SOURCE: "An Essay on the Vita Nuova: Aspects," in Dante's "Vita Nuova," translated by Mark Musa, Indiana University Press, 1973, pp. 106-34.

In this excerpt, Musa analyzes the various appearances of Love personified, in which two different forms of love present themselves.

[In the Vita Nuova, the god of Love] is presented far more vividly than any of the other characters seen by the protagonist—who, for the most part, come through to the reader as shadowy shapes indeed. The first three times Love makes his entrance onto the stage of the Vita Nuova, not only are his clothes described but also his gestures and movements; and in all four of his appearances Love's voice is heard. This character, on whom a spotlight is focused, is made to behave in a way that must puzzle any reader. Love speaks Italian sometimes, sometimes Latin, and sometimes he even shifts languages...