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

W.W.II, after an attempt at mixed languages

(“Francesco da Paola,” 1936), but it was not

enough to free him from a certain late-

naturalistic conditioning. Already

discovered by Pasolini, Giunta can be

considered little more than a provincial

follower of D’Annunzio and the

crepuscolari, who was nevertheless able to

stay away from the widespread imitation of

Pascoli in the region, alternating invectives

and melancholy in tones at times descriptive

and at times sententious.

Social aims can be also found in the

dialect poetry of Napoleone Vitale di Bova

(Asprumunti, Calabria), and above all in that

(Canzuni vecchi e canzuni novi) [Old Songs

and New Songs], 1931 of Giovanni De Nava

(Reggio C., 1873-1941) who, allured by

Mussolini’s social program, from a vaguely

romantic socialism he embraced Fascism. In