DESIDERIO DI PACE (MARIO LUZI) ANALYSIS 

Si sono mescolati
in quella frenesia di morte
dell’estremo affronto i sangui,
l’arabo, l’ebreo,
il cristiano, l’indio.
E ora vi richiamerà
qualcuno ai vostri fasti.
Risorgete, risorgete,
non più torri, ma steli,
gigli di preghiera.
Avvenga per desiderio
di pace. Di pace vera.

The present is an extract from the poem 11 Settembre written by Mario Luzi and it is about the 11^th September 2001 WTC’s attack in New York  .

The title of the extract is “Desiderio di Pace”, it suggests the poem's extract is about someone who is looking for peace. But the reader doesn’t know who he/she is. "11 Settembre" recalls immediately the tragedy, so the reader understands it is about the New York attack by Islam's fundamentalists. 

The first line begins with an action, but the subject is not explicated. The plural “sangui”, is used to extend the message of the poem to every person in the world. Indeed, the narrative voice makes a list of those people: “l’arabo, l’ebreo, il cristiano, l’indio”. So, the poem is referred not just to different populations and cultures, but to different religions too. Indeed the attack had also religion’s reasons. All the poem is characterized by a religious atmosphere : “preghiera” (10). And the use of the image of the lily which may refer to the Virgin.

The frequent use of run on lines (1,2,5,11) with the words choice and the whole structure, creates a climax which increases into the reader the severity of the message and creates a sense of something universal and common in all the people.

The vocative at the line 8 highlights the general severity of the atmosphere. The use of the words seem to create a prey addressed to everyone in the world, so the poem takes an universal feature.  It is a prey from a poet who would like the Twin Towers to be built again as a sign of peace. They were the sign of America’s supremacy on the rest of the world; but they have to become a sign of Peace and Communion between all the citizens of our word: because we are all humans. The repetition of the word “peace” (12) together with the adjective “vera” underlines what type of Peace the narrator is looking for. He is looking for a peace which is a moral value and not just an economic and political necessity.