tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post7234902966375157198..comments2024-03-27T16:48:21.039-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: Giosuè Carducci hated the moon yet won the Nobel PrizeAmateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-75582848679924763762015-10-23T23:11:21.098-05:002015-10-23T23:11:21.098-05:00As if guided by these sad poems, today I chanced u...As if guided by these sad poems, today I chanced upon a Chekhov story on the same subject, "Misery" (1886): "He wants to describe the funeral, and how he went to the hospital to get his son's clothes."Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-48750573423844680102015-10-23T11:04:52.841-05:002015-10-23T11:04:52.841-05:00That Martial is amazing.
Lewys Glyn Cothi wrote a...That Martial is amazing.<br /><br />Lewys Glyn Cothi wrote a wonderful poem on the death of his son; I've translated it quite plainly <a href="https://mimichootings.wordpress.com/2015/03/21/lament-for-sion-y-glyn-by-lewys-glyn-cothi/" rel="nofollow">here.</a><br /><br />On The Guardian's Poster Poems several years ago, a contributor calling himself stoneofsilence wrote a remarkable poem in memory of his niece. You can find it <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2009/mar/13/poster-poems-anthologies" rel="nofollow">here</a>, on page 2 of the comments section.<br /><br /><br />Mimic Hootingshttps://mimichootings.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-82827895564904552812015-10-22T23:00:29.526-05:002015-10-22T23:00:29.526-05:00Echoed in the epitaph on Vanbrugh: "Lie heavy...Echoed in the epitaph on Vanbrugh: "Lie heavy on him, Earth! For he<br />Laid many heavy loads on thee!"<br /><br />Jan Kochanowski's Lamentations came from the death of his daughter Urszula and it's been suggested that the death of his daughter Anne confirmed Darwin in his atheism and his belief that "the clumsy, wasteful, blundering low & horridly cruel works of nature" functioned without outside intervention.Roger Allenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11012987757094423896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-58125384744346004402015-10-22T22:25:45.265-05:002015-10-22T22:25:45.265-05:00James Michie translates the end of the Martial poe...James Michie translates the end of the Martial poem in a lighter tone:<br /><br />Lie lightly on her, turf and dew:<br />She put so little weight on you.<br /><br />Which is perhaps why I had no memory of the poem.<br /><br />That Issa poem is pretty darn oblique.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-75973935611641603922015-10-22T20:22:15.568-05:002015-10-22T20:22:15.568-05:00Yeah, I was also surprised the first time I read M...Yeah, I was also surprised the first time I read Martial's poems about Erotion. To add a couple more samples of poems on this theme, this time by Japanese poets who tend to be a little bit more reticent when writing about the death of their children:<br /><br />tombo tsuri kyou wa doko made itta yara.<br />My little dragon-fly hunter,<br />I wonder how far<br />has he gone today<br /><br />Chiyo-ni<br /><br />Tsuyu no yo wa tsuyu no yo nagara sari nagara<br />This dewdrop world <br />is just a dewdrop world,<br />And yet, and yet . . .<br /><br />IssaCleanthesshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15363416290397892659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-78691048104340316792015-10-22T19:12:01.824-05:002015-10-22T19:12:01.824-05:00Wow, I didn't know Martial could be that movin...Wow, I didn't know Martial could be that moving. That last couplet...Languagehathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13285708503881129380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-74812799871599612622015-10-22T17:18:57.163-05:002015-10-22T17:18:57.163-05:00Hanc tibi, Fronto pater, genetrix Flaccilla, puell...Hanc tibi, Fronto pater, genetrix Flaccilla, puellam<br />Oscula commendo deliciasque meas,<br />Parvola ne nigras horrescat Erotion umbras<br />Oraque Tartarei prodigiosa canis.<br />Inpletura fuit sextae modo frigora brumae, <br />Vixisset totidem ni minus illa dies.<br />Inter tam veteres ludat lasciva patronos<br />Et nomen blaeso garriat ore meum.<br />Mollia non rigidus caespes tegat ossa, nec illi,<br />Terra, gravis fueris: non fuit illa tibi. <br /> <br />To you, my father Fronto and my mother Flaccilla, <br />I commend this little girl, my pet and my darling.