Carla Rossi

on translating Giuseppe Ungaretti

Translating poetry is not easy at all. There are many factors that come into play, like the effect that the original has on the reader, which should be kept in the translation as well.

First of all it should be noticed that the original text in Italian is pretty difficult to understand. My general approach toward translation was trying to render the meanings and the ideas conveyed by Ungaretti and choosing the words as carefully as possible.

The original title is “Tu ti spezzasti,” which is extremely challenging to translate while trying to keep the effect it has on the reader. Spezzare is a verb generally used to refer to a long object that breaks or is broken, like an arm or a branch. Moreover in Italian it is used for an idiomatic expression, vita spezzata — “shattered life.” It means a life that ended too soon. As for the grammatical form of the verb itself, spezzarsi is a reflexive verb, but Ungaretti decided to make it even stronger by adding tu at the beginning. I had to compromise with it, because in English I wasn’t able to find any solution that would fit while saving the purity of the English language.

I love the last line of the second stanza because of the image of the “perfect precarious balance.” In Italian the word bilico, used in this line, is slightly different from balance or equilibrium. It has embedded in it the nuance of precariousness. There is balance, but the Italian word focuses more on the lack of stability. That’s why I believe that perfect precarious balance exceptionally renders this idea conveyed by the original. Also, the sounds here are quite pleasant, due to the repetition of the letter p: “Magically appeared / In a perfect, precarious balance.”

As for the last stanza, I enjoyed trying to render the list of adjectives. The original said “empio, selvoso, accanito, ronzante,” which in my version became “heartless, savage, ruthless, stubborn.” There is a sort of correspondence between these four adjectives. The first and the third both end in -less; the second and the fourth both begin in s-. I think that overall they produce pleasant sounds, and give rhythm to the whole stanza. They pave the way to the “glaring sun” of the last line. In the original the sun was “naked” (ignudo), but I decided to render it as “glaring.” I know that in this way I probably went against my own leading principle, namely trying to produce in the translation the same effect that the original had on the reader. Nevertheless I believe it was a necessary compromise with myself. The idea of a “glaring sun” is much more powerful, and it concludes the poem with a marvelous and melancholic image.