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

paese [People and Things of the Town], 1975

to Lu cunforte [Comfort], 1980, is able to

demonstrate how one can write new poetry

without resorting to “linguistic archeology”;

finally, Vito Moretti (S. Vito Chietino), the

youngest of all, who from N’andica degnetà

de fije [Ancient Filial Dignity], 1985 to La

vuluntà e li jurne [Will and Days], 1986 and

Déndre a na storie [Within a Story], 1988,

follows a personal notion of “pure poetry,”

with a very controlled style, not far removed

from a certain return to Hermeticism in

recent times.

The landscape of dialect poetry from

Abruzzi in the Twentieth century would be

seriously lacking if, along with the tendency

for the search for pure poetry, we didn’t also

point out other aspects and trends, minor

perhaps, but not less interesting for the

continuity of tradition. Throughout the