Un’immagine di Sereni tra Leopardi e Petrarca

Abstract

This article analyses the final line in Vittorio Sereni’s poem, Sopra un’immagine sepolcrale [On a sepulchral image] (included in the collection Gli strumenti umani in the section entitled Apparizioni o incontri), recognising in it a possible borrowing from Leopardi and in turn from Petrarch. This example of reminiscence and its reworking by this 20th century poet paves the way for some observations on poetic memory and on the dynamics of tradition in a figure as conscious and learned as Sereni. Following an examination of its philological origins, the final line is then interpreted in relation to the poem as a whole, identifying a dialectic between annihilation and metaphysical hypothesis. Other possible sources are mentioned in order to help clarify the meaning of the line and the overall meaning of the poem, including once again Leopardi (A se stesso [To Himself]), Holy Scripture and the Apostles’ Creed.