Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 08

Literature -- Collections

The citations here given have been selected as illustrating the
prominent features of Carducci's genius. His joy in mental
emancipation from the thraldom of dogma and superstition is seen in
the 'Roma' and in the 'Hymn to Satan.' His paganism and his "cult of
form," as also his Homeric power of description and of color, are seen
in 'The Ox' and in 'To Aurora.' His veneration for the great masters
finds expression in the sonnets to Homer and Dante, and the revulsion
of the pagan before the spiritual religious feeling is shown in the
lines 'In a Gothic Church' and in the sonnet 'Dante.'

The poems of Carducci have appeared for the most part in the following
editions only:--'Poesie,' embracing the 'Juvenilia,' 'Levia Gravia,'
and the 'Decennali'; 'Nuove Poesie,' 'Odi Barbare,' 'Nuove Rime.'
Zanichelli in Bologna publishes a complete edition of his writings.
His critical essays have appeared generally in the Nuova Antologia,
and embrace among the more recent a history and discussion of Tasso's
'Aminta,' and the 'Ancient Pastoral Poetry': a preface to the
translation by Sanfelice of Shelley's 'Prometheus'; the 'Torrismondo'
of Tasso: 'Italian Life in the Fifteenth Century,' etc. Eight 'Odes'
of Carducci have been translated into Latin by Adolfo Gandiglo of
Ravenna, and published by Calderini of that city in 1894.

    [Illustration: _HOMER._

    THE BLIND POET.

    Photogravure from a Painting by W. A. Bouguereau.]

       *       *       *       *       *

    Translations from Frank Sewall's 'Giosue Carducci and the
    Hellenic Reaction in Italy' and 'Carducci and the Classic
    Realism.' By permission of Dodd, Mead and Company, copyright
    1892.



ROMA

From the 'Poesie'


  Give to the wind thy locks; all glittering
  Thy sea-blue eyes, and thy white bosom bared.
  Mount to thy chariot, while in speechless roaring
  Terror and Force before thee clear the way!
  The shadow of thy helmet, like the flashing
  Of brazen star, strikes through the trembling air.
  The dust of broken empires, cloud-like rising,
  Follows the awful rumbling of thy wheels.
  So once, O Rome, beheld the conquered nations
  Thy image, object of their ancient dread.[A]
  To-day a mitre they would place upon
  Thy head, and fold a rosary between
  Thy hands. O name! again to terrors old
  Awake the tired ages and the world!

    [A] The allusion is to the figure of 'Roma' as seen on ancient
    coins.



HOMER

From the 'Levia Gravia'

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

Religion

Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 08

Literature -- Collections

The citations here given have been selected as illustrating the
prominent features of Carducci's genius. His joy in mental
emancipation from the thraldom of dogma and superstition is seen in
the 'Roma' and in the 'Hymn to Satan.' His paganism and his "cult of
form," as also his Homeric power of description and of color, are seen
in 'The Ox' and in 'To Aurora.' His veneration for the great masters
finds expression in the sonnets to Homer and Dante, and the revulsion
of the pagan before the spiritual religious feeling is shown in the
lines 'In a Gothic Church' and in the sonnet 'Dante.'

The poems of Carducci have appeared for the most part in the following
editions only:--'Poesie,' embracing the 'Juvenilia,' 'Levia Gravia,'
and the 'Decennali'; 'Nuove Poesie,' 'Odi Barbare,' 'Nuove Rime.'
Zanichelli in Bologna publishes a complete edition of his writings.
His critical essays have appeared generally in the Nuova Antologia,
and embrace among the more recent a history and discussion of Tasso's
'Aminta,' and the 'Ancient Pastoral Poetry': a preface to the
translation by Sanfelice of Shelley's 'Prometheus'; the 'Torrismondo'
of Tasso: 'Italian Life in the Fifteenth Century,' etc. Eight 'Odes'
of Carducci have been translated into Latin by Adolfo Gandiglo of
Ravenna, and published by Calderini of that city in 1894.

    [Illustration: _HOMER._

    THE BLIND POET.

    Photogravure from a Painting by W. A. Bouguereau.]

       *       *       *       *       *

    Translations from Frank Sewall's 'Giosue Carducci and the
    Hellenic Reaction in Italy' and 'Carducci and the Classic
    Realism.' By permission of Dodd, Mead and Company, copyright
    1892.



ROMA

From the 'Poesie'


  Give to the wind thy locks; all glittering
  Thy sea-blue eyes, and thy white bosom bared.
  Mount to thy chariot, while in speechless roaring
  Terror and Force before thee clear the way!
  The shadow of thy helmet, like the flashing
  Of brazen star, strikes through the trembling air.
  The dust of broken empires, cloud-like rising,
  Follows the awful rumbling of thy wheels.
  So once, O Rome, beheld the conquered nations
  Thy image, object of their ancient dread.[A]
  To-day a mitre they would place upon
  Thy head, and fold a rosary between
  Thy hands. O name! again to terrors old
  Awake the tired ages and the world!

    [A] The allusion is to the figure of 'Roma' as seen on ancient
    coins.



HOMER

From the 'Levia Gravia'

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 08

Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 08

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