Letteratura angloamericana 1

ST

1 STANZA

Mark but this flea, and mark in this,

How little that which thou deniest me is;

It sucked me first, and now sucks thee,

And in this flea our two bloods mingled be;

Thou know’st that this cannot be said

A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead,

Yet this enjoys before it woo,

And pampered swells with one blood made of two,

And this, alas, is more than we would do.

Guarda questa pulce e nota quanto poco sia ciò che mi stai negando, prima ha succhiato me e ora succhia te e

in questa pulce i nostri due sangui si mischiano, sai benissimo che questo non si puo chiamare ne peccato ne

vergogna ne perdita di verginità, eppure questa pulce gode prima di corteggiare, e coccolata si gonfia con un

sangue solo fatto di due sangui e questo ahimè è più di ciò che faremmo noi due, se lo facessimo.

ND

2 STANZA

Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare,

Where we almost, nay more than married are.

This flea is you and I, and this

Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is;

Though parents grudge, and you, w'are met,

And cloistered in these living walls of jet.

Though use make you apt to kill me,

Let not to that, self-murder added be,

And sacrilege, three sins in killing three.

Non uccidere tre vite in una sola pulce, nella quale noi quasi siamo sposati, anzi di più, questa pulce siamo io

e te e questo è il nostro talamo e il matrimonio è un tempio, nonostante i genitori brontolino e anche tu, noi ci

uniamo e siamo chiusi in un chiostro in queste pareti viventi di giaietto (*nere), anche se il costume normale

vorrebbe tu fossi incline ad uccidermi, non fare che a questo assassinio si aggiungano suicidio e sacrilegio.

RD

3 STANZA

Cruel and sudden, hast thou since

Purpled thy nail, in blood of innocence?

Wherein could this flea guilty be,

Except in that drop which it sucked from thee?

Yet thou triumph’st, and say'st that thou

Find’st not thy self, nor me the weaker now;

’Tis true; then learn how false, fears be:

Just so much honor, when thou yield’st to me,

Will waste, as this flea’s death took life from thee.

Crudele e all’improvviso, hai colorato di porpora la tua unghia con il sangue dell’innocenza, di cosa poteva

essere colpevole questa pulce se non nella goccia che ha succhiato da te, eppure tu trionfi e dici che non trovi

né te stessa né me più deboli per quello che hai fatto; questo è vero, allora impara quanto le paure siano false,

esattamente la stessa quantità di onore se tu dovessi cedere a me andrebbe perduta, tanta quanta vita la morte di

questa pulce ha preso da te.

The metaphor is exploited completely and extended throughout the poem. A flea is the silliest thing that he

could have picked, which shows lightness, also since he was a student, but the poem could be used for

serious purpose, as Taylor did.

HUSWIFERY, Edward Taylor.

→

spinning wheel instrument used for making thread (filatoio).

→

loom thread being made, a loom’s the instrument you use to make cloth (telaio).

Make me, O Lord, Thy Spinning Wheel complete.

Thy Holy Word my Distaff make for me.

Make mine Affections Thy Swift Flyers neat

And make my Soul Thy holy Spool to be.

My conversation make to be Thy Reel

And reel the yarn thereon spun of Thy Wheel.

Make me Thy Loom then, knit therein this Twine:

And make Thy Holy Spirit, Lord, wind quills:

Then weave the Web Thyself. The yarn is fine.

Thine Ordinances make my Fulling Mills.

Then dye the same in Heavenly Colors Choice,

All pinked with Varnished Flowers of Paradise.

Then clothe therewith mine Understanding, Will,

Affections, Judgment, Conscience, Memory,

My Words, and Actions, that their shine may fill

My ways with glory and Thee glorify.

Then mine apparel shall display before Ye

That I am Clothed in Holy robes for glory.

ST

1 STANZA

Fai di me, o Signore, il tuo filatoio ( SPINNING WHEEL ) completo, fai sì che la tua parola santa

sia per me la mia rocca (DISTAFF - strumento che tiene la lana grezza), fai sì che i miei sentimenti

siano le tue alette (FLYERS - strumento che regola la filatura) pulite e veloci, e fai che la mia anima

sia la tua bobina (SPOOL, strumento che torce e attorce il filo). Fai che la mia conversazione sia il

tuo rocchetto (bobina che raccoglie il filo finito) e avvolgi il filo uscito dal tuo filatoio.

He begs God (he’s praying to him) to make a spinning wheel out of him, a metaphorical way to suggest the

fact that his soul, his feelings, his words, must all be tied to God’s word.

ND

2 STANZA

Fai poi di me il tuo telaio ( LOOM ), tessi in esso (therein = which ) questo filo forte (TWINE -

strong thread), Signore, fai del Tuo Santo Spirito una bobina e poi tessi Tu stesso la tela. Il filo è

fine, preciso e delicato, i Tuoi comandamenti sono il mio sapone, poi tingi quel tessuto in una

selezione di colori paradisiaci, tutti adornati con luccicanti fiori del paradiso.

