Pascoli’s Il Fanciullino: explanation and summary of the work that gave its name to the Poetics of the Fanciullino.The first pages of Il Fanciullino contain all of Giovanni Pascoli ‘s poetics , to the point that in a certain sense this work can be defined as his literary testament.
According to Pascoli , poetry is not invention, but discovery: it is found in things themselves and one must know how to see them.
However, not everyone has the opportunity to do so: to truly see , one must observe things in a pure manner, with a pure eye, as if seeing them for the first time. This way of looking is typical of the child, of the boy. The poet must therefore remember and repeat the impressions he felt as a child. Poetry must be spontaneous, intuitive, free of cultural superstructures, just like the conception of the world that we form in childhood.
Poetry leads to the abolition of hatred, to a sense of brotherhood and discovery.
Childhood ends up identifying with poetry and the childhood of the world corresponds to the evangelical and humanitarian conception of Pascoli. Modern man, according to the poet, wishes to escape the contradictions of contemporary society to have an innocent world free of violence and contrasts.
In this essay Pascoli enunciates the important lines of his poetics: spontaneous, imaginative, far from rationality. The main theme is the poet, understood as the one who gives voice to the child within us.
Another fundamental theme is the simplicity and purity of the poetic spirit: in each of us lives a child who, thanks to his innocence and uncorrupted sensitivity, can reach the heart of things and perceive their profound meaning.
There are two descriptive sequences to highlight:
- In the first sequence there is the metaphor of the child , who over time loses space within us, but ultimately remains our most authentic part. Potentially everyone can be a poet: the child lives in each of us. However, not everyone knows how to remember it and bring it out: the poet does.
- In the second sequence Pascoli says that poetry is not the fruit of a logical and rational activity: it exists in things and in nature and to see it you need to have the right eyes. The poet’s task is not to create, but to reveal the poetry that already exists . He can do this only on condition that he identifies himself with the child and that he adheres to the world with the immediacy with which he looks at the reality that surrounds him. There is a sort of equation between the poet and the child: the poet must not give messages, nor put himself at the service of power.
The little boy is a testimony to Pascoli’s vision of life: behind this figure lies the fear of the world, the rejection of women and eros , and more generally the autobiographical experience of a man who witnessed serious bereavements and pain.
