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The Wall of the Earth
poetry, tr Pasquale Verdicchio
91 pages
First published January 1, 1992
About the author
Giorgio Caproni
81 books18 followersGiorgio Caproni (Livorno, 7 January 1912 – 22 January 1990, Rome) was an Italian poet, literary critic and translator, especially from French.
Caproni left Livorno at the age of ten to complete his primary studies in Genoa, where he studied first music, then literature, and where he wrote his first poems. After participating in World War II as a member of the Italian resistance movement, he spent many years as an elementary school teacher.
In 1945, he went to Rome, where he contributed to a number of journals; besides poetry he also wrote criticism and novellas and contributed translations. His book Il passaggio di Enea collected all of his poems written to 1956 and reflected his experiences in combat during World War II and serving with the Resistance. He also oversaw a series of translations of foreign works, chief among which was Mort à crédit by Louis-Ferdinand Céline.
In 1959, Caproni and fellow poets Antonio Seccareccia, Elio Filippo Accrocca, and Ugo Royal began the Frascati National Poetry Prize, an annual poetry competition for previously unpublished works. The annual prize began as a cask of wine; in 1974, it was changed to a cash prize of 1,000,000 Italian lire.
Caproni's poetry touches on a number of recurring themes, most notably Genoa, his mother and birthplace, and travel, and combines a sense of refinement in both meter and style to immediacy and clarity of feeling.
Caproni left Livorno at the age of ten to complete his primary studies in Genoa, where he studied first music, then literature, and where he wrote his first poems. After participating in World War II as a member of the Italian resistance movement, he spent many years as an elementary school teacher.
In 1945, he went to Rome, where he contributed to a number of journals; besides poetry he also wrote criticism and novellas and contributed translations. His book Il passaggio di Enea collected all of his poems written to 1956 and reflected his experiences in combat during World War II and serving with the Resistance. He also oversaw a series of translations of foreign works, chief among which was Mort à crédit by Louis-Ferdinand Céline.
In 1959, Caproni and fellow poets Antonio Seccareccia, Elio Filippo Accrocca, and Ugo Royal began the Frascati National Poetry Prize, an annual poetry competition for previously unpublished works. The annual prize began as a cask of wine; in 1974, it was changed to a cash prize of 1,000,000 Italian lire.
Caproni's poetry touches on a number of recurring themes, most notably Genoa, his mother and birthplace, and travel, and combines a sense of refinement in both meter and style to immediacy and clarity of feeling.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 22, 2021
A very short collection and one with may poignant lines, some of which are an example:
'Border, the sign read.
I looked for the customs. Not there.
I saw no trace
of a foreign land
behind the fence.'
Every now and again descending into statement in which I can see no real poetic value, or the thought has not been elucidates, then again, how much is lost in translation?
A fine Italian poet our Giorgio Caproni.
'Border, the sign read.
I looked for the customs. Not there.
I saw no trace
of a foreign land
behind the fence.'
Every now and again descending into statement in which I can see no real poetic value, or the thought has not been elucidates, then again, how much is lost in translation?
A fine Italian poet our Giorgio Caproni.
Displaying 1 of 1 review