THE following half dozen poems have been selected from the "Odi Barbare,"[1] on the two volumes of which Carducci's fame most clearly rests. The first edition of these Odes appeared in 1877, and owing to certain metrical innovations gave rise to a storm of discussion among the critics. Stronger, however, than the Italian reverence for established form is the Italian responsiveness to beauty. It was recognized that the Odes presented a thoroughly harmonious whole, however unlawfully attained, and the contest ended in the establishment of Carducci as the foremost among living Italian poets and of the Odes as a triumphant assertion, not only of his maturest poetic thought, but of his mastery of a scheme of versification which, on first consideration, might appear somewhat alien to the genius of the language.
Of the wonderful variety and beauty of this versification, I realize that my translations give
- ↑ A considerable number of the poems of Carducci have already been translated and published in book form by the Rev. Frank Sewall. In his collection, however, comparatively few of the "Odi Barbare" find place, and none of those which I have here chosen.
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