The Vita Nova has many symbolic themes throughout its structure such as the words “vita and nova” themselves. In both Italian and English, “vita” refers to life and “nova” in Italian refers to marvelous or strange, however in English, it refers to brightness (of light). Another symbol in the poem is the Trinity number of nine as Dante refers to the number every time he has some sort of interaction with Beatrice. In this essay, because Vita Nova has 42 chapters, I will discuss how Beatrice represents light throughout chapters 2-8 (with the definition of Trinity in chapter 29), using Dante’s actual sight and dreams. Dante associates the number nine with Beatrice in chapter two because “she appeared to him at about the beginning of her ninth…show more content… However, Dante used the Trinity number nine instead of three because Beatrice would then remove God from the center, thus, causing a religious conflict. In other words, Beatrice is not light; she is only a representation of light in chapter six since Dante associates her with the Trinity. In chapter 8, we learn that the “young and very beautiful lady” (VIII, 1) who Dante used as a diversion, had died, and since Dante “had seen her several times in the company of the most gracious one, [he] could not hold back [his] tears and, weep as [he] resolved to say something about her death” (VIII, 2). In other words, because this is the first time that we see Dante use words such as “young and very beautiful” to describe another woman besides his muse, one could argue that Dante shifted his interest from Beatrice to that other woman; however, because Dante cried, wept, and spoke for this woman, Beatrice is represented through this lady. In addition, this is the first sonnet that is not directly geared toward Beatrice herself, but instead to the other woman, thus, supporting my claim that Beatrice is thought through this lady just as how light shines through soulless