Salvatore quasimodo (190 1- 1968) is an Italian poet. Quasimodo wrote many works in his life, especially poems. His main works are poetry anthology Water and Earth, Lost Flute and Day After Day. 1959, Nobel Prize in Literature awarded "because his lyric poems express the tragic experience of life in our time with classical flames".
Chinese name: Salvato quasimodo.
Mbth: Salvador quasimodo
Nationality: Italy
Place of birth: Sicily, Italy
Date of birth:1901August 20th.
Date of death: 1968 June 14.
Occupation: poet
Graduate school: Rome Institute of Technology.
Main achievements: 1959 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Representative works: The Lost Flute, erato, Apollo and The Moment is Night.
Character experience
Salvato quasimodo was born in 190 1 in Syracuse, an ancient cultural city in Sicily. His father is the stationmaster of a small station. My aunt loves poetry and often recites Dante's Divine Comedy to quasimodo, sowing the seeds of poetry in his young mind. He hungrily read Italian classical poetry, drawing nutrition from it, and began to write poetry at the age of fifteen, 19 16, and was admitted to Palermo Technical School, the capital of Sicily.
19 19 entered the Rome Institute of Technology to study civil architecture. He went to Rome Institute of Technology to study civil engineering, but he focused on literature. Two years later, he turned to study the language and literature of ancient Greece and Rome. However, the financial situation at home forced him to drop out of school to make a living. This is the dark age when Mussolini established dictatorship. Quasimodo wandered around, leaving his footprints in the mountains, plains, cities and villages of southern provinces. Before finding a permanent job in a national construction company, he worked as a draftsman in a construction company, a salesman in a hardware store and an accountant in a department store.
1926 was assigned to the Civil Engineering Bureau of Calabria Region of the Ministry of Labor as a surveyor.
1928, he picked up a pen again and devoted himself to poetry creation. The following year, he went to Florence, made extensive friends with literary and art circles, met the famous hermit poet Montalais, and became a contributor to the progressive literary publication solari Ya.
193 1, transferred to Milan Civil Engineering Bureau. But he devoted himself to writing poems and learning Greek and Latin.
1930, quasimodo's first novel "Water and Earth" came out, which made him famous for a while and became an excellent Italian lyric poet.
1935 teaches literature at Milan Conservatory of Music.
65438-0938, left the Department of Architectural Engineering and worked as the secretary of Zavattini, Cesare, a writer and film screenwriter. Later, he entered the editorial department of Time as a literary editor.
From 65438 to 0939, he was employed as a professor of Italian literature at Verdi Conservatory of Music in Milan. Because of his anti-fascist activities, he was dismissed and criticized by official publications. He was a representative figure of Italian misty school in 1930s. He believes that characters are magical and absolute, and relying on the arrangement and connection of words to convey feelings can achieve unexpected results.
1948- 1964 presided over columns in the editorial departments of newspapers and periodicals such as Locomotive, Time and Hours.
Nobel Prize in Literature awarded 1959 "Because of his lyric poems, he expressed the tragic experience of life in our time with classical flames". . However, according to the document, the first person to nominate Karen Bresson was Anders Austrin, the chairman of the jury. He said, "If the 74-year-old writer is qualified to win the prize, now is the time." His proposal was approved by two other judges. But the last judge, Swedish writer Ewing jon jonsson, said that the Italian poet Salvato Le quasimodo was more suitable, and pointed out that four Scandinavian writers had won the Nobel Prize. The implication is that it is a bit biased to let another Nordic writer win the prize. Although the judges gave up Karen Blixen to avoid suspicion, many people thought that Karen Blixen deserved the Nobel Prize, so it was a mistake not to choose her.
June 1968, died of sudden cerebral hemorrhage.
Chronology of works
Creative characteristics
theme
Quasimodo's poems in this period clearly reflect the characteristics of "hermit" poems. "Seclusion" is a genre that prevailed in Italian poetry in the 1920s and 1930s. It is influenced by French symbolism poetry, but it is also the product of specific social and historical conditions in Italy. Hermit poets avoid the major themes of real life, concentrate on expressing people's subjective world, focus on depicting people's subtle feelings, and show people's lonely and sad mental state under realistic pressure. In art, "Hermit" poets attach great importance to the refinement of artistic images and like to express people's instant feelings by symbolic techniques and descriptions of natural scenery.
