AZZOPARDI   :   AN EARLY ASSESSMENT   (1970)

 

 

The modern literary movement in Malta exploded in the second half of the nineteen-sixties, heralding an acute diversion from the traditional mode influenced by classical Italian and Latin literature.  The new style was grounded in Anglo-American tendencies, including projective verse and graphic, constructivist poetry.  Mario Azzopardi was at the centre of the new movement and his early verse received attention from Kenneth Laurence Beaudoin, an American poet based in Memphis, Tennessee.

 

The following is an excerpt on Mario Azzopardi which appeared under Beaudoin’s signature in The Old Hickory Review (1970), published as part of the coordinated Arts Program in Memphis.

 

“Though a relatively small group of islands with a land area smaller than that of Shelby County, and a population of only 300,000 Malta is a land with a long history, reaching back into the European Megalithic period when between 2000 BC and 1300 BC a Megalithic culture flourished there, leaving the remains of great Megalithic temples to mystify the later inhabitants because of their resemblance to the ancient remains at Stonehenge.

 

And again Malta nurtured another culture when during the Crusades and until Malta was taken by Napoleon at the beginning of the 19th Century Malta and its strategic ports were the Headquarters of the Knights of St John of Jerusalem, the Knights Hospitaliers , and while they were in residence Malta became a melting pot for people from all over the world.  And as the anthropologist Linton says, when peoples come in contact with each other, anywhere, they may fight, or they may not; they may change due to contact or they may not; but one thing that they can be depended on to do is interbreed.

 

Since the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo, Malta has been used as a Mediterranean Naval Base by the British, and the present day Maltese have been greatly influenced by British tastes.  As a Nation the Maltese are only about as old as we are; and their National literature is about as old as ours.  However, their strange language, a mixture of Semitic and Romance languages is as old as they are, for the true Maltese has his roots deep in the ancient past.

 

And this, of course, is part of the delight of reading the new Maltese poet, who is usually bi-lingual and can translate his own poems from Maltese into English.  The other delight to be derived from their poetry is to be able to observe how close in spirit they are to ourselves, and to realize in the last analysis how much real spiritual unit there is in all of the Western World.

 

One of the most brilliant of the Maltese poets, is Mario Azzopardi, a Maltese teacher, poet, associated as well with Maltese theatre.  In such poems as When the light goes down, I believe he captures the “esprit” of contemporary Malta.

 

when the light goes down

and the crucifix above my bed yawns

the sleep and the ennui of a fruitless redemption

I hear the rocks of my soul creaking

in terror

                        and I have nightmares of my life

                        a stream of sour wine

appollo 10 a metallic prophet heralding heights

scratching the feet of the proud kingdom

but the faint flicker of light

dances helplessly throwing cross-eyed negatives

on the walls of my butchered soul.

 

when the light goes down

and the crucifix above my head yawns

dishearteningly with every new moon

I hear myself drawing deep breaths of suffocation

I entangle myself

a primitive embryo

biting its knees

 

Here we have a new group of people using English to my mind more freshly, evocatively than many other groups of poets using the language. Here on an old island whose poets are tied to its rocky landscape and ancient history we find poets who are a bit confused, a bit fearful, questioning their ancient gods, and looking into a storm future just as we find poets in America shaken by an uncertain future.  Though they do not suggest any answers, these poets at least, confront one with the naked questions of our times.