Analysis of LI SPIRITI III (Ghosts 3)
Giuseppe Gioacchino Belli 1791 (Rome) – 1863
Tu conoschi la moje de Fichetto:
Bè, lei giura e spergiura ch'er zu' nonno,
Stanno una notte tra la vej'e 'r zonno,
Se sentì ffà un zospiro accapalletto.
Arzò la testa, e ne sentì un siconno.
Allora lui cor fiato ch'ebbe in petto
Strillò: Spirito bono o maledetto,
Di' da parte de Dio; che cerchi ar monno?"
Dice: "Io mill'anni addietro ero Badessa,
E in sto logo che stava er dormitorio
Cor un cetrolo me sfonnai la fessa.
Da' un scudo ar piggionante, a don Libborio,
Pe ffamme li sorcismi e dì una messa,
Si me vòi libberà dar purgatorio".
III
You know Fichetto's wife:
Well, she swears that her grandfather
One night while half-asleep
Heard a sigh coming from his bedhead.
He raised his head, and he heard a second one.
So with all his breath
He cried: "Good or evil spirit,
Tell me for God's sake; what are you looking for?"
It said: "A thousand years ago I was an Abbess,
And in this place where the dormitory stood
I was penetrated by a gherkin .
Give one shilling to Father Liborio, the lodger,
To perform an exorcism and to say mass,
If you want to free me from purgatory".
Scheme | ABBA BAAB CDC DCD XXDXA BXAD CAB DCD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111111 11111111 110111111 111111 111011111 1101010101 1011011 111111111 11011101 101101101 1111111 11111011 1111111010 1111111 1 1111 1111010 111101 10110111 11110110101 11111 11111010 11111111101 110101011111 0011101001 11100101 1110110101 101110111 1111111100 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,106 |
Words | 206 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 3, 3, 5, 4, 3, 3 |
Lines Amount | 29 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 102 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 25 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:03 min read
- 80 Views
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"LI SPIRITI III (Ghosts 3)" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/16126/li-spiriti-iii-%28ghosts-3%29>.
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