Beatrice had the look; that special look that was remembered and inspired poetry and song

Beatrice had the look; that special look that was remembered and inspired poetry and song

fiction
edward w Pritchard

Some women are memorable. Across the years their look inspire poetry and song


Beatrice had the look.

Walking as an eight year old girl not on a runway in Milan but on the crowded streets of 13th century Florence, Italy Beatrice captured Dante's imagination and inspired one hundred million future lovers through Dante's  promotion of courtly love in his writing.

 Dante seldom comments on his Beatrice's mere physical appearance preferring to keep it mystical, about her emerald eyes and calling her his lord who came to him in his dreams.

At their second meeting when Beatrice was eighteen and Dante nineteen, Beatrice greets Dante briefly and decorously and perhaps with a coy smile inspires eventually the Divine Comedy one of the seminal works in World literature.

By age twenty four Beatrice is dead, leaving her husband, not Dante, to grieve, but Dante to glorify dead Beatrice perhaps as his Muse and special love forever through his writing.

There's a small solemn chapel in Florence where Dante first clapped his eyes on Beatrice and Dante's Bice's influence has been significant.

More than a woman but a little less than a goddess. Beatrice had the look that is memorable across the ages, a look that inspired poetry and song.