«Dormivo e sognavo che non ero al mondo» : risonanze shakespeariane nell’opera di Alda Merini

The paper investigates the Shakespearean resonances in Alda Merini’s works. Shakespeare was one of Merini’s favourite ‘fellow travellers’ in her literary journey, seemingly because he exploited the enormous dramatic potential of madness. His plays can be read as a projection and an amplification of the poet’s emotions, while providing them with names, bodies and voices. In her turn Merini perceived significant affinities with several Shakespearean characters, and tended to identify with some of them, superimposing her life onto theirs: during her stay in the mental hospital, peopled by horrible figures reminding her of Macbeth’s witches, Merini identified with Juliet, who embodied her love fancies and her romantic dreams. I will also discuss in detail the texts which refer to two famous couples, namely Othello and Desdemona, Hamlet and Ophelia, who are the most recurrent Shakespearean figures in Merini’s corpus. These are not only universal symbols but also mirror and give voice to the poet’s emotions. Indeed, as I will show, Merini read and appropriated their stories through the filter of her painful personal experience.