Summary
Highlights
The video introduces Eugenio Montale's poem "Meriggiare pallido e assorto," noting its origin in 1916 and its inclusion in the collection "Ossi di seppia." The speaker explains that "Ossi di seppia" symbolize the impoverishment of poetry, drawing parallels to Montale's concept of the objective correlative, a literary device used to evoke specific emotions through objects and events, inspired by T.S. Eliot.
The analysis begins with the first two stanzas, focusing on the infinitive verbs like 'meriggiare' (to rest at midday), 'ascoltare' (to listen), and 'spiare' (to spy). The speaker explains the imagery of 'pallido e assorto' (pale and absorbed) by a scorching garden wall, the sounds of blackbirds and serpents, and the sight of red ants breaking and re-forming lines on tiny soil heaps. Rhetorical devices such as anaphora ('ora... ora') are highlighted.
The video continues with the third and fourth stanzas, describing the observation of the distant shimmering sea through foliage and the tremulous chirping of cicadas from barren peaks. The speaker notes the oxymoron 'triste meraviglia' (sad wonder) and explains how this perception of life's toil is likened to walking alongside a wall topped with broken bottle shards. This wall with glass shards is presented as a key objective correlative, symbolizing the human condition and the 'male di vivere' (malaise of living).
The speaker elaborates on various images—the scorching garden wall, the shimmering sea, the ants, the cicadas, and especially the wall with glass shards—as objective correlatives for the human condition. Montale's use of infinitive verbs emphasizes a timeless, indefinite state. The midday, 'meriggio,' is contrasted with D'Annunzio's ecstatic interpretation, as Montale portrays it as a period of aridity and desolation, reflecting the 'male di vivere' and the inaccessibility of truth for humanity confined in an existential prison.