Il cinque maggio is an 1821 ode by the Italian poet Alessandro Manzoni, written after the news of NapoleonâÂÂs death on 5 May 1821. It opens with the famous line ëEi fu.û (âÂÂHe is gone.âÂÂ) and reflects on NapoleonâÂÂs rise and fall, the limits of worldly glory, and Providence.
Manzoni read the Gazzetta di Milano of 16 July 1821 at his villa near Milan and, struck by the report of NapoleonâÂÂs death, drafted the poem quickly over three days in mid-July. A first autograph draft dated âÂÂ18 Luglio [1821]â and a clean copy from late July survive in the Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense.
The ode has 18 six-line stanzas in seven-syllable lines (settenari); the usual rhyme is ABCBDE. The poem moves from the shocked announcement of death (ëEi fu.û) to a brief survey of triumphs and defeats and ends with a Christian meditation on the vanity of fame and the possibility of grace.
Austrian censorship blocked publication in Milan. The ode circulated in manuscript and was first printed outside Austrian control, then appeared in Italy in 1823 with the Turin publisher Marietti. The poem was soon known across Europe; Johann Wolfgang von Goethe translated it into German and published âÂÂâÂÂDer fünfte MaiâÂÂâ in ÃÂber Kunst und Alterthum (1823).