Logo

What are your thoughts on Italian nationalist poet Gabriele D'Annunzio, who was the subject of the documentary "Fiume o morte!"?

09.06.2025 02:45

What are your thoughts on Italian nationalist poet Gabriele D'Annunzio, who was the subject of the documentary "Fiume o morte!"?

Thalatta! thalatta! let your short numbers fly, spring from the youthful heart, let them go spurting upwards, o divine Asclepiades!

It feels: the querulous sea-gulls skim it in crowds, similar, in the distance, ochre and black sails pass rocked in the great sun;

O Sea, o glory, strength of Italy, at last from your free surges let Youth flash out like tempered steel to the wind!

What do you think of Hegseth calling The Atlantic journalist Jeffrey Goldberg, "a deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist who has made a profession of peddling hoaxes” after team Trump texted him their top-secret war plans on Yemen?

The following is my prose translation of just one of his poems.

Romanza; A una torpediniera nell'Adriatico; Assisi; Bocca d'Arno; La pioggia nel pineto; I pastori.

Look, the green sea wakes fresh to freshest breezes; it feels in its lap the green loves of the seaweed.

Scientists find 34-million-year-old snake that changes our understanding of evolution - Earth.com

Canto del sole (Song of the Sun)

Fiume refers, of course, to the city into which D'Annunzio led troops in defiance of the League of Nations, afterward ruling the city for almost two years. “Fiume or morte" translates as “Fiume or death".

and in the broad circle of the water the flowering hills, mirrored, seem images of pyramids overcome in the ivy’s triumph.

What is the reason behind the Russian government's negative view on foreign travel?

His works include “San Pantaleone", a collection of short stories, and novels that include “Il piacere", “Il trionfo della morte" and “Il fuoco". His plays include “Francesca da Rimini" and “La figlia di Iorio". The latter is often considered his masterpiece. “Il fuoco" is the story of his love affair with the actress Eleonora Duse.

D'Annunzio's works may not be profound but they are outstanding for their verbal brilliance and a frank sensualty. He also wrote poetry and his poetry is to be rescued from his complete works. The small body so salvaged shows irrestible youth, sensuality and vigour if somewhat tinged by a Romantic's dissatisfaction with the world.

Others of his poems include:

Why aren't there any Indian girls married to Chinese guys but Chinese girls married to Indian guys?

///

In his youth D'Annunzio was a duelist and dandy and during World War I his feats in the Italian army, navy and air force became legendary. In his final years he lived as a recluse in a splendid villa on Lake Garda under the watchful eye of Fascists who in 1924 had made him Prince of Monteneviso.