Poems of Giosuè Carducci, Translated with two introductory essays: / I. Giosuè Carducci and the Hellenic reaction in Italy. II. Carducci and the classic realism

Chapter 43: XXXIV ON THE SIXTH CENTENARY OF DANTE

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About This Book

The volume opens with two essays that analyze the poet's Hellenic revival and his classic-realist aesthetic, situating his work amid tensions between ecclesiastical influence, chivalric import, and native national feeling. It then presents translations of numerous poems—hymns, sonnets, dedicatory pieces, patriotic and religious lyrics, and descriptive sketches—covering classical subjects, Dantean and Virgilian allusions, personal reflection, and social observation. Together the critical essays and translated poems emphasize classical forms, historical memory, and a restrained realism that seeks to renew Italian literary identity.

XXXIV ON THE SIXTH CENTENARY OF DANTE

I saw him, from the uncovered tomb uplifting

His mighty form, the imperial prophet stand.

Then shook the Adrian shore, and all the land

Italia trembled as at an earthquake drifting.

Like morning mist from purest ether sifting,

It marched along the Apenninian strand,

Glancing adown the vales on either hand,

Then vanished like the dawn to daylight shifting.

Meanwhile in earthly hearts a fear did rise,

The awful presence of a god discerning,

To which no mortal dared to lift the eyes.

But where, beyond the gates, the sun is burning,

The races dead of warlike men and wise

With joy saluted the great soul's returning.

Levia Gravia.