Re: CHAT: Ungaretti's Use of Language

On Tue, 12 Sep 2000, Leo Caesius wrote:

>Luca Mangiat wrote:
>
>"Ungaretti was a great poet. 'Si sta come d'autunno sugli alberi le foglie',
>'Natale' ... his poetry is called 'ermetica' because of its obscurity, but
>at least it's Italian!"
>
>and Andrew Smith queried:
>"What does the line of poetry translate as?"
>
>     I hope Luca won't mind if I do the honors!
>     The line comes from the poem "Soldati" [soldiers] which Ungaretti wrote
>in 1918.
>     Actually, it's the whole poem.  Ungaretti frequently writes very
>concise poems,
Highly commendable in a poet. :)

>they are like leaves on the trees in Autumn
>
>"one stands like, in Autumn, on the trees, the leaves."
About says it all, really.

Padraic.

>-Chollie