Happiness and hope are not available in real life, which is why the poet is extremely lonely and deeply sad. The poet can't help sighing that "the night rises in my heart", "my heart flies far away, I am a wasteland" and "time is a rubble field" (lost flute). Lonely poets often talk to their loved ones in their youth, pour out their hearts and seek comfort, because "love is a shield against sadness" (The Wind of Tidali); Or, appeal to nature and try to explore inner harmony in the wonderful and mysterious nature (autumn, rain, us).
It is not difficult to see that under the historical conditions of fascist reactionary rule, quasimodo's "hermit" poems, on the one hand, transcend the harsh reality, indulge in depicting the subtle feelings of the inner world, reveal the sadness of pessimism and disappointment, and have certain negative effects. At the same time, it also expressed the desire for freedom and democracy and the love for the countryside and people, and maintained the personality and human dignity of many middle and small bourgeoisie and intellectuals in that suffocating dark age. In this way, "hermit" poetry has the duality of escaping from the fascist autocratic reality and rejecting and denying this ugly reality.
The anti-fascist resistance movement had a far-reaching influence on quasimodo's poetry creation. The poet experienced the baptism of the resistance movement and gradually broke away from the "hermit school" In his view, the Anti-Japanese War "destroyed the traditional content" and "put forward new human values". The poet's mission is no longer just to express personal feelings, but to write "social poems", pursuing dialogue more than monologues. His brushwork is no longer limited to describing his hometown Sicily and personal feelings, but extended to the whole human society that suffered from war and fascist catastrophe. Poems written in this period include Day After Day, Life is Not a Dream (1949), Promised Land (1958) and so on. They were either written in the era of the resistance movement, reflecting the sufferings of the people through what the poet heard and saw, severely condemning the brutality of fascist robbers, enthusiastically eulogizing the outstanding sons of the people who fought bravely with the executioners, or expressing the poet's thoughts on the road of human social experience in the early post-war period, expressing the poet's optimistic attitude towards the future and his eager desire to actively participate in social life. Among them, songs such as Willow Harp, My Country Italy, My Contemporaries, and To Seven Brothers in Lucheng are full of strong patriotic colors, and they have almost become well-known poets.
skill
sign
Symbolism is the most commonly used technique in quasimodo's poems. Using this technique, we can broaden the vision of poetry, enhance the sense of gravity of poetry, and make poetry have hazy colors, such as light fog and colorful clouds, which show its extraordinary beauty in translucent colors. In the overall conception of poetry, quasimodo often uses this technique. He avoided sharp and fierce contradictions and conflicts in real life, but used his poetic heart in his feelings about real life, taking seemingly insignificant things such as trees, stagnant water, mirrors, hutongs, eucalyptus trees, grasslands and autumn as the objects of poetry, which in itself has symbolic significance. This kind of poetry is enough to arouse people's thinking about the author's hometown, showing the changes of his hometown, the loneliness of the author and the suffering of the people. The author once said: "Can't any poet build a fence for himself as the boundary of the real world, as the boundary that his clear eyes may touch?" My fence is in Sicily. "It is for this mysterious theme that the author used so many symbolic things in his poems, which expanded the expressive force of poetry and expressed the author's feelings deeply and concretely. In the use of images, the author often uses horror scenes such as the dead, the ancients, rotten wood, deep wells, coffins, weeping women, nameless dead bodies, criminals who hang themselves. , make poetry appear deep and boring. Quasimodo is a poet born in symbol. He is skilled and changeable. He constantly uses symbols in the concrete conception of poetry and expresses his feelings to the extreme. His instant night, Aries, stagnant water, inexplicable sadness, the nest of night birds, the ancient light of the evening tide, insomnia, a foreign city, rain coming, green coming, another lazaro, etc. , are very symbolic. Some make the image more vivid and expand the meaning; Some make the realm more hazy and the meaning more secret. In these works, or the very depressed sound of the river beach and fossils are used to symbolize the spring in my hometown and express my deep sadness; Or use blue and pale to describe one's mind, and describe inner gloom and rigidity; Or use the flapping sound of night birds' wings to express the author's melancholy and confusion; Or portray yourself going deep into the lonely city to see the tombs on the shore, setting off the information of dead bodies everywhere; Or write a picture of goodwill and peace to compare the brutality of the powder magazine explosion. These feelings are so deep, sad, hazy and lonely, and there is a kind of sadness without boundaries and degrees, which makes people think deeply.
