Summary
Highlights
The video introduces Eugenio Montale's poem "Cigola la carrucola del pozzo" (The well's pulley creaks), likely written in 1924 and included in his 1925 "Ossi di seppia" collection. The title "Ossi di seppia" (Cuttlefish Bones) refers to calcified mollusk residues, symbolizing the impoverishment of poetry and Montale's initial desire to name the collection "Rottami" (Debris).
Montale expresses emotion through the objective correlative, a poetic technique by T.S. Eliot. This method uses a series of objects, a situation, or a chain of events to evoke a specific emotion without explicitly stating it. The poem itself is composed of hendecasyllables with varied rhymes, with the seventh line split into a septenary and a quinario.
The presenter reads the poem in its entirety. The line "Cigola la carrucola del pozzo, l'acqua sale alla luce e vi si fonde" (The well's pulley creaks, the water rises to the light and merges with it) is immediately analyzed, highlighting the anastrophe and alliteration. This imagery depicts the creaking pulley and the water reflecting light, hinting at the poem's rich use of objective correlatives.
The poem is rich with objective correlatives. The creaking of the well's pulley represents the poet's effort in recalling a memory. The well itself symbolizes memory, while the trembling of a memory in the full bucket (secchio ricolmo) indicates a memory deteriorated by time. The image reflecting in the water is a cherished memory, likely of a loved woman.
The past becomes deformed, old, and belongs to another, expressed through polysyndeton, anastrophe, and a climax. The creaking wheel returning the bucket to the dark bottom of the well signifies disillusionment. The dark and obscure bottom of the well represents oblivion, emphasizing the vast distance created by elapsed time and the vanished memory.
The poem is divided into two parts. The first moment conveys the poet's hopeful illusion and comfort in reliving a beloved memory. However, this hope is followed by disillusionment as the memory is revealed to be distant and unattainable. The opening sound of the creaking pulley marks the beginning, with the pulley being a device to lift weights and the well representing memory.
Initially, the poet sees a joyful face reflected in the full bucket, characterized by clear and positive images like pure water, light, and the perfect circle. However, as the poet approaches the image, it becomes elusive, part of a distant and alien past. The loud creaking of the pulley signals a reversal, and the memory vanishes into the dark abyss, leaving the poet resigned to the irreversible passage of time, akin to the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.