Shakespeare’s Sonnets
Materiali per uso didattico
Prof. D. Calimani
Il sonetto petrarchesco: Petrarca, Sonetto XXXV
Solo e pensoso i più deserti campi
vo mesurando a passi tardi e lenti,
e gli occhi porto per fuggire intenti
ove vestigio uman l'arena stampi.
Altro schermo non trovo che mi scampi
dal manifesto accorger de le genti;
perché ne gliatti d'alegrezza spenti
di fuor si legge com'io dentro avampi:
sì ch'io mi credo omai che monti e piagge
e fiumi e selve sappian di che tempre
sia la mia vita, ch'è celata altrui.
Ma pur sì aspre vie né sì selvagge
cercar non so ch'Amore non venga sempre
ragionando con meco, et io co llui.
Petrarca e le traduzioni di Wyatt
Petrarca, Sonetto CXXXIV
Thomas Wyatt
Pace non trovo e non ò da far guerra,
e temo e spero; ed ardo e son un ghiaccio;
e volo sopra ‘l cielo e giaccio in terra:
e nulla stringo, e tutto ‘l mondo abbraccio.
I find no peace, and all my war is done ;
I fear and hope, I burn, and freeze like ice;
I fly aloft, yet can I not arise ;
And nought I have, and all the world I seize on,
Tal m’à in pregion, che non m’apre né serra,
né per suo mi riten né scioglie il laccio;
e non m’ancide Amor e non mi sferra,
né mi vuol vivo né ni trae d’impaccio.
That locks nor loseth, holdeth me in prison,
And holds me not, yet can I scape no wise :
Nor lets me live, nor die, at my devise,
And yet of death it giveth me occasion.
Veggio senza occhi e non ò lingua e grido;
e bramo di perir e cheggio aita;
ed ò in odio me stesso ed amo altrui.
Without eye I see ; without tongue I plain :
I wish to perish, yet I ask for health ;
I love another, and thus I hate myself ;
I feed me in sorrow, and laugh in all my pain.
Pascomi di dolor, piangendo rido;
egualmente mi spiace morte e vita:
in questo stato son, Donna, per voi.
Lo, thus displeaseth me both death and life,
And my delight is causer of this strife.
Petrarca e le traduzioni di Wyatt
Petrarca, Sonetto CLXXXIX
Thomas Wyatt
Passa la nave mia colma d'oblio
per aspro mare, a mezza notte il verno
enfra Scilla et Caribdi; et al governo
siede 'l signore, anzi 'l nimico mio.
My galley, charged with forgetfulness,
Through sharp seas in winter nights doth pass
'Tween rock and rock; and eke mine enemy, alas,
That is my lord, steereth with cruelness;
A ciascun remo un penser pronto et rio
che la tempesta e 'l fin par ch'abbi a scherno;
la vela rompe un vento humido eterno
di sospir', di speranze et di desio.
And every oar a thought in readiness,
As though that death were light in such a case.
An endless wind doth tear the sail apace
Of forced sighs and trusty fearfulness.
Pioggia di lagrimar, nebbia di sdegni
bagna et rallenta le già stanche sarte,
che son d'error con ignorantia attorto.
A rain of tears, a cloud of dark disdain,
Hath done the wearied cords great hinderance;
Wreathed with error and eke with ignorance.
Celansi i duo mei dolci usati segni
morta fra l'onde è la ragion et l'arte,
tal ch'incomincio a desperar del porto.
The stars be hid that led me to this pain;
Drowned is reason that should me consort,
And I remain despairing of the port.
Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey
The golden gift that Nature did thee give
To fasten friends and feed them at thy will
With form and favour, taught me to believe
How thou art made to show her greatest skill,
Whose hidden virtues are not so unknown
But lively dooms might gather at the first:
Where beauty so her perfect seed hath sown
Of other graces follow needs there must.
Now certes, lady, since all this is true,
That from above thy gifts are thus elect,
Do not deface them then with fancies new,
Nor change of minds let not thy mind infect,
But mercy him, thy friend, that doth thee serve,
Who seeks alway thine honour to preserve.
