Dialect Poetry of Southern Italy (Italian Poetry in Translation Book 2)

poetry. Even if, it must be added, there are

moments of latent sadness, of disquiet and

melancholy, as for instance in the beginning

of the sonnet “‘Mattine d’autunne”: “Quanta

malengunie/p’ ‘llu ciele bianchicce, senza

cante!/I ‘lla campagne è triste ‘mmà nu

piante,/comma ‘nu piante dôce senza fine.”

It is an Autumn sketch, which the poet

draws with light touches, mentioning the

withering of roses, the fading of colors, the

muting of voices, to conclude that what is

left of so much beauty are only thorns and,

in the heart, “a shadow of sorrow.”

Everything seems to turn into a invitation to

weep, but a “sweet weeping.”

No doubt there are some echoes here of

Petrarch’s voluptas dolendi, but the timber of

the voice is his own: Vittorio Clemente.