31.
Werther: *
Werther becomes friends with both Charlotte and Albert, but his sorrow at losing Charlotte becomes so acute he leaves. In emotional agony away from Charlotte, he finally returns. Charlotte and Albert have married. Now every day becomes a reminder that she can never requite his love. She, out of pity for her friend and respect for her husband, decides Werther must not visit so frequently. They meet one final time, both overcome with emotion. Werther hints that one of them – Charlotte, Albert or Werther himself – has to die to resolve the love triangle and sees no other choice but to take his own life. He composes a farewell letter & asks Albert for two pistols, as he is going "on a journey". Charlotte receives the request with great emotion and sends the pistols. Werther shoots himself, dyeing twelve hours later; buried under a linden tree, neither the clergy nor Charlotte attend his funeral.
32.
Vita Nuova by Dante: *
Notable for content and the fact it was written in Italian (not Latin); Dante creates narrative continuity between the poems, his way of reconstructing himself and his art in terms of his evolving sense of the limitations of courtly love; he intended to elevate courtly love poetry into sacred love poetry. Beatrice for Dante was the embodiment of this kind of love (integration of desire aroused by beauty with the longing of the soul for divine splendor). Along with Dante's other works, it helped to establish the Tuscan dialect as the standard for the Italian language.