ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Beatrice was the daughter of the banker Folco Portinari and was married to another banker, Simone dei Bardi. Dante claims to have met a “Beatrice” only twice, on occasions separated by nine years, but was so affected by the meetings that he carried his love for her throughout his life.

Detailed explanation-2: -Beatrice, the woman to whom the great Italian poet Dante dedicated most of his poetry and almost all of his life, from his first sight of her at the age of nine (“from that time forward, Love quite governed my soul”) through his glorification of her in La divina commedia, completed 40 years later, to his death in 1321.

Detailed explanation-3: -At the age of nine he purportedly, briefly glimpsed the eight-year-old Beatrice Portinari and, struck by her beauty, fell in love. Dante said that when Beatrice greeted him in passing nine years later, his love was confirmed.

Detailed explanation-4: -However, in Canto 31 Beatrice speaks of how Dante had betrayed her over the last ten years of her death. He had been attracted to other women and was not faithful to her beauty, which was not the false beauty of others.

Detailed explanation-5: -“Beatrice looks up to God, and her eyes mirror Heaven. Dante looks into that mirror and finds himself gradually carried up above.” Another fascinating reference to Beatrice’s eyes comes in Canto 22 of the Paradiso. At this point in his pilgrimage, Dante is much closer to final blessedness and his vision is clearer.