This podcast is dedicated to English speakers who would like to know more about Italian Poetry, but don’t speak Italian. You can hear a summary of each poem in English, then the original in Italian, and you can also follow along on our website, where you’ll find resources to help find your way across languages.
https://italianpoetry.it/
episode 30: Chi sono, by Aldo Palazzeschi
Today we read Chi sono, by Aldo Palazzeschi.
The modern departure from the themes and connotations of classical poetry can be done in several way: in anger, or with a strong condemnation of the past, or touting the moral superiority of the new way of doing things, for example.
In the case of Palazzeschi, the approach is through irony, levity and a sense of humour that suffuses most of his poems. In what is perhaps his most famous work, after all, he concludes a series of frankly silly verses by saying “oh just let me have some fun!”
In today’s poem Palazzeschi asks “who am I?”, and investigates his work as an artist. He starts by comparing himself to the usual, established figures valued by “high brow” culture: a poet? a painter? a musician? But no: his pen can only write one word: foolishness; his palette has only one color, melancholy.
Turns out he is just a street performer, drawing people’s attention to his own soul. He uses the word saltimbanco: a lowly job aimed at popular entertainment, and that is often used with the connotation of a charlatan.
The original:
Son forse un poeta?No, certo.
Non scrive che una parola, ben strana,
la penna dell’anima mia:
“follia”.
Son dunque un pittore?
Neanche.
Non ha che un colore
la tavolozza dell’anima mia:
“malinconia”.
Un musico, allora?
Nemmeno.
Non c’è che una nota
nella tastiera dell’anima mia:
“nostalgia”.
Son dunque… che cosa?
Io metto una lente
davanti al mio cuore
per farlo vedere alla gente.
Chi sono?
Il saltimbanco dell’anima mia.\ The music in this episode is Paganini’s Caprice No. 24, recorded by Elias Goldstein (Viola) and Christina Lalog (Piano) (in the public domain).