The Washington herald., 1906-12-30

Translated for Boston Transcript from lie Temps.
| The Nobel prize awarded to Giosue
/ Carducci has suddenly revealed TO the
! general public OF France the existence
Of great Italian poet. For glory has
shown herself at once generous and
niggardly toward Carducci. Adored in
/ his native country as demigod and
wcrshiped as q laic saint. It Is doubt
| full If so much as the titles OF his works
are known to anybody outside Italy.
NV present desire is to Yindicate the
/ justice Of his national popularity and
10 explain the reasons for foreign
! ignorance Of him
Though there is indeed little excuse
/ for the Boulevard's Indifference, there
are extenuating circumstances attend
ing our French dearth Of knowledge
touching Carduccrs works. Those in
comparable masterpieces have never
been translated into our language, and
probably never will be.
Why? Simply because they are in
capable of translation. Neither in
France nor in Italy do l know a writer
rasn enough to break the rhythm or
destroy the harmonious order OF words
in Carduccis winged strophes. I re-
member how, one December day-after
a morning in the Roman Forum with
/ Gabriel d'Annunzio and Giacomo BOni.
who had belauded the singer Of the
Mother City and had so wOndrOusIy
rendered his verses that I was carried
away by a fury Of enthusiasm went
home mad with ambition to turn the
Italians poems into French for the
delight Of my countrymen at home.
Alas. poor me! AS well might 1 have
tried TO bring to Paris the lovely win
ter sunshine that illumined the ruins
Of the Palatine; as well have sought
to set the waves OF the Mediterranean
a-surging beneath the Port de TAlma.
Hopeless and impotent, ] tossed aside
the book, which seemed in its every
splendid line TO reproach my sacrile-
gious version.
Played n National Role.
But If We French may be pardoned for
not knowing all the lyrical thrills Of Car
duccis odes, there is one thing we can no
longer ignore; and that is the great role
played by Carducci in the evolution OF
his country and in the exaltatiOn OF the
Latin race. What Dante was 20 an
Italy conquered and trampled under foot
by the barbarian. Carducci is TO an
Italy regenerated and free. What Ca
YOUR did as a statesman and Garibald
as a warrior, Carducci has done as a
poet. Diplomacy, the sword. the Tyre
these were the three forms Of the Italian
genius that achieved the RisorgimentO
Il IS impossible to separate them.
r Here. for instance. Is a necessarily in
exact prose rendering Of the fiery verses
CarduCci sent 10 GaTibaldi when thai
hero beaten and wounded, was taker
captive upon his way to Rome; * is one
; OF his most famous poems, and its It'll,
! is 'DOpo Aspromonte:"
Bear. o winds OF Italy-beaT my
! salutati0n TO the hero. 10 the wounded
: martyr, silent now within his prison cell
Hail, thou loyal rebel. The groves Of
AspromOnte shall send thee holy laure
- leaves TO crown thy brow withal!
, Hail. thou loyal rebel. thou father o.
I thy country Countless generations shal
worship at thy shrine. The heart Of al
the nation beats for thee!
.'Prometheus. curse thy gods. yet sulil'
: upon thy children. still blackened by Tn
I thunderbOIt. The future? 10, It's We
No poet of ours. excepting perhap
{ Victor Hugo in the days Of the Chat
ments." has had so direct and powerful
an influence as that welded by Carducc
. throughout his career. An old Garibal
dian with whom 1 dined in Rome tn
other day told me that his nascen
n verses were awaited with sort Of re
. Iligious awe and suspense. even befor'
? they were printed, they were passed from
Lin 70 lip as II modern Italians had bee1
), ancient Greeks; they were recited aroun
o the campfire, in the forest, behind IN
( breastworks. and in the hospitals wher
2 the wounded had come TO die.
His Love for the Queen.
q People wonder, not without reason, hoy
: our italian poet, who is so good a repuh
!, lican and so stout a revolutiOnist whe
I he writes about France. should have be
come a monarchist at home and an all
- OF the house of Savoy. Superficial critic
t have thought this attitude a fragrant cor
5 tradiction. And If Carducci had betraye
: the principles Of his people, If he ha
n wantonly or basely abandoned the doc
;: trines of his militant youth. we shoul
have 20 regard his right-about-hnce as a
y indelible stain upon his honor. Let u
T then seek the source of his conversion
{ conversion there was.
> There goes a romantic story that say
+ Carducci fell in love with Queen Marghei
i tia. and that, through his admiration fC
d the fair-haired princess, the proud Ito
Y ceased showing his claws. and offered L
his old-time conviction upon the flower
Z /, --.T-r-
L story is perhaps true, but the conclusion
e are false.
n Carducci, who never stirred from Be
= logna where he had established himse
\ after the triumph Of Italy and where b
q taught Italian literature until recently q
5 the university had refused all reward an
-. desired that no decoration should sig
nallze his participation in the founding q
u the nation. Now upon a certain Noven
: Der day in 1878 he saw Queen Margherit
Z pass by in a procession of banners an
aswers. The poet was about forty year
c old. The Queen was in the glory of he
radiant beauty. She loved poets and pro
foundly admired Carducci. She requisite
,, that Carducci should come and salute ne
Il i not as a subject before a sovereign Du
as a poet before noble and culture
= lady. What befell. at that hour, With
Z the heart of the ardent but knightly re
= publican2 What thunderbolt burst upO
: that disciple OF Virgil and PetrarchE A
: all events. there appeared a lew oay
: later the famous "Ode 10 Queen MAJ
- gherita:"
Y Whence cometh thou to US? What age
= have vouchsafed to US thy sweetness an
y thy beauty? One day I did behold thee
Queen. and thou vert Ike to them tn
% sacred poets sing"
No Longer Opposed Monarchy.
.e To be sure. this purely lyric and chiva
rio ode contains nothing OF royals