Ship of Gold: The Essential Poems of mile Nelligan [Paperback]

A legend of 19th century French Canadian poetry, Émile Nelligan was only 16 when he fell under the influence of Baudelaire and Rimbaud and began writing taut, confidently surrealistic poems, shot through self-lacerating melancholy. Translating Nelligan’s “essential” poems, along with a sharp introduction contextualizing his legacy as one of the “first poets to write openly about suicide, neurosis, and psychological breakdown,” Marc di Saverio has given us a rivetingly fresh version of Nelligan for a new generation.

"Di Saverio is a poet whose imagination belongs in the company of Blake, Pound, Layton, Rimbaud, Nelligan, among others." —Darren Bifford, Arc Magazine 

"Hamilton's Marc di Saverio offers one of the strongest debuts of late in Sanatorium Songs. Primarily collecting sonnets, villanelles, haiku and translations, di Saverio shows a stunning command of these forms and a talent for startling imagery. His translations (of Rimbaud, Baudelaire and others) are masterful, while his original poems show a clear symbolist influence and a sharp, severe musicality." —Jonathan Ball, Winnipeg Free Press on Sanatorium Songs

Émile Nelliganwas a pioneer of French-Canadian literature. Following a series of public readings in 1899 he suffered a mental breakdown from which he never recovered. All of Nelligans 107 poems were written when he was between the ages of 16 and 19. Marc di Saverio is the author of a previous collection of poems,Sanitorium Songs(2010). In 2016, he was awarded the City of Hamilton Arts Award For Best Emerging Writer.