Summary
Highlights
The poem 'Spesso il male di vivere ho incontrato' dates back to 1924, part of the 1925 collection 'Ossi di seppia'. The title 'Ossi di seppia' (cuttlefish bones) symbolizes an impoverished poetry focused on debris. This poem prominently features the technique of the objective correlative, a concept borrowed from T.S. Eliot, where objects, situations, or events evoke a particular emotion.
The poem consists of two quatrains of hendecasyllables with crossed rhymes. The last verse of the second quatrain rhymes with the first verse of the first quatrain. The poem illustrates the 'evil of living' through a choking stream, a shriveled leaf, and a collapsed horse. The second part introduces 'divine indifference' through images of a statue at midday, a cloud, and a high-flying falcon.
The poem uses alliteration like 'rivo strozzato che gorgoglia' and 'incarto strano della foglia riarsa'. An ascending climax is present with the repetition of 'era'. The 'evil of living' is personified and tangible, represented by three images of interrupted life: a struggling stream, a crumpled leaf, and an exhausted horse, symbolizing obstacles and suffering in life.
In contrast to the 'evil of living', Montale presents 'divine indifference' as a form of detachment from suffering. This stoic choice involves seeking indifference to the world's miseries. The images representing this indifference are the statue in the midday sun, a cloud, and a high-flying falcon, all symbolizing immobility and detachment, reminiscent of the blue sky from 'I Limoni'.
Montale's poetry shows influences from poets like Sbarbaro (for the Ligurian landscape) and Giacomo Leopardi, especially regarding the theme of universal suffering. Leopardi's 'garden of suffering' highlights the pervasive nature of pain for all beings. Montale's poem ultimately suggests that indifference is the only way to protect oneself from the ever-present 'evil of living'.