Poetry
Ed è subito sera
Not translated into English
Salvatore Quasimodo · 1942
Synopsis
The collection gathers twenty years of the author's poetry: landscapes scorched by the sun, flights of birds, memories of ancient myths, in a language that proceeds by analogies and ellipses and gives each isolated word its full force. It opens with three famous lines: everyone stands alone on the heart of the earth, pierced by a ray of sun, and suddenly it is evening.
Context
The book appeared in 1942 from Mondadori. The three lines that give it its title had first ended a longer poem, published in 1930 in the author's first collection: in 1942, he removed its first nineteen lines to keep only the end, and placed the poem at the head of the volume. The Treccani sees in this collection a true summary of the hermetic season. Élisabeth Brunet translated it into French, in a bilingual edition, under the title “Et soudain c'est le soir”.
Who it is for
Short poems, in an allusive and musical language, which are read one at a time and lend themselves to reading aloud.
Prizes and reception
According to Mondadori, along with the “Lirici greci” it is the author's most successful work.
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