The Ignoble Procession

When I see the ignoble procession
streaming forth from little doorways
citywards, in little rivers that swell to a great
stream,

of men in bowler hats, hurrying,
and a mingling of wallet–carrying women
hurrying, hurrying, legs going quick, quick, quick
in ignoble haste, for fear of being late –
I am filled with humiliation.

Their haste
is so
humiliating

La processione ignobile

Quando vedo l’ignobile corteo scorrere
dalle piccole porte
verso la città, in piccoli fiumi che si gonfiano in un grande
ruscello,

di uomini in bombetta, che si affrettano
e un miscuglio di portafogli - che portano donne che si
affrettano, che corrono, gambe che corrono veloci, veloci, veloci
in ignobile fretta, per paura di essere in ritardo -
sono pieno di umiliazione.

La loro fretta
è così
umiliante.

TEXTUAL ANALYSIS - The Ignoble Procession

Reading this type of text prompts the intelligent reader to understand why the poet associates the adjective "ignoble" with negative connotation to a religious term. There is no regular structure: this poem has three stanzas and different reading speeds. A first introductory stanza, where the crowd of people exiting the subway is compared to an ignoble procession, is followed by a second stanza showing the longer lines, aimed at recreating the frenetic rhythm of the employees who go to work in the city of London, because pressed by the fear of arriving late. Still in the same stanza, the poet confesses that he feels humiliated in looking at the ignoble haste of these people, who mixing with each other, do not have a specific identity. Even the use of the expression "wallet carrying" underlines the economic aspect that is the reason for all this haste. People are reduced to legs, legs that run without knowing and without following a precise direction. All that worries them is the fear of being late. The second stanza ends with the subject pronoun "I", with which the poet takes the distance from the crowd. “I” means not “them”. The fundamental words that explain and express the poet's feelings are the nouns "humiliation", which is placed at the end of the verb so that it remains stuck in the mind and memory of the reader, and "haste". To conclude the text with the third stanza, which is striking for its brevity and therefore in addition to having a value it also has an epigrammatic flavor, with the adjective "humiliating". "Humiliating" being a progressive aspect, that is a gerund, it underlines the fact that this feeling goes on, it does not stop with the vision of the scene because it indicates an activity. The message that the text seems to want to suggest is that human beings are pressed by economic needs that make them lose the sense of life.