PASSA LA NAVE MIA COLMA D’OBLIO      By Francesco Petrarca

First of all I have to consider the title to make predictions about the possible content of the text; reading this I can expect the poem to be about a tormented voyage. There are two words within the title which involve the attention of the reader: nave that reminds the idea of the voyage and mia that is a possessive pronoun and so I can imagine that the main character of the narration is the speaking voice.

The poem bears the same title of its first line, so the reader can understand that is a part of a collection. It consists of fourteen lines, which are organized according to the Petrarchan model consisted of an octave and a sestet.

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

There follows the sestet where his pessimistic, sad mood are repeated: he weeps, he regrets life as well as the condition 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 even 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 does not sound easy but rather unveils difficulties, problems, torments that all together seem to make the poet unable to come to an autonomous solution of his pain.

Considering the connotative level an intelligent reader can immediately notice that the entire poem is an allegory of voyage; this one is compared with poet’s life that is difficult as a ship voyage in winter at midnight. His life is troubled by the not paid love for Laura and this hypothesis is confirmed by many words which are within the text like passa la nave mia colma d’oblio, that is a metaphor that reminds the idea of the poet’s suffering, and et al governo siede il signore, anzi ‘l nimico mio; the word signore stands for love, a love that governs the poet’s soul and that is an enemy, because it prevents the poet to live serenely. The speaking voice has no hopes to change his condition and all this is highlighted by the expression vento eterno. The troubled situation is made even worse by the weather condition, aspro mare, tempesta, pioggia, nebbia; these maybe represented obstacles which the poet is not able to go beyond. Very interesting is the word tempesta that may have the function to indicate the storm of love created by poet’s emotion and feelings.

The analogy between the poet’s life and the voyage is also underlined by different devices; for example within the text there are two different semantic fields. The first one is that of life and it contains the words siede, mio, penser, sospir, speranze, desio, lagrimar, sdegni, stanche, ignoranzia, segni, ragione, arte, while the second one contains the words mare, nave, nebbia, pioggia, tempesta. So the two semantic fields are linked and the most important is the first one, because the speaking voice uses it to create personification and so to talk about a ship. Personifications have the function to express the mood of the poet that is very sad. This is confirmed by some phonological devices like the sound –ia in word like mia or in the rhyme oblio-mio. In the third line there is a reference to two mythological monsters, Scilla e Cariddi, it puts into a better focus the condition of fear that the poet has to face. He has no possibility to save himself and this is expressed in the sixth line thanks to the metaphor tempesta'l fin that stands for a risk of death. He is not able to use reason, to reach the harbour, desperar del porto, because he cannot see the eyes of Laura, celansi i duo mei dolci usati segni, the guide he relies on.

To conclude, however an intelligent reader can notice that the speaking voice see the salvation because he uses the sibilance sospir speranze.