Tedio invernale(da Rime nuove: 1887)
Ma ci fu dunque un giorno
Su questa terra il sole?
Ci fur rose e viole,
Luce, sorriso, ardor?
Ma ci fu dunque un giorno
La dolce giovinezza,
La gloria e la bellezza,
Fede, virtude, amor?
Ciò forse avvenne a i tempi
D'Omero e di Valmichi:
Ma quei son tempi antichi,
Il sole or non è piú.
E questa ov'io m'avvolgo
Nebbia di verno immondo
È il cenere d'un mondo
Che forse un giorno fu.
Giosuè Carducci (1835-1907)
poeta e scrittore italiano;
Premio Nobel per la letteratura 1906 |
Winter Weariness(from New Rhymes: 1887)
Were
there then roses once
On
earth and violets bright?
Did
the sun give warmth and light
From
a smiling Heaven above?
Was
there a golden Time
When
all the world was young,
When
youth and maiden sung
Of
Valour, Faith, and Love?
Perchance
such times there were,
Old
poets have it so;
But
that was long ago,
And
no sun shines to-day.
And
these unlovely fogs
By
winter round me curled
Are
the ashes of a world
That
hath long since passed away.
Giosuè
Carducci (1835-1907)
Italian poet and writer; Nobel Prize in Literature 1906
Translated
by Geoffrey Langdale Bickersteth, M. A.
in CARDUCCI: A Selection of his Poems, with Verse Translations, Notes, and Three Introductory Essays, Longmans, Green and Co., London 1913 |
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Monday, 22 February 2016
Poetry Revisited: Tedio invernale – Winter Weariness by Giosuè Carducci
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Nobel laureates,
Poetry Revisited
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Lord knows what Carducci might have written about winter had he been from the north of Finland instead of from sunny Tuscany (nice poem, though!).
ReplyDeleteThat's true! If he felt like this about winter in his corner, how desperate would winters in the Austrians mountains or somewhere close to the Arctic Circle made him... It's all a matter of perspective.
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