Twentieth-century Italian poetry is haunted by countless ghosts and shadows from opera. Echoes of Opera in Modern Italian Poetry reveals their presence and sheds light on their role in shaping that great poetic tradition. This is the first work in English to analyze the influence of opera on modern Italian poetry, uncovering a fundamental but neglected relationship between the two art forms. A group of Italian poets, from Gabriele D¿Annunzio to Giorgio Caproni, by way of Umberto Saba and Eugenio Montale, made opera a cornerstone of their artistic craft. More than an occasional stylistic influence, opera is rather analyzed as a fundamental facet of these poets¿ intellectual quest to overcome the expressive limitations of lyrical poetry. This book reframes modern Italian poetry in a truly interdisciplinary perspective, broadening our understanding of its prominence within the humanities, in the twentieth century and beyond.

Mattia Acetoso is an Assistant Professor of Italian at Boston College, USA. He received his PhD from Yale University in 2012. His research interests include modern Italian poetry, the relationship between literature and music, and contemporary Italian cinema.

Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: From Bayreuth to Fiume: D'Annunzio, Wagner and the Death of Italian Opera.- Chapter 3: Umberto Saba and the Verdian Sound of Italy.- Chapter 4: More Than Words: Ossi di seppia, Opera, and the Miracle of Counter-Eloquence. Chapter 5: Heart of Darkness: Saba's Operatic Eroticism.- Chapter 6: Strange Mercy: Montale, Opera, and the Death of Tragedy.- Chapter 7: Poetry and the Beast: Giorgio Caproni's Simulations of Opera.- Chapter 8: Conclusions