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

compositions comes from the lesson of the

early Palazzeschi and the early Govoni, as

Spagnoletti remind us, but dell’Arco’s

bitterness contains something more

sorrowful, as if he were the advocate of an

ancient sadness that awakens things all

around and shakes them to remind them

that they have a function and are an integral

part of life. His brush strokes complete this

sensation, betray a foreboding and instill

uneasiness. After all some of his collections

have ranged from Oriental gracefulness to

firm Greek lyricism, with sudden effusions,

at time overflowing and at times filled with

shivers, that pass like shadows over the earth

and seem to bless it, notwithstanding the

bitterness that slips in and nestles as in

Leopardi. That first timid metrical

experiment attempted by Zanazzo achieves

notable results with dell’Arco, reaching the