Selected Poems

by Frisardi, Andrew; Ungaretti, Giuseppe

• ISBN13: 9780374528928
• ISBN10: 0374528926
• Edition: Bilingual
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-04-01
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Summary

A major new translation of one of Italy's greatest modern poets Giuseppe Ungaretti (1888-1970) was a pioneer of the Modernist movement in Italian poetry and is widely regarded as one of the leading Italian poets of the twentieth century. His verse is renowned and loved for its powerful insight and emotion, and its exquisite music. Yet, unlike many of his peers, Ungaretti has never been adequately presented to English readers. This large bilingual selection, translated with great sensitivity and fidelity by Andrew Frisardi, captures Ungaretti in all of his phases: from his early poems, written in the trenches of northern Italy during World War I, to the finely crafted erotic and religious poetry of his second period, to the visceral, elegiac poetry of the years following the death of his son and the occupation of Rome during World War II, to the love poems of the poet's old age. Frisardi's in-depth introduction details the world in which Ungaretti's work took shape and exerted its influence. In addition to the poet's own annotations, an autobiographical afterword, "Ungaretti on Ungaretti," further illuminates the poet's life and art. Here is a compelling, rewarding, and comprehensive version of the work of one of the greatest modern European poets.

Author Biography

Giuseppe Ungaretti was one of Italy's greatest modern poets.

Andrew Fisardi's poems, essays, and translations have been published in The Atlantic Monthly, The New Republic, and other periodicals. A native of Massachussetts, he lives in Orvieto, Italy.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Giuseppe Ungaretti and the Image of Desolation	p. ix
From L'Allegria / Joy (1931)	p. 2
From Sentimento Del Tempo / A Sense of Time (1936)	p. 70
From Il Deserto E Dopo / The Desert and After (1961)	p. 152
From Il Dolore / Affliction (1947)	p. 160
From La Terra Promessa / The Promised Land (1950)	p. 196
From Il Taccuino Del Vecchio / The Old Man's Notebook (1960); Dialogo / Dialogue (1968); and Nuove / New Things (1970)	p. 210
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