Dialect Poetry of Southern Italy (Italian Poetry in Translation Book 2)

enchantments. Of course, there are also

compositions with strong social contents,

equally distributed. Mercadante can write

intensely lyrical verses or become a fiery

defender of derelicts. Or openly manifest his

diffidence towards justice, conditioned by

power and by camperi mafiosi and affirm his

irreducible revulsion to any kind of abuse: “I

may be killed, but will not bow my head.”^20

His work concludes with the poem La

china, a tender and desolate celebration of

unhappy love.

A different direction will be taken by the

poets from Etna Francesco Guglielmino,

Vincenzo De Simone from Villarosa (Enna)

and Vann’Antò (Giovanni Antonio Di

Giacomo) from Ibla.

Francesco Guglielmino (1872-1956),

rather than re-interpreting Verismo (and yet

he had been a friend of Verga, De Roberto,