The Patent Adaptable Sonnet. From “Il Signor Lorenzo.”
... Gianni. I have three systems of making money; one is that of the poet. Suppose, for example, there is a wedding, a young man who has just taken his degree, a dancer who has been a great success, a celebrated preacher, a new member of the Chamber of Deputies,—I have a sonnet which will do for any of them; it only wants the last three lines varied to suit the occasion. I have six alternative versions of those three lines. It is a revolver-sonnet; you can fire six shots with it. Do you see? The two quartets consist of philosophical observations on the joys and sorrows of life; they will do for every one. In the first tercet I descend from the general to the particular. “O thou!” I say without further appellation. That thou has neither sex nor age; it is equally suitable for man or woman, old or young, noble or bourgeois. (Begins to recite, gesticulating.)
And thou, into whose heart high Heaven all pure
Virtues did gather, and a noble need
Did grant of soothing woes that men endure.
You see that is adapted to all, and the point of the whole is the idea of soothing the woes that men endure. Now the last tercet is, so to speak, the loaded cartridge in the revolver. Suppose I am addressing a bride—
Enjoy, O fair and gentle Bride, the crown
Due to all generous souls elect indeed;
May Heaven to-day send thee this guerdon down.
Or else, for a graduate—
Enjoy, O gentle scholar, thou the crown
Due to all generous souls elect indeed;
May Science send to-day this guerdon down!
Or, “Enjoy, O gentle artist;” or, again, “Enjoy, O offspring of a royal race;” or, “O, industrious plebeian;” “O sacred order”—according to circumstances.
Gertrude. And supposing there were a death in the family?
Gianni. Ah! certainly! There I should say, “Enjoy, O gentle heir!”
Gertrude. It is an ingenious idea.
Paolo Ferrari.