Echoes of Opera in Modern Italian Poetry: Eros, Tragedy, and National Identity [Paperback]

Twentieth-century Italian poetry is haunted by countless ghosts and shadows from opera. Echoes of Opera in Modern Italian Poetry reveals their presence and sheds light on their role in shaping that great poetic tradition. This is the first work in English to analyze the influence of opera on modern Italian poetry, uncovering a fundamental but neglected relationship between the two art forms. A group of Italian poets, from Gabriele DAnnunzio to Giorgio Caproni, by way of Umberto Saba and Eugenio Montale, made opera a cornerstone of their artistic craft. More than an occasional stylistic influence, opera is rather analyzed as a fundamental facet of these poets intellectual quest to overcome the expressive limitations of lyrical poetry. This book reframes modern Italian poetry in a truly interdisciplinary perspective, broadening our understanding of its prominence within the humanities, in the twentieth century and beyond.

Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: From Bayreuth to Fiume: DAnnunzio, Wagner and the Death of Italian Opera.- Chapter 3: Umberto Saba and the Verdian Sound of Italy.- Chapter 4: More Than Words: Ossi di seppia, Opera, and the Miracle of Counter-Eloquence. Chapter 5: Heart of Darkness: Sabas Operatic Eroticism.- Chapter 6: Strange Mercy: Montale, Opera, and the Death of Tragedy.- Chapter 7: Poetry and the Beast: Giorgio Capronis Simulations of Opera.- Chapter 8: Conclusions 

  Echoes of Opera offers an excellent insight into the influence of opera on the works of D Annunzio, Montale, Saba, and Caproni. The books narrative flows easily, and the author gives plenty of examples to support his contentions. It is worth looking up the referenced works & so the reader can get more familiar with the lesser- known sides and works of these key figures of twentietl“