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POETRY
GIACOMO LEOPARDI
Giacomo Leopardi was born in Recanati, Italy, on 29th June 1798 . Leopardi was tutored under private priests from an early age, showing a talent. As he was a sickly adolescent, Leopardi spent most of his time in his father’s library, immersing himself in classical and philological knowledge. Leopardi became fluent in reading and writing Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, while he began translating Horace and Homer.
At the age of fourteen he wrote Pompeo in Egitto (Pompey in Egypt). Then, Leopardi concentrated on lyric poetry, including his book Canti and Canzoniere. Leopardi focuses his interest on the idyllic scenes, love, childhood, and classical themes. For over five years he stopped writing lyric poetry so he could concentrate on Operette morali.
Unfortunately, Leopardi spent most of his life with ill health and growing blindness. As a result of his medical conditions, he was confined to Recanati for a long period of time but over his lifetime he travelled to Rome, Florence, Milan, Bologna, and Pisa. In 1837, he died, from edema and other complications, in Naples.
(Adapted from: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/giacomo-leopardi)
THE INFINITE (l’infinito) BY GIACOMO LEOPARDI
This Idyll comes from the sight of a hedge (siepe) that does not show what is beyond and pushes Leopardi to imagine a distant, infinite world and the plants that move with the wind make him think about the past world. Leopardi can be considered romantic for the love of the infinite, the great spaces but all this expressed in a clear way.
The Infinite, in Giacomo Leopardi’s vision, is not a real infinite, but is the fruit of man’s imagination.
THE INFINITE
I always have felt fondness for this lonely hill
Sempre caro mi fu quest’ermo colle,
and for this hedge which screens off
e questa siepe, che da tanta parte
such a large part of the furthermost horizon.
de l’ultimo orizzonte il guardo esclude.
But as I sit and gaze, boundless
Ma sedendo e mirando, interminati
space beyond it, and utter
spazi di là da quella, e sovrumani
silence and deepest still,
silenzi, e profondissima quiete
so that it almost makes my heart take fright.
io nel pensier mi fingo; ove per poco
il cor non si spaura.
And as I hear
the rustling of the wind among these plants,
E come il vento
odo stormir tra queste piante,
I start comparing that unending silence
with this noise and I am reminded of
io quello infinito silenzio
a questa voce vo comparando: e mi sovvien
eternity, and seasons gone and dead and
of the season now alive and of its sounds.
l’eterno, e le morte stagioni, e la presente
e viva, e il suon di lei.
And so in this
Così tra questa
immensity my thoughts sink
immensità s’annega il pensier mio:
and drown and shipwreck feels sweet in this ocean.
e il naufragar m’è dolce in questo mare
AT THE MOON (alla luna)
We find all the elements of aesthetic type: images, structure, elements of nature, quiet and idyllic start [a night landscape] from which it derives, instead of serenity in man as in the classic idyll, by opposition is generated suffering.
The situation is of classical Idyll but nevertheless there is a strong content reversal.
In the first 5 verses: impressionist description of the landscape.
The place seems to be a hill similar to that of Infinity.
Graceful and Beloved: the moon seems not to have those negative and distant connotations that it will have.
However, there is an awareness of individual pain.
I remember: it is a memory. It starts from a previous situation of a year that is repeated in the next. Leopardi already suffered and in this situation of suffering he seeks comfort in the Moon, then in an element related to Nature.
although the situation is troubled, the memory helps him and comforts him.
Leopardi still seems to be very attached to the idea of Illusions, of regretting this era: but there is also the awareness of suffering.
Here we find, as in Infinity, a language of great elegance, even in the choice of flat and not
particularly complex: there is a balance in the reversals and a very wide rhythm as will Leopardi also because use plenty of enjambement.
Metonyms and many assonances and consonances prevail
(translated from https://www.didatticadigitale.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/leopardi.pdf)
RUDYARD KIPLING
Rudyard Kipling was a prolific poet, novelist and journalist and one of the most well-known Victorian writers of his time. In 1907, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for his great body of work which included 'The Jungle Book' and his enduring poetic masterpiece 'If'. In perhaps one of the most inspirational poems ever written, Kipling outlines for his son the behaviours and attitudes it takes to become a man, advising his son about how to perceive the world and life's challenges so that he can both learn from his experiences and resolutely overcome barriers.
Traduzione in italiano
Se sei capace di mantenere la testa quando tutti vicino a te
la perdono, e se la prendono con te.
Se sei capace di fidarti di te stesso quando tutti gli altri ne dubitano,
ma tenendo conto anche del loro dubbio.
Se sei capace di aspettare, senza stancarti di aspettare,
O essendo accusato di falsità, non rispondere con altre falsità,
O essendo odiato, non dare modo di odiare,
Senza nondimeno apparire troppo buono, né parlare troppo saggio;
Se sei capace di sognare – e non fare del sogno il tuo padrone;
Se sei capace di pensare – e non fare del pensiero il tuo fine,
Se sei capace di incontrarti – con il Trionfo e con il Disastro
E di trattare questi due impostori appunto allo stesso modo:
Se sei capace di tollerare il sentire della verità che hai detto
Attorcigliata dai furfanti per raggirare i babbei,
O di guardare le cose per cui hai dato la vita, distrutte,
E fermarti a ricostruirle con i tuoi arnesi sciupati.
Se sei capace di fare un solo cumulo di tutte le tue fortune
E rischiarlo in un unico lancio a testa o croce,
E perdere, e ricominciare ancora dall’inizio
senza mai emettere una parola sulla tua perdita.
Se sei capace di costringere il tuo cuore, nervo e tendine
nel servire il tuo intento quando da tempo sono sfiancati,
E di tenere duro quando in te non c’è più niente
Eccetto la Volontà che dice loro: “Tenete duro!”
Se sei capace di parlare alle masse e mantenere la tua virtù,
O passeggiare con i Re – senza perdere la tua empatia per la gente,
Se né i nemici né gli amici più amati possono ferirti,
Se ogni persona per te conterà, ma nessuno in eccesso.
Se sei capace di colmare ogni inesorabile minuto
con ognuno dei sessanta secondi che vale la lunga corsa,
Tua è la Terra e tutto ciò che contiene,
E — che è molto di più — sarai un Uomo, figlio mio!