All You Need Is Love (3/8)

"He pointed out by name a thousand souls Whom love had parted from our life, or more." (Canto IV. 59-60)

In our society love is viewed as sacred, as the ultimate happiness and the ultimate expression of intimacy among human beings. However after reading this passage I was left with a concrete feeling that Dante viewed love as a sin. He does attribute love with lust. Therefore one could say that it is the lust, and not the love, that caused the sin and caused the souls to be in Hell. However Dante does not say "sin had parted from our life," he says "Love had parted from our life." To me that was a clear statement that no matter what when you love another, you will sin and go to Hell.
One thing I found interesting was that even though it is Dante himself who creates the word in which lovers go to Hell, he, through his character, finds himself sympathizing greatly with the poor souls around him. Even as the passionate human connection of love is condemned as sin, he expresses a great compassion for love's victims. Because of this I am left wondering what Dante himself thinks about love, and whether he himself has in fact been in love. In one sense, he implies that he has distanced himself from love, because he calls it a sin. However, in another sense he feels great compassion for those who have loved.