Analysis of Umberto Saba’s poem dedicated to Trieste: Città vecchia. Text, metrics, meaning of the composition.
In Città vecchia Umberto Saba initially describes a street in the historic centre of Trieste that he frequently walks along to return to his home.This dark and damp street is very crowded and the observer lingers on the sight of various men and women intent on their work or occupations, reflecting on what this vision provokes in him.
Saba recognizes humility in the people he sees and feels the company of those who are, like him, creatures of the Lord, who know life and pain. Thus, among sailors, prostitutes, men returning home from work or heading to the brothel and women in love (that is, those he defines as “debris” of the city) he feels his soul and his thoughts purer (“my thought becomes purer where the way is more shameful”).
OLD TOWN, TEXT ANALYSIS
Main themes of the stanzas:
- Stanza I
Introductory stanza in which the poet explains the context, gives a location to the street and provides an initial description of it, giving the idea of a dark and damp but very busy place, in the historic centre of the city (“Yellow in some puddle some street lamps are reflected, and the street is crowded”). - Stanza II
In the central stanza the poet-observer describes, making a short list, the people he sees and their occupations, and begins a reflection on the effects that this vision has on him. In this part of the poem the author already draws some conclusions, which are then taken up again and expressed more explicitly in the last stanza, in lines 9-10: I find, passing, the infinite in humility . In the last lines, as well as in the first of the following stanza, the poet says that he finds himself surrounded by men similar to him: humble creatures of the Lord who know well what pain is. - Stanza III
Final stanza in which the poet draws the conclusions of his thoughts by stating that in this place, where he finds the “debris” of the great city, he feels the company of men like him and feels his thoughts become purer by being in contact with what is shameful.
Where goods and men are the debris of a large seaport
The “great seaport” is Trieste: the city where the poet lived and in whose historical center is located, therefore, the street he travels. The goods and men found in this place are the detritus of the city, that is, the “waste” of society, men without dignity or shame.
OLD CITY, LEXICON AND COMMENTARY
In poetry there are various expressions that convey the idea of common and everyday life:
- Often, to return to my home
- the street is crowded
- people coming and going
- prostitute and sailor
- old man who swears
- the dragon that sits at the fryer’s shop
- young woman crazy with love
The first expressions we encounter are related to a more general vision of men, seen in their daily comings and goings towards their homes, their work, or other places.
Other ideas of common life are given by the individual subjects that the poet names in describing what he sees in the street.
In the last verse the author contrasts the adjectives pure and turpe , the first of which refers to the poet’s own thoughts, the other to the external situation in which he finds himself immersed. This oxymoron allows us to highlight the final conclusions according to which the poet feels his purest thoughts by seeing and reflecting on what is vulgar, devoid of dignity and any modesty.
The rhymes appear very spontaneous and concealed thanks to the simple language and the lack of sophisticated and high register terms.
