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

Saggi di canzoni siciliane [Samples of Sicilian

Songs], 1925. His first attempts were

translations into Italian from Heine and de

Heredia. This exercise allowed him to

acquire considerable technical skills and as a

result his verses in dialect are polished and

solid. In any case, de Heredia’s influence can

be felt in all his poetry. Above all, De

Simone’s attention focuses on form:

harmony and rhythm, skillful scansion of the

line, refinement of the hendecasyllable,

make of him a master of style and a

representative of the Parnassian school in

Sicilian dialect poetry.

Vann’Antò (1891-1960) does not even try

to use the Sicilian of the koinè: from his first

dialect collection, Voluntas tua (1926), he

adopts the dialect of Ragusa and ─ as

professor of Literature in Popular Traditions

at the University of Messina ─ he carries out