Like a Sufi, there is a constant search in her poetry. This is a never ending search – This search has many angles. Somewhere it is the search for truth, somewhere it becomes the search for the unknown, somewhere the search is for peace and tranquility, somewhere this search is for the good man, somewhere it is the search for the ideal society. Through this poetry she communicates with her soul. Truth be told, she has done serious work to strengthen the connection between poetry and the soul.
By Dr. Jawaz Jaffry
A Poet and Teacher at Lahore
Piedmont is a province of Italy located at the northern tip of the country. Its capital, Turin, is famous for its beautiful architecture, traditional food flavors and delicious coffee aromas. Coffee houses abound in the city, where Italian poets, writers, artists and intellectuals explore new possibilities for ancient and modern trends in the fine arts.
Turin’s global fame stems not only from its traditional cuisine and historic buildings, but also from the mountain range that stretches across eight European countries and is known to the world as the Alps.
According to Roman mythology, many peaks of this mountain are sacred, where Roman gods and goddesses live with their families. Fourteen kilometers from Turin is a village called Castle Tornis, where lives the beautiful Italian poet Stefania Miola.
Stefania Miola, who has won several prestigious international awards, won Italy’s most important annual poetry competition and won a place in the major world poetry selections.
In today’s Italy, she is busy adding new colors to the creative landscape created by the famous twentieth century Italian poets – Ada Negri, Aldo Palazzeschi, Alfonso Gatto, Andrea Zanzotto, Gabriele D’Annunzio, Salvatore Quasimodo, Giuseppe Ungaretti, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Eugenio Montele, Umberto Saba and Edoardo Sanguineti, who spilled his blood and liver. Stephanie is the custodian of this great creative heritage. Spirituality is the basic color of her poetry and her own temperament is mystical. The spiritual aspect of her poetry in 21st century Italy should not surprise Urdu readers that Stefania Miola belongs to the land from which the great philosopher Dante’s (1265) ‘Divine Comedy’ originated۔.
Like a Sufi, there is a constant search in her poetry. This is a never ending search – This search has many angles. Somewhere it is the search for truth, somewhere it becomes the search for the unknown, somewhere the search is for peace and tranquility, somewhere this search is for the good man, somewhere it is the search for the ideal society. One side of this search is its own. There is also the caste where she looks like a Sufi seeking the knowledge of the caste. She also has a desire to find good poetry and through this poetry she communicates with her soul. Truth be told, she has done serious work to strengthen the connection between poetry and the soul.
As she reads her poems, she is repeatedly drawn to the feeling that she is standing right in the middle of the universe, and the universe is slowly disappearing from all around her. One of the meanings of this feeling is that she as a human is the center of the universe and its other meanings are how lonely she is in the universe as an individual. This is the feeling of loneliness that haunts every great poet and philosopher. Stefania uses nature to heal this wound of loneliness.
It is as if nature is the healing of this wound. The symbolic and metaphorical system she has devised to express her love for nature is admirable. Sometimes she calls herself a cheek touching her mother’s throat, sometimes she calls herself a lullaby emanating from her mother’s lips, sometimes she becomes the scent of fresh milk, sometimes a voice coming from the outskirts of the universe, sometimes she so chooses the metaphor of the dance of raindrops, then the rainbow spread in the sky. In addition, the metaphors of weeping, silence, wind, lush trees, frozen snow, sea waves and the rising and setting of the moon and the seal are also very desirable for her. These symbols and metaphors have created a strange fascination in her poetic universe.
Stefania Miola has unveiled the face of the universe through her art, to know the beauty of the world through the beauty of literature. The relationship with the book has helped her to understand life. The development of art is very important to her. It gives the universe the status of art and our artistic activities are a continuation of cosmic art. Art brings peace and harmony in the society and as a result hope is created in the society, enlightenment comes in the society and windows of new ideas are opened. As you read Stephanie Miola’s poetry, you can hear the knock on the door of fame and glory that is slowly approaching her door.
I’m sure you spread your arms to Stefania Miola.
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This review/analysis is part of the book and Sindh Courier has published with the consent of author Stefania Miola, who regularly contributes poetry and other literary works to Sindh Courier.