‘Droeshout portrait ‘
dal frontespizio del First Folio (1623)
‘Chandos Portrait’
Un teatro ai tempi di Shakespeare
Teatro elisabettiano
Il Globe ricostruito (1997)
Il tetto di paglia (thatched roof) del Globe
Il Globe, a cielo aperto
Il Globe
Palcoscenico del Globe
Palcoscenico del Globe
Palcoscenico del Globe
Il pubblico del Globe.
Il Globe circolare
Teatri nella Londra elisabettiana
Holbein il Giovane, Gli Ambasciatori (1533)
Gli ambasciatori, dettaglio
Velasquez, Las meninas (1656)
Pere Borrell del Caso, Escapando de la critica (1874)
John Donne, An Anatomy of the World, ‘The First Anniversary’
And new Philosophy calls all in doubt,
The Element of fire is quite put out;
The Sun is lost, and th'earth, and no man's wit
Can well direct him where to look for it.
And freely men confess that this world's spent,
When in the Planets, and the Firmament
They seek so many new; they see that this
Is crumbl'd out again to his Atomies.
'Tis all in pieces, all coherence gone ;
All just supply, and all relation:
Prince, subject, Father, Son, are things forgot.
Erotismo shakespeariano
Venus:
"I'll be a park, and thou shalt be my deer;
Feed where thou wilt, on mountain or in dale:
Graze on my lips; and if those hills be dry,
Stray lower, where the pleasant fountains lie."
Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis, 231-4
L’immagine del maschio effeminato
Some swore he was a maid in man’s attire,
For in his looks was all that men desire
Marlowe, Hero and Leander (1593)
84
He burns with bashful shame, she with her tears
Doth quench the maiden burning of his cheeks
50
………………
He saith she is immodest, blames her mis[behaviour]
Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis (1593)
Small show of man was yet upon his chin
53
92
For maiden tongued he was
100
That he did in the general bosom reign
Of young, of old, and sexes both enchanted
Shakespeare, A Lover’s Complaint (1609)
128
Amore efebico
The god* put Helle's bracelet on his arm,
And swore the sea should never do him harm.
He clapped his plump cheeks, with his tresses played
And, smiling wantonly, his love bewrayed*.
He watched his arms and, as they opened wide
At every stroke, betwixt them would he slide
And steal a kiss, and then run out and dance,
And, as he turned, cast many a lustful glance,
And threw him gaudy toys to please his eye,
And dive into the water, and there pry*
Upon his breast, his thighs, and every limb,
And up again, and close beside him swim,
And talk of love.
Leander made reply,
"You are deceived; I am no woman, I."
Thereat smiled Neptune, and then told a tale,
How that a shepherd, sitting in a vale,
Played with a boy so fair and kind,
As for his love both earth and heaven pined;
Marlowe, Hero and Leander (663-80)
*Neptune
*revealed
*cercava
Marlowe, Hero and Leander (1593) : riassunto
(Adattato da Wikipedia)
Hero and Leander live in cities on opposite sides of the Hellespont. Hero is a priestess or devotee of
Venus (goddess of love and beauty) in Sestos, who lives in chastity despite being devoted to the
goddess of love. At a festival in honor of her deity, Venus and Adonis, she is seen by Leander, a
youth from Abydos on the opposite side of the Hellespont. Leander falls in love with her, and she
reciprocates, although cautiously, as her parents will not allow her to marry a foreigner.
Leander convinces her to abandon her fears. Hero lives in a high tower overlooking the water; he asks
her to light a lamp in her window, and he promises to swim the Hellespont each night to be with
her. She complies. On his first night's swim, Leander is spotted by Neptune (Roman god of the sea),
who confuses him with Ganymede and carries him to the bottom of the ocean. Discovering his
mistake, the god returns him to shore with a bracelet supposed to keep him safe from drowning.
Leander emerges from the Hellespont, finds Hero's tower knocks on the door, which Hero then
opens to find him standing stark naked. She lets him "whisper in her ear, / Flatter, entreat, promise,
protest, and swear," and after a series of coy, half-hearted attempts to "defend the fort" she yields
to bliss. The poem breaks off as dawn is breaking.
