New Poems

by Eugenio Montale

English renditions of selected poems from Montale's three most recent collections, including poems evoked by the memory and absence of his wife, poems centering in formal and linguistic invention, and poems of historical and social theme

Genres: Poetry, Italy

124 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1976

About the author

Eugenio Montale was born on October 12, 1896 in Genoa, Italy. He was the youngest son of Domenico Montale and Giuseppina (Ricci) Montale. They were brought up in a business atmosphere, as their father was a trader in chemicals. Ill health cut short his formal education and he was therefore a self-taught man free from conditioning except that of his own will and person. He spent his summers at the family villa in a village. This small village was near the Ligurian Riviera, an area which has had a profound influence on his poetry and other works. Originally Montale aspired to be an opera singer and trained under the famous baritone Ernesto Sivori. Surprisingly he changed his profession and went on to become a poet who can be considered the greatest of the twentieth century’s Italian poets and one who won the prestigious Nobel Prize in Literature in 1975 "for his distinctive poetry which, with great artistic sensitivity, has interpreted human values under the sign of an outlook on life with no illusions."

Reviews

[R.K. Cowles · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars

[Robert Walkley · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are new to Montale’s work the best place to start is with his first book Cuttlefish Bones (Ossi di seppia), published in 1925. This book, published in 1976, the year after Montale won the Nobel Prize in literature, is a very good introduction to Montale’s later works. The introduction by G. Singh and the essay by F.R. Leavis on the long poem “Xenia” aptly trace Montale’s development over the course of his career and explain why Montale is a major international poet. The only thing missing from the text are the poems in their original Italian.

[Pierian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this book off the shelf at my favorite used book store almost at random, having never heard of Eugenio Montale. What a lucky find! These poems are beautiful, and not quite like anything I've read before. I can't wait to read the rest of this volume and then start looking for more.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book isn't "new" any more but it's great. I think the "Xenia" sequence is one of the best poems of the 20th Century: it's certainly one of my best-loved poems.