Vi propongo la lettura di Lezione d’anatomia del poeta e musicista italiano Arrigo Boito, prototipo di un gruppo di autori operanti in Italia nella seconda metà dell’Ottocento. Artisti che un forte influsso hanno esercitato sul pensiero culturale collettivo del loro tempo.

Si tratta di personalità inseribili in quel particolare manifesto artistico-letterario noto come “Scapigliatura”, termine che ricorre per la prima volta nel titolo di un’opera di Cletto Arrighi: La Scapigliatura e il 6 febbraio. Un dramma in famiglia. Nel romanzo, la parola Scapigliatura indica a livello sociale un insieme di letterati turbolenti e inquieti, animati da uno spirito ribelle verso le convenzioni borghesi. Il vocabolo, solo in seguito, ha mutato accezione indicando una singolare iniziativa letteraria e artistica assunta da un insieme di artisti accomunati dalla medesima posizione di rottura con il passato e ostili nei confronti della loro stessa classe di appartenenza, la società borghese.

Gli Scapigliati, oltre a condurre una vita sregolata e casinista, tanto che alcuni di loro finirono alcolizzati, come Emilio Praga, o peggio suicidi come Giovanni Camerana, condividevano l’interesse per diverse forme d’arte, proprio come il nostro Arrigo Boito, non solo poeta, scrittore ma anche e soprattutto musicista. Nato a Padova nel 1842, Boito studiò presso il Conservatorio di Milano, ed è qui che ebbe modo di avvicinarsi alla Scapigliatura, da cui, poi, allentò i legami per dedicarsi definitivamente alla musica. Fu direttore del Conservatorio di Parma e critico musicale. Nel 1912 ottenne la nomina di senatore. Morì nel 1918 a Milano.

Caratteristica dominante nel pensiero poetico di Boito è il dualismo, nella sua visione della realtà, l’ideale si contrappone al vero, la bellezza e la poesia allo sviluppo industriale e al mercato affarista, mondi quest’ultimi che con il loro progredire hanno contribuito ad annientare il fascino delle varie forme di arte. Il poeta sperimenta un nuovo linguaggio metrico, segno tangibile di una rottura con le precedenti correnti letterarie: alternanza di versi lunghi e brevi, versi piani, tronchi e sdruccioli, vocaboli aulici e concreti usati in contrapposizione.

Lezione d’anatomia è una delle poesie tratte da Il libro dei versi. Le quartine espongono la lezione di un anatomista ai propri discenti. Il medico sta effettuando l’esame autoptico sul cadavere di una giovane donna morta di tubercolosi all’ospedale.

Nei versi l’autore esprime il contrasto tra il suo ideale di fanciulla integra e la cruda oggettività di una giovane gravida. L’ideale, dunque, soccombe dinanzi al vero, ma il verseggiatore lo accetta, con la consapevolezza di chi ritrae una situazione che tuttavia lo disgusta.

Le scelte stilistiche e formali denotano quanto agli scapigliati piacesse sperimentare tecniche, stili e vocaboli nuovi, e il nostro poeta non è da meno. Nei versi lirici fanno il loro ingresso parole del linguaggio medico-scientifico, e, in un gioco di contrapposizione, si susseguono lemmi concreti come valvole, celle, aorta, e nomi di noti medici da Vesalio a Koch, a termini aulici e squisitamente poetici: gocciole roride, placida nenia…

Lezione d’anatomia

La sala è lùgubre;
Dal negro tetto
Discende l’alba,
Sul freddo letto
Con luce scialba.

Chi dorme?… Un’etica
Defunta ieri
All’ospedale;
Tolta alla requie
Dei cimiteri,
E al funerale;

Tolta alla placida
Nenia del prete,
E al dormitorio;
Tolta alle gocciole
Roride e chete
Dell’aspersorio.

Delitto! e sanguina
Per piaga immonda
Il petto a quella!…
Ed era giovane!
Ed era bionda!
Ed era bella!

Con quel cadavere

(Steril connubio!
Sapienza insana!)
Tu accresci il numero
Di qualche dubio.
Scïenza umana!

 

Mentre urla il medico
La sua lezione
E cita ad hoc:
Vesalio, Ippocrate,
Harvey, Bacone,
Sprengel e Koch,

Io penso ai teneri
Casi passati
Su quella testa,
Ai sogni estatici
Invan sognati
Da quella mesta.

Penso agli eterei
Della speranza
Mille universi!
Finzion fuggevole
Più che una stanza
Di quattro versi.

Pur quella vergine
Senza sudario
Sperò, nell’ore
Più melanconiche
Come un santuario

Chiuse il suo cuore,

Ed ora il clinico
Che glielo svelle
Grida ed esorta:
«Ecco le valvole,»
«Ecco le celle,»
«Ecco l’aòrta.»

Poi segue: «huic sanguinis
Circulationi…»
Ed io, travolto,
Ritorno a leggere
Le mie visioni
Sul bianco volto.

Scïenza, vattene
Co’ tuoi conforti!
Ridammi i mondi
Del sogno e l’anima!
Sia pace ai morti
E ai moribondi.

Perdona o pallida
Adolescente!
Fanciulla pia,
Dolce, purissima,
Fiore languente
Di poësia!

E mentre suscito
Nel mio segreto
Quei sogni adorni,…
In quel cadavere
Si scopre un feto
Di trenta giorni.

Bibliografia:

Arrigo Boito, Il libro dei versi

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