Selected Poems

Pellico, Silvio, 1789-1854Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 244K words
Chapters: 25

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Poesie scelte by Silvio PellicoAuthor: Pellico, Silvio, 1789-1854,Language: Italian, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Feb 3, 2006

Editor's review

This is a selection of poems by the Italian writer Silvio Pellico, released free in the original Italian by Project Gutenberg. In the Chinese-speaking world Pellico is more often mentioned for his memoir Le mie prigioni, but this selection reveals his side as a lyric poet: the poems mostly concern personal feeling, religious reflection, and patriotic sentiment, in plain language with careful attention to sound, bearing the typical character of nineteenth-century Italian Romanticism. For learners of Italian, it is good material for encountering nineteenth-century verse forms and literary language; for those studying the literature and thought of the Italian Risorgimento, it offers a directly quotable primary text. Note that the whole book is in Italian, and the meter and allusions pose a threshold for non-native readers; beginners need not insist on understanding every line—use notes or a parallel translation to grasp the gist, then return to savor the sound and rhythm of the original.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Learners with some Italian who want to encounter poetry in the original
Readers studying Italian Romanticism and Risorgimento-era literature
Readers interested in Pellico and his work who want to read his poems
Poetry lovers who enjoy lyric verse and are willing to read slowly

Not a good fit for

Readers with no Italian who need a Chinese translation
Readers who prefer modern free verse or contemporary poetry
Readers who want to read quickly and not dwell on meter and allusion

Reading tips

Read through once to see the range of themes, then choose shorter poems to read aloud repeatedly.
Read aloud to feel the sound and rhythm of Italian; this reveals the verse form better than silent reading.
For poems with unfamiliar allusions or historical background, look up the period context first, then reread.
Read alongside Pellico's prison memoir to understand the source of his feeling and conviction.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is there a Chinese translation of this poetry selection?

This is the original Italian edition released by Project Gutenberg, with no Chinese translation. Chinese readers who need to understand the content may seek out relevant translations or reference materials for comparison.

What themes does Pellico mainly write about?

Judging by the poems collected here, mostly personal feeling, religious reflection, and patriotic sentiment, with the lyric character of nineteenth-century Italian Romanticism, plain in language and attentive to sound.

Can beginners of Italian read it?

They can try, but the meter, elisions, and allusions add difficulty. Start with short poems, use a dictionary and background materials to grasp the gist, then slowly savor the rhythm of the original.

What background knowledge is needed to read this selection?

A basic grasp of nineteenth-century Italian Romantic literature and the Risorgimento helps, and knowing that Pellico was imprisoned for political reasons makes it easier to appreciate the weight of conviction and homeland feeling in the poems.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Pellico, Silvio, 1789-1854 Author

Silvio Pellico (1789–1854) was an Italian writer whose life and work are only sparsely documented in Chinese-language sources; the library holds six of his works. The surviving titles show him working across memoir, poetry and narrative prose. His best-known book, My Ten Years' Imprisonment, draws on his own experience of confinement and is marked by a strong autobiographical and moral character. The collections Vankeuteni and Poesie scelte, together with the two volumes of Poesie inedite, attest to his continued activity as a lyric poet, while Rafaella belongs to his narrative writing. His style is plain and restrained, often taking personal suffering as a starting point for reflection on freedom, faith and human dignity, and he holds a place in nineteenth-century Italian literature and the Risorgimento.