GABRIELE D’ANNUNZIO 1863-1938

VITA →He was born in Pescara and he died in Gardone, a village close to lake Garda. He had a
wide cultural knowledge and he lived with the purpose of making his life a work of art, the same
life philosophy of the English writer, Oscar Wild. He managed to read and study a lot of novels,
short stories, poems, theatrical works and articles. He knew the foreign literature, especially
French literature. He was also an art expert. He lived an adventurous life and had an ambitious
character. He had many love stories and traveled across Italy and added to that escaped to France,
because of his debts. He led the people and convinced them to participate in the 1° world war, to
him we owe proverbs such as PIU ALTO PIU OLTRE(to encourage the First Group of air
squadrons to perform arduous and vast tasks), ME NE FREGO(from the Roman dialect), NON
DUCOR DUCO(another motto for the Fiumani Legionnaires). His father’s surname was
Rapagnetta, which he didn’t find elegant, so he changed it to his uncle’s one: D’Annunzio.
He always wanted to be a nobleman. Between his name and surname there is a contrast→
Gabriele is the archangel who announces to the virgin Mary her pregnancy, and
D’Annunzio literally means announcement. (This is quite ironic).

● He studied in Prato, Tuscany, at a prestigious high school called “Cicognini”. During his
teenage years, he showed his strong personality, he was a great but very troubled student.
After finishing school he published his first poetry book “Primo Vere” and to gain
success he wrote a preface saying that the author of the work is dead. At 18, he moved
to Rome as he wanted to be part of its culture and nightlife. He was a journalist and
was involved in politics → in 1897 he was elected deputy.
● He had a love story with the noblewoman Maria Hardouin di Gallese. They felt forced to
get married after he got her pregnant. They had 3 boys. After that, they separated but never
officially divorced. They remained legally married until his death. He also had multiple
affairs with married women: Maria Gravina→ they had a daughter, Renata, who was
close to D’Ann → when he got injured to his eye and had to spend 40/50 days at
hospital, Renata assisted him and helped him write “I Notturni” (metaphor, temporary
blind), a book of both prose and poetry, he affectionately called her “sirenetta”;
Eleonora Duse→ an eminent theatrical actress. She appears in one of D’Annunzio
main poems: “La pioggia nel pineto”.
● Although he led an elegant life, he was fascinated by the francescan way of living →
very poor, no partners, no parties, no luxury. After staying in Rome, he and Eleonora
Duse lived a few years in Settignano, a village close to Florence and to Fiesole. Here
he had a mansion called “Capponcina'', which recalls the name of a small chapel in
Assisi, where Saint Francis used to pray. In the “Capponcina '', he pretended to be
Saint Francis by dressing and acting like him. La sera Fiesolana: in this poem (Fiesole
is a village near Florence), D’Ann copies the beginning of Saint Francis’s “Cantico delle
Creature”, which is characterized by the repetition of “Laudato sii”. They moved to
Versilia, where they used to spend their summertime and to ride their horses on the beach.
“La pioggia del pineto”.
● He escaped in Biarritz, France, otherwise he would have been arrested due to his
debts, which would be inherited by his heirs (vs today → they can refuse their late
relative’s inheritage and debts). During the 1° world war, he was a pilot → he
 managed to fly over Vienna, the capital of the Austrian-Hungarian empire, to make
the population aware of their defeat by the italian army. He’s known as “soldier-poet”.
Fiume: when the war ended and the expression “mutilated victory” spread, D’Ann and
a small group of soldiers occupied the city of Fiume, which, according to the
agreements, Italy should have got.
● FASCISM→ he was a supporter of it because of: Superoism; myth of war and Italian
supremacy. But he wasn’t fully involved in fascism, as it was too close to the working
class. Vittoriale degli Italiani: Mussolini wasn’t enthusiastic about him and convinced
him to live in this mansion and Museum near Lake Garda → pictures, paintings,
sculptures, souvenirs from the 1° world war (ex: submarines) + a maze and a giant
turtle’s shield. D’Ann called it “golden cage” as he was being held under control.
● The Italian king/sovereign called D’Ann “il principe del Montenevoso” →
irony/provocation, as he was keen on the sea, on the Greek islands and on the Italian,
French and Austrian coasts. he died in 1938, at 75 years old, in the “Vittoriale degli
Italiani” due to a cerebral hemorrhage.
● IL PIACERE: His first novel was Il piacere, inspired by the book of Joris Karl Huysman
called A ritroso. It is set in Rome and the protagonist is Andrea Sperelli Fieschi d’Ugenta,
a noble man . He is an alter-ego, it is not what D’annunzio was but he is what he wanted to
be. D’annunzio wanted to be handsome and noble. Andrea does not have success at the
end, this is why scholars talked about superomismo negativo, a theory of the philosopher
Friederich Nietsche, who talks about a superman who is the example of an extraordinary
men very successful , he is much better than other human beings. There is no idea of
making such a big comparison with other human beings (especially women). He is clever,
smart, elegant and distinguishes himself over the crowd. Many people thought that his
theory was the basis of Nazism. D’annunzio modifies it. Evils are the main characters of
his novels, in the end they lose their fight with life and society. Andrea is such a kind of
negative superman distinguishing himself over the crowd because of his cleverness and
handsomeness, he was also a member of the high society. He falls in love with Elena Muti
who is already married to an old English nobleman. He had a love story with Elena Muti
which is set in Rome. She suddenly leaves Rome, and Andrea has another relationship
with Maria Ferres, who is already married. She has a shy and weak personality, completely
different from Elena’s. He starts putting Elena’s image on Maria, convincing himself that
they are more or less the same person. The novel ends when Andrea calls her Elena during
a love meeting. She loves him and he finds himself alone having lost both two women.
