This poem by Rocco Scotellaro is from the collection “E’ fatto giorno”. In it the poet reflects on the economic boom and the passage from a rural society to an industrialized one. The poem is composed of four stanzas of different lengths, which are all linked. In the first he speaks directly the countryfolk and asks them to stop calling out to him, to stop tormenting him; in the second stanza he invites them to drink a glass a wine that it may placate their distress; in the third he recalls the historical events that accompanied the unification of Italy (the upsurge of brigands) and sees them reappearing, notwithstanding the “green oasis” for it is of “sorry hope”, and the cavern holds pillows of stone where rest is impossible; in the fourth and final stanza we find a ray of hope, for although there is no turning back, new life will spring from the nests, a new dawn, which closes the poem with an anaphora that refers us back to the title.

The poetic devices include: enjambement (vv  2-3, 5-6, 7-10, which includes a parenthetical element, 11-15), anaphora (non / non; nuova / nuova; sempre nuova è l’alba / l’alba è nuova, è nuova), aposiopesis (di pietra…), hypallage (vento disperato), oxymoron (triste speranza), anastrophe, and a parenthical element (see above).

Many years have passed since this poem was written, and “the brigands” have led us far from our rural past and our love and respect for the land: the shining lights of big cities have given us many things, but our repose is sleepless, on “stone” pillows…I am hopeful, however: perhaps, having come this far, we can still seek a new dawn. – M.C.

Picture, mine: the land my parents fled.

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