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
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Giuseppe Gioacchino Belli

Giuseppe Francesco Antonio Maria Gioachino Raimondo Belli was an Italian poet, famous for his sonnets in Romanesco, the dialect of Rome. more…

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