Abstract

This thesis presents a human and artistic profile of Camillo Sbarbaro (1888-1967). It is set against the geographical and historical background of the first part of the twentieth century to which Sbarbaro belonged. It explains the salient points of the poetic tradition of Liguria emphasizing that Liguria, both as a physical reality and as an objective correlative of existential meditation, played a significant role, not only in the works of the poets born in this region but also in the works which visitors or admirers have written to describe Liguria. In order to underline the specificity of the Ligurian sensibility vis-à-vis the landscape, the thesis dedicates a chapter to the journal La Riviera Ligure (1895-1919). Camillo Sbarbaro was one of its major contributors, and by writing for this magazine, he began his literary career. The final chapter of the first part of the thesis is a glance at the historical, political and the artistic themes at the end of the nineteenth century. The second part of this thesis presents the arrival of modern poetry in Italy and links it to the rise of existentialism in early twentieth century Europe. Another section deals with the often unspoken debt of Eugenio Montale to Sbarbaro--a debt of themes, language, ideas--all never properly nor fully acknowledged. A third section compares and contrasts Montale and Sbarbaro and ascertains their artistic merit. In the comparison Sbarbaro emerges as being as significant as Montale. Sbarbaro is presented with Giuseppe Ungaretti as the harbinger of contemporary Italian poetry and Montale becomes to an extent Sbarbaro's pupil