For example, "everyone leans in the arms of the earth and is exposed to the sun alone;" The present is night ",and the key sentence of the poem is" the present is night "in the last sentence. The word "instant" is used in the poem, which greatly changes the relationship between time and space and solidifies the transformation of time in an instant. During the day, people are so close to the earth that it is difficult to be exposed to the sun alone. But when the night comes instantly, is it better? Since people are so lonely during the day, it is naturally dark at night. What is even more frightening is that even the limited light can't be seen. Night is as unbearable as day. In Italy, people suffered from Mussolini's dark rule, and life was difficult during the day, but the night was still dark, and people struggled between day and night. The author said: "My poems are written for people in the northern hemisphere, as well as African blacks and orientals. "If we use this poem to observe the world, the meaning of this poem is still strong. It can be said that the use of symbolism is one of quasimodo's strengths. Without symbolism, there would be no quasimodo and Italy (Sicily), and quasimodo's sadness and loneliness could not be expressed, which was not enough to show the hidden features of quasimodo's poems.
recall
The extensive use of memories or memories is also a major feature of quasimodo's lyric poems. The application of reminiscence or recollection has resulted in the artistic effect of quasimodo's poems, which changes repeatedly from truth to fantasy, from far to near, and from virtual to real, presenting a chaotic picture from truth to fantasy, from far to near, and from virtual to real. Poetry develops itself, creates itself and truly expresses the author's feelings in this realm. "Plain White Skirt" describes the scene where the author meets his beloved girl twice. The first time is a memory. He saw his lover wearing a simple white dress, so serene. The author thinks that she is looking at herself with affectionate eyes, so excited that she wants to enjoy life in the girl's arms. The second time was a real meeting. The girl's language was so vague that the author was shocked. These two scenes are the contrast between reality and reality, through which memories are denied. In Italy at that time, it was absolutely impossible if the author just lay in the glorious wreath of the past. After all, it is an imaginary life, an unrealistic life. The real Italy is painful, she is calling herself, and the author must wake up and struggle. In this way, through the comparison between truth and illusion, the content of poetry is more real and higher. Hometown is the story of the author dreaming of his hometown in Rome Square. The extensive use of fantasy profoundly shows the author's yearning for his hometown and expresses his true feelings of wandering homesickness. This poem begins with a description of the night in Rome. He sat alone on the stone bench and stared at the bright stars in the sky, depicting a real realm for the dream of returning home. Then facing the twinkling stars, the author began to recall his hometown. First of all, the author dreamed of smelling the special fragrance of Zhu Gui and ginger in his hometown, what an attractive fragrance it was; Then I met my mother, sat in a dark corner with her and told the story of a wanderer returning home. What is the content of the story? The author didn't say. He only described the charm of the story: "It is like a deep movement, my faithful companion, inseparable." This must be an endless story that haunts the author's mind. In the conversation with his mother, the author felt pressed for time and was afraid to leave again. At this time, the reality seems to be returning, but it has not yet returned. The author also found a poetic realm in his hometown of Yuan Ye, where he saw the bumper harvest of wheat ears in his hometown, ivory olive flowers and daffodils, heard the singing of drivers at night and saw lanterns on the car. The main body of this poem is a dream, the reality is only at the beginning, but how wonderful it is written. In particular, the author used magic to express his feelings, how profound he wrote. Please see: "Mom, I am sitting in a dark corner with you. How I want to tell you a story of a wanderer returning home quietly;" It is like a deep music, lingering, and like my faithful companion, inseparable. What's more, on that Sicilian night, the country road raised dust, the wheels turned sadly, and the driver hummed softly. That cool lantern is swaying like a firefly. "Imagine the dynamic scenes in my hometown to be true, and imagine Lenovo to be poetic, showing the deep affection between mother and son and the charming night in the countryside.
