Analysis of ER CAFFETTIERE FISOLOFO (The Philosophizing Barman)
Giuseppe Gioacchino Belli 1791 (Rome) – 1863
L'ommini de sto monno sò l'istesso
Che vaghi de caffè ner macinino:
C'uno prima, uno doppo, e un'antro appresso,
Tutti quanti però vanno a un distino.
Spesso muteno sito, e caccia spesso
Er vago grosso er vago piccinino,
E ss'incarzeno tutti in zu l'ingresso
Der ferro che li sfraggne in porverino.
E l'ommini accusì viveno ar monno
Misticati pe mano de la sorte
Che sse li gira tutti in tonno in tonno;
E movennose oggnuno, o ppiano, o fforte,
Senza capillo mai caleno a fonno
Pe cascà ne la gola de la morte.
In this world, men are like
Coffee beans in a grinder:
One in front, one who follows, another one behind,
But all of them move towards the same destiny.
They often change place, and often
The big coffee-bean takes the place of the small one,
And they all cram by the hole
Where the blade crushes them into powder.
And this is how men live in this world,
Mingled by the hand of fate,
Which turns them round and round.
And each of them moving, fast or slow,
Unawares, they sink down
To drop in the jaws of death.
Scheme | ABAB ABAB BCB CBC XDCB BBXD CCC XBX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111111 111111 10110011111 10111011 11101101 0110011 1110011 11011101 111111 1110111 1111100101 1111111 111101 111110111 011111 1010010 1011110010101 111110101100 11011010 011011011011 0111101 1011010110 011111011 1010111 111101 011110111 01111 1100111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,042 |
Words | 195 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 3, 3, 4, 4, 3, 3 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 99 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 24 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 1:00 min read
- 73 Views
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"ER CAFFETTIERE FISOLOFO (The Philosophizing Barman)" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/16101/er-caffettiere-fisolofo-%28the-philosophizing-barman%29>.
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