To Give and to Have, and Other Poems

by Salvatore Quasimodo, Edith Farnsworth (Translator)

Salvatore Quasimodo, the Nobel Prize-winning Sicilian poet, died in 1968, two years after his last verse collection, To Give and To Have, was published. Translated here for the first time, the poems provide a fitting culmination to a creative career that was first remarked upon in the Twenties.
Along with the poems from To Give and To Have, Dr. Farnsworth includes a comprehensive selection of hitherto-unpublished earlier poems, ranging from Quasimodo’s first collection to his last, Consequently, To Give and To Have and Other Poems provides a perspective; it spans the poet's creative life and provides an opportunity to savor the full range of his poetic method, philosophy, and development.

Genres: Poetry, Italy

185 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1975

About the author

Early nostalgic works of Italian poet Salvatore Quasimodo contrast with his later socially concerned poetry; he won the Nobel Prize of 1959 for literature.

He won "for his lyrical poetry, which with classical fire expresses the tragic experience of life in our own times."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvato...

Reviews

[Steven Godin]

My heart inclines to you in solitude,
the exile of obscure senses
in which what formerly appeared
our own transmutes and loves,
and now is buried in the night.

Arcs of air are shining
on your face; you appear now, just
at the time when first dismay afflicts,
you make me blanch; the mouth is slow
before the light of mirth.

To have you I am losing you,
and I do not suffer: still you are fair,
unshaken in the gentle pose of sleep:
serenity of death, ultimate joy.

[Richard]

I don't speak Italian, but enjoy "reading" it with an English translation side-by-side, and Quasimodo is special, having visited Modica and Ragusa. "Reading" Farnsworth's translation went slowly and not altogether enjoyably. Except for some later pieces the lines were flat and made the poet seem BORING. Pulled out Bevan's translations and found immediate differences and improvements, i.e. sharper images, more idiomatic expression, philosophical depth and emotion. But then again, I am far from an expert.

[Jordan St. Stier]

Excellent translation from Italian to English where little is lost and the ornate simplicity of the text comes through nicely.