The Study in Aesthetics
The Study in Aesthetics - meaning Summary
Wonder Amid Labor
The poem records two brief Italian scenes in which people—first ragged children, then a boy named Dante handling sardines—utter the same spontaneous exclamation, Ch' è be' a
, in response to immediate beauty or pleasure. Pound contrasts public, collective admiration with a solitary, private murmuring that seems both genuine and oddly out of place. The narrator watches these responses and admits a mild embarrassment, suggesting questions about perception, taste, and social context.
The very small children in patched clothing, Being smitten with an unusual wisdom, Stopped in their play as she passed them And cried up from their cobbles: Guarda! Ahi, guarda! Ch’ è be’ a! But three years after this I heard the young Dante, whose last name I do not know-- For there are, in Sirmione, twenty-eight young Dantes and thirty-four Catulli; And there had been a great catch of sardines, And his elders Were packing them in the great wooden boxes For the market in Brescia, and he Leapt about, snatching at the bright fish And getting in both of their ways; And in vain they commanded him to stafermo! And when they would not let him arrange The fish in the boxes He stroked those which were already arranged, Murmuring for his own satisfaction This identical phrase: Ch’ è be’ a And at this I was mildly abashed.
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