04/10/11

The sonnet is a lyrical form of poetry.

It originated in Italy. The most influential poet on sonnet was Petrarch. Petrarch’s sonnet model consisted of an octave and a sestet. The model was gradually transformed when it entered the British scene to adapt to the English language and British rhythm.

 

The progressive transformation was due to:

·         Sir Thomas Wyatt who mainly translated Italian sonnets from Italian into English

·         Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, who first recognized the structure of Petrarch’s model into the typical structure of the Elizabethan sonnet consisting of three quatrains and a couplet. Surrey’s contribution to the sonnet is both thematical and structural. In a few words he tailored to the needs of the English language but

·         the most creative and innovative sonneteer was Shakespeare.  He was able to reshape the typical conventions of the sonnet (courtly love poetry) to create something new.

 

Analysis of “Passa la nave mia colma d’oblio”

The sonnet consists of 14 lines.

In Petrarch’s sonnet the reader can recognized the typical structure of the Italian sonnet.

The first octave introduces the problem creating a comparison between the speaker’s life and a ship travelling in tormented seas, at midnight. The skipper is worried by the private thoughts that are so sad that it seems not to care even of the terrible weather condition. He sighs he was desires and hopes.

There follows the sestet where his pessimistic and mood are repeated: he weeps, he regrets life as well as the conditions of the weather puts his voyage at risk. In the ending tercet the speaker hides his feelings in the same way as he cannot see the stars. He seems unable to use reason and ever worse to be able to reach the harbour.

It goes without saying that there is an apparent analogy between the poet’s life and the voyage progress. Unfortunately, such life doesn’t sound easy but rather unveils difficulties, problems, torments that all together seem to make the poet unable to come to an independent solution of his pains.

 

NEW WORDS:

To endure: durare

To adapt something to: adattare

To be influential on something: influenzare

Mainly: per lo più

Tailor: sarto

To reshape: dare una nuova forma

Harbour: porto

It goes without saying that: è evidente

To unveil: svelare

To take delight in: provare piacere nel

 

QUESTIONS:

1.       How does the poet express the analogy between the life and the journey?

The poem expresses the analogy between life and the journey with metaphors. Indeed the bigger metaphor is  the journey as the life of the poet. The poet compares his life with a ship that travels in a tormented sea, that it is also a metaphor of the poet’s pains.

In the 3^rd line the reader finds “scilla e caribdi”. In the past people thought that in the strait of Messina there were two monster that  impeded the passage. The poet compares the passage of the ship in this strait with his life that is without hopes.

In the same line there is another metaphor: the worse friend of the poet is love.

2.       What’s the function of the weather condition?

The weather is used by the poem as the metaphor for the poet’s pains. Indeed the poet’s life is sad, with lots of problems and torments and all of them make the poet’s life very difficult, such as bad weather conditions make the journey of a ship difficult

3.       How does the intelligent reader understand that the journey is only a pretense to speak about something else?