Untitled (Le più belle poesie…)
Le più belle poesie
si scrivono sopra le pietre
coi ginocchi piagati
e le menti aguzzate dal mistero.
Le più belle poesie si scrivono
davanti a un altare vuoto,
accerchiati da agenti
della divina follia.
Glossary
|
WORD
|
DEFINITION
|
POSSIBLE SYNONYMS
|
|---|---|---|
| accerchiati da (adj.+prep.) | at the center of a circle or things or people | surrounded by, encircled by |
| agenti (n.) | people who assist or help in doing a task | helpers, aides, mediators, supporters |
| aguzzate (adj.) | having a sharp edge or point | sharpened, pointed, honed |
| altare (n.) | a place where religious rituals are celebrated | altar, platform |
| coi (prep.) | accompanied by another person or thing | with, accompanied by |
| dal (prep.) | expressing cause or agency | by, through, as a result of, with |
| davanti a (prep.) | indicates direction or position | in front of, facing, before |
| della (prep.) | expressing ownership or the relationship between a part and a whole | of the, from the |
| divina (adj.) | used to describe something god like or heavenly | divine, holy,godly |
| e (conj.) | in addition to | and, as well as |
| follia (n.) | a state of mental weakness or strangeness | madness, folly, insanity |
| ginocchi (n.) | the joints in the middle of the legs | knees |
| le (art.) | refers to a person, place, or thing that is unique | the |
| menti (n.) | the parts of humans that think and feel | minds, heads, thoughts, brains |
| mistero (n.) | something with a hidden or secret meaning, beyond human comprehension | mystery, enigma, riddle |
| piagati (adj.) | having traces of an injury | scarred, wounded, hurt |
| pietre (n.) | a hard mineral material | rocks, stones, pebbles |
| piùbelle (superlative adj.) | most pleasing to the senses | finest, loveliest, most beautiful |
| poesie (n.) | compositions often including rhyme, rhythm, or line breaks | poems, poetry, verses |
| si scrivono (v.) | from the verb scrivere, meaning to write | are written, we write |
| sopra (prep.) | at a higher level than | above, on top of, over |
| un (pron.) | used to refer to someone or something for the first time | a, an, one |
| vuoto (adj.) | containing nothing | empty, vacant, bare |
Background
Poetic Form
Quatrain is a four-line stanza, rhyming with various forms for example:
o ABAC or ABCB (known as unbounded or ballad quatrain), as in Samuel Taylor
Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.”
“It is an ancient Mariner,
And he stoppeth one of three.
Now wherefore stopp’st thou me?
The Bridegroom’s doors are opened wide
And I am next of kin
The guests are met, the feast is set:
May’st hear the merry din.”
o AABB (a double couplet); see A.E. Housman’s “To an Athlete Dying Young
“The time you won your town the race
We chaired you through the market-place;
Man and boy stood cheering by.
And home we brought you shoulder-high
Today the road all runner come,
Shoulder-high we bring you home.
And set you at your threshold down,
Townsman of a stiller town.”
Bio
Alda Merini is one of Italy’s most beloved poets. She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Born in Milan on the first day of spring, she began writing at a young age. As an adult, she suffered from mental illness and spent more than twenty years in psychiatric hospitals. This experience influenced her writing. Her poems discuss solitude, love, magic, and the beauty that can be found even in sad, difficult moments. Of her poetry, she once said: “I find verses by dipping my inkwell into the sky.”