It pales beside you. Earth has never seen
A thing so full of loveliness and grace.
The perfection which the mere presence of the beloved was supposed to bestow on the lover, is here conceived more broadly and freely; not only the lover, but all men are touched and transfigured by her appearance. The sentiment of the lover aspired to become objective truth. This was an important stage on the road from the spiritual to the deifying love, which I have called metaphysical eroticism. Another rung of the ladder of evolution had been climbed—the mistress had become queen of the world and goddess, a being enthroned by the side of God. I will again quote Guinicelli:
Ever as she walks she has a sober grace,
Making bold men abashed and good men glad,
If she delight thee not, thy heart must err,
No man dare look on her, his thoughts being base;
Nay, let me say even more than I have said,
No man could think base thoughts who looked on her.
(D.G. Rossetti.)