language
Quasimodo's use of language is very strict, and he laid the realistic foundation of the poet with the language of poetry. He said: "For poets, this is a unique but imperfect creation of nature. With the help of people's language, rigorous but not illusory language, he gradually established a realistic existence for himself. " In the use of language, quasimodo refused to put popular and simple language into poetry. He broke the normal language structure and reconstructed it, which made vocabulary have a new influence and had the highest ability to ensure the uniqueness of poetry and the authenticity of poets. Such verses can be found everywhere in quasimodo's poems, such as "Your shadow has melted, and my phantom seems to have died prematurely. The cool blue Annabo River trembled slightly, but it seemed to be broken. In March, the bright moonlight bathed the green grass, flapping its wings to urge me to go home. "The words centered on melting, premature death and broken wings destroyed the original work. How deep is the heart of the author of Space, and how powerful he can make water, stars and light make sounds. However, this is only caused by the change of language structure. Sometimes quasimodo writes poetry in a very subtle and permanent language, and the realm comes out of the poem and receives an intentional effect beyond the text. For example, "the magpie drinks the stream, the breeze looks for the broom, and the branches are unwilling to hold up the stars" ("The Dead"). When we can't remember the dead, magpies are sipping by the stream, and the breeze is looking for a broom as a memorial to the dead. This poem blends the dead into nature, which is a kind of permanent memory that no one remembers, and greatly enhances the realm, especially beyond words. "It's the infinite sky, which makes me feel relaxed and happy, and it's the tranquility of trees under the refreshing night" ("Qingbo Beach"), comparing my earthly life with Qingbo Beach, but I'm not satisfied with Qingbo Beach, and I have to pursue the infinite universe and the tranquility of trees at night, which has a moral. "Blowing flowers, trees, stones and clear springs in one night makes everything full of vitality" ("Leaving Death Behind"), adding such a paragraph at the end of the poem seems redundant, but it is memorable, showing the vitality in the author's heart and making the article more attractive. Quasimodo also used suggestive and metaphorical language to make the poem appear hazy: "The open water is calm, which awakened the ancient hurricane in my heart and frightened the little devil. On two extremely desolate planets, the star that vibrates with me, in my darkness, in the ditch where the sun rises quickly, looks like light: it is the love between cliffs and clouds. My blood is yours, God: we will all die. " This is an obscure poem. We can't say exactly what it is. The author's heart is sober and confused. The horizontal plane, hurricane, small demon, shaking stars, lightness, love to hang on the shore and clouds, and I die with God are all highly metaphorical sentences, which can make poetry present a hazy realm.
musicality
Quasimodo's poems do have a strong musical effect. Every line and section of his poems has the effect of exciting music. Quasimodo wrote poems with words instead of music scores, but when reading his poems, his thoughts were always immersed in endless music. He used poetic language to create musical beauty like music score and musical performance words. Many of quasimodo's poems are composed of three sentences and four sentences. The two sentences at the end seem to form a procedure to match the poems with the musical passages. Quasimodo also has poems that are not fixed or segmented, and also have strong musical effects, such as the three-step style of Foreign City and the first two paragraphs of Faraway City, each of which rhymes clearly and harmoniously. Although the language of foreign poetry is as impenetrable as a thick wall, we can still feel the musicality in it. He is not playing with rhyme and notes to satisfy readers, but to make poetry present musical beauty to play poetry and achieve harmony between poetry and music.
Personality influence
Quasimodo, together with Montalais and Weng Garetti, is known as the most outstanding contemporary Italian poet and an important representative of "hermit" poetry. It has a great influence on the atmosphere of Italian contemporary poetry creation. Especially in 1930, after the first book of poetry, Water and Earth, came out, it became famous in one fell swoop, expanded its world influence and gradually became one of the indispensable poets in Italian poetry.
Quasimodo also actively participated in the anti-fascist resistance movement, which not only sublimated quasimodo's life course, but also brought his poetry creation into a new realm. Since then, his lyric poetry has been infused with the connotation of "social poetry". Personal melancholy and regret are transformed into deep thinking about the fate of the whole society and mankind and whipping the dark forces. Although quasimodo's anti-fascist creation and activities have brought him some setbacks in life, they have effectively dealt a blow to the fascist forces and made outstanding contributions to the anti-fascist struggle of mankind.
In addition, quasimodo was also proficient in Italian classical literature and foreign literature, and his translation and research had a wide influence in the academic circles at that time. In addition, he also wrote many volumes of literary criticism.
Personality assessment
Quasimodo won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1959. The reason for winning the prize is: "Because his lyric poems express the tragic experience of life in our time with classical flames".
Lu Liu Tong, a translator in China, said, "quasimodo is a versatile artist. He has profound attainments in classical culture and foreign literature ... and occupies an important position among outstanding Italian poets. "