RD

3 STANZA

Poi rivesti con questo abito il mio intelletto, il mio volere, i miei sentimenti, il mio discernimento, la

mia coscienza, la mia memoria, le mie parole, le mie azioni, in modo che il loro folgore possa

riempire le mie maniere di gloria e glorificarti. Allora, il mio vestito mostrerà di fronte a Te che io

sono abbigliato di abiti santi per la gloria.

FORM AND STRUCTURE

▪ apostrophe “Oh Lord” apostrophe (v.1) → he calls to God. It’s a prayer, he wants God to

act upon him. It marks the personal and passionate relationship between the believer and his

God, typical of Puritans.

▪ anaphora “Make me” which creates a sense of parallelism; this reoccurs throughout the

whole poem, beyond the single stanzas.

▪ alliteration of letter [m] in sentences such as “make me thy loom”.

▪ rhyme scheme is ABABCC.

▪ the metric line is an iambic pentameter → typical English poetry if we think about the

metric and the structure of this poem.

The poet is Taylor, but the speaker supposedly could be a woman. Spinning was typically a

female activity, so the IMPLIED AUTHOR (io lirico) could be a woman.

As a matter of fact, bridal mysticism was typical of female saints and it portrayed the

►

union of God and soul as in marriage, as shown in some parables, in the Bible and in Paul’s

letters. This poem seems to convey this idea, which returns in another poem Taylor wrote

concerning the Lord’s supper, in which he used a quotation from the New Testament: “How

could you come to this wedding not wearing a wedding garment?”

PURITAN IDEAS WE CAN FIND IN THE POEM:

▪ He asks God to make something of him and he’s using the analogy of creating a dress to

become a Visible Saint, he’s asking for spiritual formation in order to be a good Christian

and believer, to be saved and answer to God’s call, obeying his orders and following his

designs.

▪ he’s talking directly to God, which underlines the idea of a direct relationship between God

and believer.

▪ The initiative always stands on God’s side as you can’t do anything to win his mercy; he’s

invoking God’s action and asking him to use everything of him for his designs.

▪ He sees God in everyday life and activities such as spinning, which is a very puritan point of

view → spinning / weaving, common in colonial new England, is an analogy for

spiritual preparation. Making cloth is compared to a spiritual practice, the poem is a

prayer asking for god’s help in a process of spiritual transformation.

▪ Another image from the scriptures is perhaps implied, as the believer is seen as a bride

wedded to Jesus Christ (book of revelation, parables, Paul’s letters) – MATRIMONIO

MISTICO

MODULO B

Contesto storico.

The Norton Anthology (1820-1865) + appunti lezioni + slides.

The 19th century is the era of the territorial expansion of the US towards the West of the continent.

The expansion was accompanied by the ideology of the Manifest Destiny, an expression coined by

John O’Sullivan

newspaper editor in 2 essays of 1839 and 1845, in which he claimed that it was

the US’s right to annex the Republic of Texas because it was “by the right of our manifest destiny to

overspread and to possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us for the

entrusted to us”.

development of the great experiment of liberty and federated self-government

It was in fact believed that Divine Providence had destined the US to control the whole American

continent through the conquest of minority populations such as the Natives and the Mexicans in

At first, we couldn’t talk about American

order to spread the ideal of democratic institutions.

exceptionalism, but at this point of history it wouldn’t be totally wrong, as they didn’t repudiate

expansionism even if it had bad consequences on natives, such as appropriation of indigenous land

and more.

What happened that helped the birth of this country and its culture?

The phenomenon of moving westward and covering more and more lands.

They began with the initial 13 States and started to acquire more and more parts of the continent

from East to the West coast through many ways:

▪ diplomatic way → the purchase of Louisiana (1803) happened when a huge piece

(nearly one third of the territory) was sold at a price of 15 million dollars to Thomas

Jefferson, who bought it from Napoleon’s war debts.

▪ military way → (1) Second American War of Independence (The War of 1812), with

the Battle of New Orleans which helped creating the anthem “The Star-Spangled Banner”

patriotic myth of Uncle Sam, a man providing means and supplies for the troupes;

moreover, Texas wanted independence but had a part of Mexico, which brought the States to

attack and led to the first tensions between North and South.

In 1815 → the extraordinary military success of Andrew Jackson at New Orleans

►

seals the US victory. It’s the birth of the myth of the “democratic hero”, the self-made man

of humble origins, the pragmatic hero, who mistrusts a too sophisticated and aristocratic

culture.

(2) → 1846-48: the Mexican War, as in 1845, after Mexico has abolished slavery on its

territory, the US annex the newly self-declared “republic of Texas”, with the votes of Texans

and of the Congress. The war demonstrates evident US superiority and in 1848, with the

treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, Mexico yields California and New Mexico (half of its

territory) to the US and acknowledges the new boundary with Texas along the Rio Grande

(the lost territory corresponded basically to the entire South-West → the present states of

Texas, California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and parts of New Mexico, Colorado e Wyoming.

▪ migrations

first reason → people were hungry for lands that they could c