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

Leopardi’s “Ginestra”: everything is resolved

in the desolation of the sciara or in the

barrenness of lava; the only comfort can

come from living as much as possible

according to nature, in a dignified,

Epicurean resignation.

Guglielmino contributed, in a historic

moment in which dialect poetry was still

considered an immediate instrument to let

the gintuzza23 [little people] talk, in order to

dispel the prejudice that it could not deal

with great themes. Classical culture, which

had informed his education, imbued his

verses with elements of considerable formal

refinement.

Vincenzo De Simone (1879-1942)

emigrated very young to America; having

returned to his homeland, he moved to

Milan, publishing several well-received

works of poetry. Mondadori published his