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Because you know you’re young in beauty yetDante Name: ___________________Ms. Proch Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) is best known for his poem the Divine Comedy. He was born into a noble family in Florence at a time when the city was a small, thriving Italian republic. He was a well educated man and received education in classics, theology, philosophy, and science. A change in power in Florence caused Dante to be wrongly convicted of corruption and graft. He was sentenced to death, but revolved, and then choice the life of exile. An important element in much of Dante’s poetry is courtly love, a tradition that developed and flowered in European poetry of the twelfth century. They wrote about the joys and sorrows of love, and also about the heartsick and angry knights whose love for certain women was unrequited. The following poem, like many of his songs and poems, deals with some aspect of love. Because you know you’re young in beauty yetAnd stir the mind to Love you once look toward,With pride like stone your maiden heart is barred.You turn a proud and stonelike face to meBecause you feel my death is worth a try:I think that you have done it just to seeWhether by force of Love a man can die.But though you find none loves you more than I,For grief I bear, you show me no regard.Love take you then, and let his rule be hard!Questions: 1. What attitude does the speaker accuse the woman of having toward him?2. Is he correct in his analysis of why she has rejected him? What other possible reasons could she have for her actions?3. Why does the speaker persist on loving someone who does not love him?4. What is the speaker’s state of mind? How do his emotions affect his actions?5. Should the woman treat the speaker with greater sympathy and understanding? Why or why not?6. What does the speaker wish for?Answers:1. What attitude does the speaker accuse the woman of having toward him?- speaker is incorrect-feels like woman is playing with his affections for her, and she is enjoying the emotional frusteration and hurt- likely that she simply does not like the speaker- natural for speaker to blame the woman rather than acknowledge his own part in the failure of the relationship2. Is he correct in his analysis of why she has rejected him? What other possible reasons could she have for her actions?- go to one3. Why does the speaker persist on loving someone who does not love him?- speaker is letting his passion rather than his reason control him4. What is the speaker’s state of mind? How do his emotions affect his actions?- speaker is foolish and masochistic to persist in imposing himself on someone who does not like him- his final curse is understandable, but not justified- uncontrolled passion can cause even intelligent people to behave in a way that hurts others and is contrary to their own best interests5. Should the woman treat the speaker with greater sympathy and understanding? Why or why not?- woman is correct to turn down speaker’s love if she has no interest in him- while she could make an effort to be kind, she risks leading him on6. What is the central image in this poem? How does the image work to convey the speaker’s emotions?- woman who is made up of stone-image of stone connotes such qualities as hardness, insensitivity and the inability to feel emotion- so he says she is stone like and dehumanizes her because she rejected him- blames her, but if you venture into love you must be willing to face rejectionComprehension questions:Describe the speaker in the poem.- young manTo whom is the speaker speaking to?- young womanWhat has happened to the speaker?- woman rejected his loveWhat does the speaker wish for?- woman will suffer rejection as he has suffered ................
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