<br />May little Erotion not be frightened by the dark shades<br />or the monstrous mouths of the Tartarean hound.<br />She would have completed her sixth cold winter<br />if she had not lived that many days too few.<br />Let her now play and frolic with her old friends<br />and lispingly chatter my name.<br />May it not be hard the turf above her soft bones, <br />Earth be not heavy upon her, she was not heavy on you.Cleanthesshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15363416290397892659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-36203600063190239912015-10-22T16:53:17.152-05:002015-10-22T16:53:17.152-05:00Yup, every time I read those lines a chill goes do...Yup, every time I read those lines a chill goes down my spine.Languagehathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13285708503881129380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-55251005544747825222015-10-22T09:20:48.341-05:002015-10-22T09:20:48.341-05:00Ah, that is the saddest Carducci poem I have seen....Ah, that is the saddest Carducci poem I have seen. My Italian does not have to be much of anything to hear this:<br /><br />Sei ne la terra fredda,<br />Sei ne la terra negra;<br />Né il sol piú ti rallegra<br />Né ti risveglia amor.<br /><br />Thou art in the cold earth,<br />thou art in the darkling earth;<br />nor doth the sun cheer thee,<br />nor love awake thee more. (tr. Higgins)<br /><br />The poem is about the death of Carducci's young son.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-484663649597481292015-10-22T07:58:05.546-05:002015-10-22T07:58:05.546-05:00Carducci may not be a great poet, but he's imm...Carducci may not be a great poet, but he's immortal for "Pianto antico" if for nothing else. Maybe Italians have had it forced on them so often they get as irritated by it as I do by most Great Nineteenth-Century Symphonies, but "L'albero a cui tendevi..." is pure essence of poetry.Languagehathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13285708503881129380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-53811751738820563392015-10-21T22:30:05.063-05:002015-10-21T22:30:05.063-05:00Ah, Carducci is interesting. I am not sure how of...Ah, Carducci is interesting. I am not sure how often he is much more than interesting.<br /><br />I realized I needed to revisit him as I was filling in my idea of Italian pessimism. But what about Carducci, Mr. Progress, Mr. Enlightenment? And, yes, "A Satana" stands as an important rebuke to a lot of the literature around Carducci, even if it has now turned into a period piece, or something close to it.<br /><br />But as he ages, even Carducci succumbs a bit to the spirit of his literature.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-61422598731524315522015-10-21T17:08:19.029-05:002015-10-21T17:08:19.029-05:00Carducci certainly seems to pop up an awful lot in...Carducci certainly seems to pop up an awful lot in my reading of later Italians, but maybe more as emblem of "the great poet" than as anything else. I poked around in some of his poems but wasn't nearly as patient as you. My loss, as you've managed to make him sound quite a bit more interesting than those cursory glances suggested. seraillonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-27265607528810067602015-10-21T15:09:02.933-05:002015-10-21T15:09:02.933-05:00Ah, you make me weep for the idea of a high school...Ah, you make me weep for the idea of a high school literature teacher who knows the poetry of Carducci.<br /><br />He was writing poetry for a future that did not take place. Leopardi was on the right side, meaning the one that actually happened.<br /><br />I will see if I can find some goodies in the <i>Odi barbare</i>, aside from its outstanding title, and the poems of old age. Well, no, I am just going to right about Rome. This week is, vaguely, Rome week.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-51395937801257838422015-10-21T14:29:05.169-05:002015-10-21T14:29:05.169-05:00I once foolishly tried to explain to my high schoo...I once foolishly tried to explain to my high school literature teacher why Carducci was a good poet (this opinion was unsoundly based on too much faith on Grolier's encyclopedias and the Swedish Academy). My teacher just laughed and laughed... Cleanthesshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15363416290397892659noreply@blogger.com