Page 18 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 12(2) (2024)

Thematic-structural peculiarities L’altra mano se prende,
After the prologue of three stanzas, twenty stan- ennella croce se stende
zas follow in the Lauda (verses 4–83), which de- e lo dolor s’accende,
scribe Mary’s attempt to talk to various interloc- ch’è plu multiplicato. 3
utors (Magdalene, Pilat, the people, the cross...) [Underhill 1919, 220]
to find help for her son, but which are marked by The description of Jesus’s body (verses 64–
the absence or impossibility of communication. 75) emphasizes visuality, and the anatomy is fol-
In the absence of an answer, Mary desperately lowed in detail. The vocabulary is taken from
turns to the cross (verse 55), personifying it and the folk creation: ‘abbraccecate’ means embraced
assigning to it some of the blame for the crucifix- (verse 134), ‘afferato’ means desperately (verse
ion. The absence of an answer to Mary’s requests 87), and ‘attossecato’ means killed (verse 115).
gives the text an increased drama because her Seven stanzas in the central part of the lau-
18 words turn into a desperate monologue or rhe- da are devoted to the dialogue between mother
torical questions that speak more about her pain and son (verses 84–111). While Mary’s speech is
studia universitatis hereditati, letnik 12 (2024), številka 2 / volume 12 (2024), number 2
than about the expectation of understanding, filled with pathos and suffering, Jesus retains the
not neglecting the foreknowledge of the reader otherworldly dimension and comforts Mary to
who knows the outcome of the events, does not leave him to his fate with reconciliation and ac-
expect mercy from her interlocutors. ceptance. Apart from the physical descriptions
The messenger with whom the narrative be- the Messenger gave, Jesus himself does not ut-
gins reappears to describe the realistic crucifix- ter words that allude to suffering or an emotion-
ion of Jesus (verses 64–75). The crucifixion is de- al state. His pain stems more from his mother’s
livered in three stanzas that occupy the central cries than from the wounds on his body.
part of the Lauda so that the poem can be said to In their article on Color Poetry, Jun Dong
have a strict structure, where the first 15 stanzas Cho and Yong Lee (Cho and Lee 2021) point out
refer to the attempt at dialogue and the last 15 in- that apart from ‘the classic five senses of vision,
dicate the funeral lament (verses 112–135), which hearing, touch, taste, and smell,’ there are ‘less
are the only real dialogue in the song, the one be- obviously, proprioception, kinesthesis, pain, and
tween mother and son. The wounds of Jesus and the vestibular senses.’ Exactly these less obvious
the anatomy of his hands and feet are described senses, the pain, the proprioception, and the kin-
with expressionistic precision. This description
stops the dialogue and emphasizes a cinematic
presentation, slowing the narration and bring- 3 ‘Quick, Sorrowful Lady!
ing the pain closer. Your son is stripped naked.
The crowd want him
«Soccurri, plena de doglia, nailed to the wood’.
cà ’l tuo figliol se spoglia; ‘Now they have torn off his clothes,
Let me see
la gente par che voglia how the cruel lash
che sia martirizzato». has bloodied him’.
«Se i tollit’el vestire, ‘Lady, they have taken his hand
and stretched it on the cross.
lassatelme vedere, With a nail they have pierced it:
com’en crudel firire In this manner they have fixed it.
Now the second hand is taken:
tutto l’ò ensanguenato». They spread it on the wood.
«Donna, la man li è presa, The pain increases,
ennella croc’è stesa; burning him up.
They take his feet now, Lady:
con un bollon l’ò fesa, They fix them to the tree,
tanto lo ’n cci ò ficcato. Every limb outstretched,
wrenching him all over’