Giosuè Carducci

Giosuè Alessandro Giuseppe Carducci (27 July 1835 – 16 February 1907) was an Italian poet, writer, literary critic and teacher. He was very noticeably influential, and was regarded as the official national poet of modern Italy. In 1906 he became the first Italian to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Giosuè Carducci circa 1900

Quotes

Il Parlamento (1879)

• Il sole / ridea calando dietro il Resegone
  • The sun laughed as it set behind the Resegone

Hymn to Satan (1865)

Inno a Satana

• To thee of All Being /A te, de l’essere

The First Cause immense /Principio immenso,

Of matter and spirit, /Materia e spirito,

Of reason and sense /Ragione e senso;

Whilst in the full goblet /Mentre ne’ calici

Shall sparkle the wine, /Il vin scintilla

So bright the pupil /Si’come l’anima

The souls of men shine, /Ne la pupilla

Whilst earth still is smiling, /Mentre sorridono

And the sun smiles above, /La terra e il sole

And men are exchanging /E si ricambiano

Their sweet words of love, /D’amor parole

Thrills mystic of Hymen /E corre un fremito

Through high mountains course, /D’imene arcano

And broad plains are heaving /Da’ monti e palpita

With life's fertile force, /Fecondo il piano;

On thee in verse daring, /A te disfrenasi

From tight rein released, /Il verso ardito,

On thee I call, Satan, /Te invoco, o Satana

The King of the feast. /Re del convito

• -lines 1-20 (as Printed by the Nobel Prize Library)