ladies’ ceremonial procession in the phrase “triste andare,” which echoes their “andar sanz’atto vile” in the preceding sonnet, reflects the practice whereby, in the Duecento, Florentine women participated in the funeral procession:
The corpse was carried to the parish chuch or to one chosen beforehand by the dead person on the shoulders of friends and guild associates; it was followed by relatives, acquaintances, neighbours, and friends, by invitation of the guild itself. The women followed, and the female relatives nearest to the dead person were accompanied and supported on either side by friends or relatives.94
The ladies of the sonnet Se’ tu colui re-establish the duties and roles accepted by the norms of their society, and use pronouns to delineate the various areas of competence: there are duties that are prescribed for us (“noi” in line 9) and not for you (“tu” in line 7). The tercet “Lascia piangere noi e triste andare/(e fa peccato chi mai ne conforta),/che nel suo pianto l’udimmo parlare [Leave weeping and unhappiness to us/(to try to comfort us would be a sin),/for we’re the ones who heard her speak with tears]” (9–11) returns to the fact that only the ladies had direct contact with the mourner. The obligation of giving comfort is strictly delegated to them by the community – “Lascia piangere a noi” – and not to self-selected others.
Se’ tu colui ends up respecting and reaffirming the norms of communal life in Dante’s Florence; indeed it is sinful to interfere (10). Although this sonnet-exchange permits a fantasy dialogue with women, a dialogue not allowed in real life, the women of Dante’s fantasy reassert the status quo of the society in which Dante lives. But there is no doubt that Dante here shows himself to be an adventurer in social and psychic space, willing to cross over pre-established boundaries in matters involving gender differentiation, sex roles, and normative male behaviour.
37 (B XIX; FB 37; VN XXII.13–16 [13.12–15])
Se’ tu colui c’ hai trattato sovente di nostra donna, sol parlando a nui? Tu risomigli a la voce ben lui,
Are you the one who’s often written poems about our lady, speaking just to us? The tenor of your voice resembles his,
4
ma la figura ne par d’altra gente. E perché piangi tu sì coralmente, che fai di te pietà venire altrui? Vedestù pianger lei, che tu non pui
but by your look you’re clearly someone else. Why do you weep so inconsolably that you make others want to pity you? Is it because you saw her weep that you
8
punto celar la dolorosa mente?
cannot conceal the sorrow that you feel?
Lascia piangere noi e triste andare (e fa peccato chi mai ne conforta),
Leave weeping and unhappiness to us (to try to comfort us would be a sin),
11
che nel suo pianto l’udimmo parlare. Ell’ha nel viso la pietà sì scorta, che qual l’avesse voluta mirare
for we’re the ones who heard her speak with tears. So clearly does her face reveal her pain that had some lady wished to look at her,
14
sarebbe innanzi lei piangendo morta.
she would have died before her shedding tears.
METRE: sonnet ABBA ABBA CDC DCD. See metrical notation to Voi che portate.
38 Onde venite voi così pensose?
In this sonnet, as in Voi che portate la sembianza umile, the poet sees some ladies pass by “pensose [distraught],” and he questions them to find out whence they come: “Onde venite voi così pensose? [Where have you been that makes you so distraught?]” Is a visit to madonna the cause of their grief?: “Ditemel, s’a voi piace, in cortesia,/ch’i’ ho dottanza che·lla donna mia / non vi faccia tornar così dogliose [Please tell me, in the name of courtesy,/because I fear my lady is the reason / your return is burdened with such pain]” (2–4). Onde venite is commonly held to be an earlier and less successful version of Voi che portate: less successful because less concentrated on madonna’s grief, to which the love-sufferings of the poet are now “inappropriately” (the word is Contini’s) added. If it is true, as Contini suggests in a plausible hypothesis, that Onde venite “is a trial run, a first draft” (p. 74), then this poetic episode offers us three distinct archeological layers of textuality.
According to this hypothesis, the earliest layer, the first poetic attempt to imagine a dialogue between the poet and ladies on the question of a sorrowful beloved (Barbi and Contini refer to Beatrice, but madonna is not identified in the poems, nor is it specified why she is grieving), is constituted by Onde venite and Voi donne, che pietoso atto mostrate. The next layer, constituted by Voi che portate and Se’ tu colui, is a second and more successful attempt, also in sonnet form, to imagine the same dialogue involving the same theme of grieving; again, the reader does not know who madonna is or for whom she weeps. Only in the last layer, the one added by the prose of the Vita Nuova, does Dante declare that the beloved of these sonnets is Beatrice, and that her grief has been elicited by her father’s death.
In Onde venite, as in Voi che portate, the poet wants to dialogue with the grieving ladies. The Florentinity quotient of these mourning sonnets, discussed vis-à-vis Se’ tu colui, is here further enhanced, since here he sees the ladies in the very street where he is (“in questa via”) and begs them to pause a while (“ristare alquanto”): “Deh gentil donne, non siate sdegnose / né di ristare alquanto in questa via / e dire al doloroso che disia / udir della suo donna alquante cose [Ah, noble ladies, don’t disdain my plea / to pause a while along the path you take / to have a word with one who’s suffering / and longs to have some news about his lady]” (5–8). De Robertis notes that the reference to “questa via” in line 6 “adds that minimum of ‘local’ color that chapter 1
3 (XXII) of the Vita Nova will develop” (ed. comm., p. 356). The verb “venite” in the opening and the line “ristare alquanto in questa via” allude to the same choreography of mourning treated in the essays on the two preceding sonnets. In the sestet of Onde venite, however, attention shifts away to the love-sufferings of the poet: “avvegna che gravoso m’è l’udire:/sì·mm’ha in tutto Amor da·ssé scacciato / ch’ogni suo atto mi trae a·fferire [though hearing it may well be hard to bear,/since Love’s rejected me so utterly / that all his deeds are meant to bring me harm]” (9–11). The concluding tercet moves toward a Cavalcantian style tinged by an aggressive narcissism that leads the poet to urge the ladies to pay attention to him and to comfort him for his lovesickness: “Guardate bene s’i’ son consumato,/ch’ogni mie spirto / comincia a·ffuggire / se da voi, donne, non son confortato [Just see how wholly worn away I am,/and know my spirits will begin to flee,/if you, dear ladies, do not comfort me]” (12–14).
Onde venite is split between the theme of mourning and that of the suffering lover. The lesser usefulness to Dante of Onde venite compared to Voi che portate – the reason that one is included in the Vita Nuova and the other is not – derives from this thematic inconsistency. As Contini notes, the motif of mourning is “inappropriately” combined with “the subjective anguish of the poet” (p. 74). Or, in the amusing words of Barbi: “Was that really the moment to put himself forward in that way, he along with his unfortunate love?” (Barbi-Maggini, p. 269). When we recall that the fundamental project of the Vita Nuova is that of extracting personal subjectivity and personal suffering from the act of loving, in order to escape the traps of ego and narcissism, we understand why Onde venite, whose octave is devoted to the grieving of madonna and whose sestet is devoted to the suffering of the self, was not chosen for the libello.