In view of Marlowe's generally free way with his sources and the detail of the bracelet, it seems possible
that he might have changed the ending had he completed the poem, or even that the poem was
itself complete as it stood. However, several hints in the lines of the poem that Marlowe did
complete suggest that he would have ended the story in the traditional way, with Leander drowning
and Hero committing suicide.
Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis (1593): riassunto
(Adattato da Wikipedia)
Venus 'sick-thoughted' with love, and hoists Adonis from the saddle of his
horse. She then plies him with kisses, and arguments, but nothing she does
or says can rouse him to sexual desire. This he repudiates. By the mid-point
of the poem, Adonis has announced his intention to go boar hunting the
next morning. Venus tries to dissuade him, and get him to hunt more timid
prey. This he ignores, and breaks away from her. She spends the rest of the
night in lamentation, at dawn, she hears the sound of the hunt. Full of
apprehension, she runs towards the noise, knowing that, as the sound
comes from just one place, the hunters are confronting an animal that isn't
running away. She comes upon the body of Adonis, fatally gored by the
boar's tusks. In her horror and sorrow, the Goddess of Love pronounces a
curse upon love: that it will always end badly, and those who love best (like
her) will know most sorrow. This curse provides an aetiology, a myth of
causation, explaining why love is inseparable from pain (this is characteristic
of the form).
Shakespeare, The Rape of Lucrece (1594): riassunto
(Adattato da Wikipedia)
Lucrece draws on the story described in both Ovid's Fasti and Livy's
history of Rome. In 509 BC, Sextus Tarquinius (Tarquinio Sestio), son of
Tarquin (‘il superbo’), the king of Rome, raped Lucretia (Lucrece), wife of
Collatinus, one of the king's aristocratic retainers. As a result, Lucrece
committed suicide. Her body was paraded in the Roman Forum by the
king's nephew. This incited a full-scale revolt against the Tarquins, lead by
Lucius Junius Brutus, the banishment of the royal family, and the founding
of the Roman republic.
Shakespeare, A Lover’s Complaint (1609): riassunto
(Adattato da Wikipedia)
The speaker, an old shepherd, sees a young woman weeping at the edge of a
river, into which she throws torn-up letters, rings, and other tokens of love.
An old man asks the reason for her sorrow, and she responds by telling him of
a former lover who pursued, seduced, and finally abandoned her.
She concludes her story by conceding that she would fall for the young man's
false charms again.
Dedica dei Sonetti (1609)
Per un’analisi del testo poetico: testo e spazialità
Si sta come
d’autunno
sugli alberi
le foglie.
Arcaismi elisabettiani
thou (you, II pers. sing., sogg.)– “But thou contracted to thine own bright eyes”
thee (you, II pers. sing., ogg.-compl. ind.)- “Thy unused beauty must be tombed
with thee”
thy (agg. poss.) – “When forty Winters shall besiege thy brow”
thine (pron. poss.) – “Whose influence is thine, and born of thee”
(ma anche: “Thine eyes I love, and they as pitying me”)
-’st (= II pers. sing) – “Why lov'st thou that which thou receiv'st not gladly”
-eth (= -es, III pers. sing.) – “That this huge stage presenteth nought but shows”
dost (= do, II pers. sing.) – “How sweet and lovely dost thou make the shame”
doth (= does) – “Thou art the grave where buried love doth live”
didst (did, II pers. passato)- “Why didst thou promise such a beauteous day”
art (= are) – “Be wise as thou art cruel”
wert (= were, II pers. sing, pass.) – “And for a woman wert thou first created”
Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585)
Quand vous serez bien vieille, au soir à la chandelle,
Assise auprès du feu, dévidant et filant,
Direz chantant mes vers, en vous émerveillant :
« Ronsard me célébrait du temps que j’étais belle. »
Quando Vecchia sarete, la sera, alla candela,
seduta presso il fuoco, dipanando e filando,
ricanterete le mie poesie, meravigliando:
Ronsard mi celebrava al tempo ch’ero bella.
Lors vous n’aurez servante oyant telle nouvelle,
Déjà sous le labeur à demi sommeillant,
Qui au bruit de « Ronsard » ne s’aille réveillant,
Bénissant votre nom, de louange immortelle.
