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

an attempt to look for answers to the many

existential questions that concerned all

humanity, De Nava gave a voice to the poor

and derelict, with a rather pessimistic

outlook (Who can these children be /

without a house, mother, bread and God? /

One day they’ll be thieves and crooks / that

the city itself has raised!) Michele de Marco

(Ciardullo) di Perito (1884-1945) opted

instead for the facetious and playful sketch,

good-naturedly skeptical, and aimed at

fanciful descriptions (Statte tranquille...nun

cce pensare [Don’t Worry...Don’t Think

About It], 1968) portraying types and

domestic and provincial settings in a style

which is never resentful, even when

witnessing the poverty of his people, and

frequently in a tender and idyllic vein. His

son, Ciccio De Marco (Mio caro patre [My

Dear Father, 1964), establishing a remote