● IL FUOCO: It is set in Venice and the protagonist Stellio Effrena has a love story with La
Foscarina, who is pretty younger than him. Stellio Effrena is growing distant from la
Foscarina, this is a sort of biographical reference to D’annunzio and Eleonora Duse, an
actress. The novel is set in Venice because it is the city of the decade and old ancient
times, the love of the couple is also decading. Venezia was powerful in the past, and also
does the love story. Many scholars of Futurism, who wanted to make the society much
younger and lively, very aggressive, wanted to eliminate from Italian culture every form of
past glory and every element of decadence. They also said that museums should be
destroyed. Futurism developed a bit later, with the publication of its Manifesto in the
famous French newspaper Le Figaro ,at the beginning of the 20th century.
● THE RAIN IN THE PINETO: The poem is set in Versilia, a region in central-nord
tuscany on the seaside. The protagonists are d'annunzio and Duse who he calls Hermione,
Greek name. They are in a wood, close to the seaside, there are some kinds of small plants.
It is raining, D’annunzio and Ermione find themselves surrounded by nature, and he says
that their bodies are becoming part of the nature around them, this is panism. There Was a
god called Pan, Greek mythology, he was the god of living nature, countries. The word
 pianissimo means feeling part of nature being in a perfect harmony with it. It happened to
the couple. Their bodies are wet , they have this strong sensation that their bodies are in
perfect harmony with nature. He talks about the clothes, the soul, which had to do with
personal feelings. He talks about a fairy tale, he has the feeling that he is living in a fantasy
world. There is a game of sounds that can be noticed called in Italian fonosimbolismo, it
is when sounds have symbolic meaning and when into the poetic text there is constant
reference to different sounds. This game of sounds can only work and be noticed in the
Italian version of the poem because the two versions have different words. Some words
come quite a few times in the poem odo for example or parole, comes in a different In
versione parlano, it is something like a refrain. Piove, dalle nuvole sparse, salmastre ed
arse. MIrti rhyme with irti, fulgenti, aulenti. The word silvani is not translated into
English. A volto silvano is a face mixing with the wood, becoming a mechanism part of
the wood itself. Illude, to illude, it is like a dream or a mirage. The idea of reining comes
again. The language level is really high, he chooses quite a few words that are not
common, Ciel cinerino(grey sky), the word refers to the ashes which are obviously gray
but it is not very common to use, arborea deals with trees. Ebro, it would mean someone
who is drunk but it is weaker than properly drunk, it means tipsy, it is slang to address
someone who is not completely drunk, this person might laugh a bit much and speak a bit
loudly. Ebro is an elegant way to say the same thing. Crepitio, means craving, cracking
under a foot or because we press it, it is a sound fonosimbolismo. Auliscono, aulenti
(coccole), they mean that these cuddles are very beautiful, very high level of beauty.
Monda, means cleans, to clean. Immondo is the antonym, very bad, literally speaking it is
not clean, but we can say that it means very bad. The frog is la figlia del limo lontana, limo
is something produced by the rivers and that is really good for cultivations: he defines the
frog as the daughter of this limo, kind of mud. Alveoli are holes that can be found in the
mouth between each tooth. Malleoli is another part of the body ,close to the ankles, it is
not translated in English. Inniude, means naked, a different Italian version. Solitaria
verdure, it is not food but is nature, grass trees plants surrounding the couple.
● LA SERA FIESOLANA: D'annunzio spent a few years in a village in a Settignano on a
hill. Fiesole is a very ancient town, it is older than Florence founded by Etruscans, it is
very posh. It is near Florence, it has a different municipality and bishop from the
archbishop of Florence. D’annunzio live in the Capponcina, because of the chapel in
Assisi, San Francesco. The poet was theoretically fascinated by him. He copies the
beginning of Laudes Creaturarum laudato sii/praise be. They are repeated in the poem
(praise to you). It is the same sentence chosen by san Francesco il Cantico delle creature.
The linguistic level is high, maybe it is higher than one in the previous poem .He makes a
description of the natural context in the evening, it takesample in the very first part of the
poem . The first lines are addressed to god to San Francesco’s poem, on this item
D’annunzio god is the evening which is represented by a woman, we have the feminine
version if the prase, viso di perla and eyes where is mirrored the water of the sky, he is
talking to a woman. There is a reflection about the evening in many of his poems. Holy
trees are typical of Tuscany's landscape, they are called brothers, the meaning is obviously
religious. The evening is wearing elegant clothes, there is also a belt, the poet also says
that he will give some advice to the evening to clarify some mysteries of life. In the end,
D’Annunzio praises the evening for its poor death: it is probably a way to evoke the last
part of San Francisco's poem when he thanks God for giving human death (San Francesco
lived in eternal life). The poet thanks for a negative thing and also for that time of the day
when it is not completely dark and it is the border between night and day (evening, the day
is almost finished). There are similarities between this poem and San Francesco’s. The
poem is written in volgare, ancient Italian. It is not latin anymore, it has some influences
from latin, for example et, the t is a graphic sign, we do not read it. The sentence at the
beginning is the same. D’annunzio inserted many quotations from other authors; there are
a couple of suggestions from other authors in his poem. Cerule, the fourth choir of
Manzoni Adelchi, talking about Ermengarda death. At some point in this choir, the poet
writes una mano leggera sulla pupilla cerule stende…. The nun of the convent closes her
eyes after her death. Cerula is like light blue. Gabriele also uses the word s'attarder all’opra
lenta (third line) this is an echo of Leopardi’ Sabato del Villaggio, where the poem talks
about an artisan keeping working until late night. Fuggitiva, ,is also an echo form Leopardi
A silvia, gli occhi tuoi ridenti e fuggitivi. The poem deals with many echoes coming from
many authors including San Francisco (the main quotation).