Serva allor non avrete ch’ascolti tal novella,
vinta dalla fatica già mezzo sonnecchiando,
ch’al suono del mio nome non apra gli occhi
alquanto,
e lodi il vostro nome ch’ebbe sì buona stella.
Je serai sous la terre et fantôme sans os ;
Par les ombres Myrteux je prendrai mon repos ;
Vous serez au foyer une vieille accroupie,
Regrettant mon amour, et votre fier dédain.
Vivez, si m’en croyez, n’attendez à demain ;
Cueillez dès aujourd’hui les roses de la vie.
Io sarò sotto terra, spirto tra ignudi spirti,
prenderò il mio riposo sotto l’ombre dei mirti.
Voi presso il focolare una vecchia incurvita,
l’amor mio e ‘l fiero sprezzo vostro rimpiangerete,
Vivete, date ascolto, diman non attendete:
cogliete fin da oggi le rose della vita.
(trad. Mario Praz)
Sonetti 135-136
135
136
Whoever hath her wish, thou hast thy will,
And 'Will' to boot, and 'Will' in over-plus,
More than enough am I that vex thee still,
To thy sweet will making addition thus.
If thy soul check thee that I come so near,
Swear to thy blind soul that I was thy 'Will',
And will thy soul knows is admitted there,
Thus far for love, my love-suit sweet fulfil.
Wilt thou whose will is large and spacious,
Not once vouchsafe to hide my will in thine?
Shall will in others seem right gracious,
And in my will no fair acceptance shine?
'Will', will fulfil the treasure of thy love,
Ay, fill it full with wills, and my will one,
In things of great receipt with case we prove,
Among a number one is reckoned none.
The sea all water, yet receives rain still,
And in abundance addeth to his store,
So thou being rich in will add to thy will
One will of mine to make thy large will more.
Then in the number let me pass untold,
Though in thy store's account I one must be,
For nothing hold me, so it please thee hold,
That nothing me, a something sweet to thee.
Let no unkind, no fair beseechers kill,
Think all but one, and me in that one 'Will.’
Make but my name thy love, and love that still,
And then thou lov'st me for my name is Will.
Bawdy in Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet
Juliet:
“Give me my Romeo; and, when I shall die” (III.ii.21)
Mercutio:
O, Romeo, that she were, O that she were
An open et cetera, thou a pop'rin* pear!
(II.i.37-40)
*[Poperinghe –nelle Fiandre;
‘pop-her-in’ – entrare da lei]
Dowland (1563-1626), Come Again
Come again! sweet love doth now invite
Thy graces that refrain
To do me due delight,
To see, to hear, to touch, to kiss, to die,
With thee again in sweetest sympathy.
All the night my sleeps are full of dreams,
My eyes are full of streams.
My heart takes no delight
To see the fruits and joys that some do find
And mark the stormes are me assign'd.
Come again! that I may cease to mourn
Through thy unkind disdain;
For now left and forlorn
I sit, I sigh, I weep, I faint, I die
In deadly pain and endless misery.
But alas, my faith is ever true,
Yet will she never rue
Nor yield me any grace;
Her Eyes of fire, her heart of flint is made,
Whom tears nor truth may once invade.
All the day the sun that lends me shine
By frowns doth cause me pine
And feeds me with delay;
Her smiles, my springs that makes my joys to
grow,
Her frowns the winters of my woe.
Gentle Love, draw forth thy wounding dart,
Thou canst not pierce her heart;
For I, that do approve
By sighs and tears more hot than are thy
shafts
Do tempt while she for triumphs laughs.
Dowland, Come Heavy Sleep
Come heavy sleep, the image of true death;
and close up these my weary weeping eies:
Whose spring of tears doth stop my vitall breath,
and tears my hart with sorrows sigh swoln cries:
Come and possess my tired thoughts, worne soule,
That living dies, till thou on me be stoule.
Come shadow of my end, and shape of rest,
Allied to death, child to his blackfac’d night:
Come thou and charm these rebels in my breast,
Whose waking fancies doe my mind affright.
O come sweet sleepe; come, or I die for ever:
Come ere my last sleep comes, or come never.