| LA QUIETE DOPO LA TEMPESTA Giacomo Leopardi Passata è la tempesta: Odo augelli far festa, e la gallina, Tornata in su la via, Che ripete il suo verso. Ecco il sereno Rompe là da ponente, alla montagna; Sgombrasi la campagna, E chiaro nella valle il fiume appare. Ogni cor si rallegra, in ogni lato Risorge il romorio Torna il lavoro usato. L’artigiano a mirar l’umido cielo, Con l’opra in man, cantando, Fassi in su l’uscio; a prova Vien fuor la femminetta a còr dell’acqua Della novella piova; E l’erbaiuol rinnova Di sentiero in sentiero Il grido giornaliero. Ecco il Sol che ritorna, ecco sorride Per li poggi e le ville. Apre i balconi, Apre terrazzi e logge la famiglia: E, dalla via corrente, odi lontano Tintinnio di sonagli; il carro stride Del passegger che il suo cammin ripiglia. Si rallegra ogni core. Sì dolce, sì gradita Quand’è, com’or, la vita? Quando con tanto amore L’uomo a’ suoi studi intende? O torna all’opre? o cosa nova imprende? Quando de’ mali suoi men si ricorda? Piacer figlio d’affanno; Gioia vana, ch’è frutto Del passato timore, onde si scosse E paventò la morte Chi la vita abborria; Onde in lungo tormento, Fredde, tacite, smorte, Sudàr le genti e palpitàr, vedendo Mossi alle nostre offese Folgori, nembi e vento. O natura cortese, Son questi i doni tuoi, Questi i diletti sono Che tu porgi ai mortali. Uscir di pena E’ diletto fra noi. Pene tu spargi a larga mano; il duolo Spontaneo sorge: e di piacer, quel tanto Che per mostro e miracolo talvolta Nasce d’affanno, è gran guadagno. Umana Prole cara agli eterni! assai felice Se respirar ti lice D’alcun dolor: beata Se te d’ogni dolor morte risana. | THE CALM AFTER THE STORM Giacomo Leopardi Passed is the storm: I hear birds celebrating, and the hen, Returning along the way, Repeating her song. Here is the serene Breaking over the west, on the mountain; Sweeping over the countryside, And clear in the valley the river appears. Every heart rejoices, everywhere Rising anew is the clamour Returning are the chores. The artisan, to gaze at the misty sky, Work in hand, singing, Appears on the doorstep; quickly A girl comes out to fetch the water Of the freshly fallen rain; And the grocer renews From lane to lane His daily cry. Here returns the Sun, here it smiles Upon hills and houses. Opening balconies, Opening terraces and loggias is the help: And, from the streets, you hear in the distance The jingling of bells; the screeching cart Of the traveller newly on his way. Every heart rejoices. When, like now, is life So sweet, so fine? When, with such passion, Does man his studies resume? Or his work? Or new pursuits? When does he his pains least remember? Pleasure son of sorrow; Vain joy, the fruit Of bygone fear, for which Even those who despised life Were shaken and afraid of death: For which in prolonged agony, They, cold, silent, drawn, Sweat and trembled upon seeing Lightening, clouds and wind Flung upon us. Oh courteous nature, These are your gifts, These the joys You offer to mortals. Pain suspended Is for us pleasure. Pains you deliver freely; the suffering Springs spontaneous: and that bit of pleasure, Which by prodigy and miracle sometimes Is born of sorrow, is great gain. Human Beings so dear to the gods! Terribly pleased If respite from pain Is granted you: delighted If all pain your death does heal. Translation © Matilda Colarossi 2024 |
“The Calm after the Storm” was composed by Giacomo Leopardi in 1829 during his last stay in Recanati. It would later be included in the collection of poems written between Pisa and Recanati between 1828-1830. In “La quiete dopo la tempesta” Leopardi expresses his theory on pleasure, which is, according to him, merely the absence of pain. Together with “Il sabato del Villaggio”, it creates a diptych.
The poem is a metaphor for life.
In the first stanza we find everyday terms and images next to more literary ones (gallina but also augelli, for example) and numerous Latin words: famiglia (servants), lice (permitted). There are various words that recall sounds (song of the hen; clamour; singing; call; jingling; screeching) as well as images (the serene, the mist, the clear river in the valley, the sun). These depict the return to everyday life, of nature and man, after the storm. The stanza closes with the description of the traveller resuming his journey: this represents both the return to life and is a prelude to the more philosophical part that follows.
The second stanza is composed of a series of rhetorical questions. These come quickly, and they are accelerated by rhyme, assonance and enjambment. The meaning is clear: pleasure in itself does not exist, it is merely the absence of pain.
Irony marks the third stanza, (“courteous nature”, for example, “human beings dear to the gods”). But nature is far from courteous, and humans are anything but dear to the gods. It ends with the sad truth of human condition: pain only vanishes with death.
As already mentioned, the poet uses numerous rhetorical figures: enjambments (e.g. vv. 4-5, 14-15, 22-23, 33-34…) and alliteration, particularly the sounds p, s, t, r and g. He also uses: anaphoras (“ecco”, “ogni”, “apre”, “quando”, “onde” , “questi”); internal rhyme (“passata / tornata”); hyperbatons (“passata è la tempesta” , “e chiaro nella valle il fiume appare”, “il carro stride / del passegger”, “de’ mali suoi men si ricorda” , “fredde, tacite, smorte / sudar le genti e palpitar” , “te d’ogni dolor morte risana”; synecdoche ‘ogni core’); metaphors: ‘il sereno / rompe’, ‘il Sol sorride’, ‘piacer figlio d’affanno’); antiphrases (‘natura cortese’), ‘diletti’ , ‘umana / prole cara agli eterni’; apostrophe: ‘o natura cortese’.
I have not tried, as I usually do, to restore all the rhetorical figures. And I may even have failed to list a few here. It is the message that touched me most, and I found that some rhetorical figures (in translation) took away from rather than highlighted that message. In somma, I have failed. But Leopardi was very much the pessimist: he would have been more than sure I would not succeed. – M.C.
This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Picture, my own. Canada.
parallel texts: words reflected 