Giuseppe's formal education began in the French language, as he attended The Swiss International School in Alexandria. There he read poetry by Gabriele d'Annunzio, Charles Baudelaire, Jules Laforgue, Stéphane Mallarmé and Arthur Rimbaud.
In 1912, Giuseppe went to live in Paris in France.
When war broke out in 1914, Giuseppe enlisted in the Italian Infantry and saw action on the Italian Front. While serving, he began to write poetry inspired by his experiences.
One of his famous poems regarding the First World War is “Soldati” (soldiers):
Si sta come
d'autunno
sugli alberi
le foglie
They’re like
The leaves
of the trees
in autumn
—Bois de Courton[22], July 1918 —M. Tanzy, November, 2015
“Veglia”
Un'intera nottata
buttato vicino
a un compagno
massacrato
con la sua bocca
digrignata
volta al plenilunio
con la congestione
delle sue mani
penetrata
nel mio silenzio
ho scritto
lettere piene d'amore
Non sono mai stato
tanto
attaccato alla vita
Composta giovedì 23 dicembre 1915
dal libro "L'Allegria" di Giuseppe Ungaretti Poesie d'Autore - da PensieriParole.it <https://www.pensieriparole.it/poesie/poesie-d-autore/>
Translation:
“Vigil”
A whole night
Snuggled close
to a slain colleague
with his clenched mouth
grinning
at the full moon
with his swollen
hands
penetrating
my silence
I wrote
letters filled with love
I have never been
so
attached to life.
Written at Cima Quattro, Thursday, 23rd December 1915
From "L'Allegria" (Tr. Cheerfulness) by Giuseppe Ungaretti, published in 1931
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| One of Ungaretti’s poems, carved in stone in the square of San Martino del Carso in Sagrado in the Province of Gorizia. |
Works by Ungaretti:
Il porto sepolto ("The Buried Port", 1916 and 1923)
La guerra ("The War", 1919 and 1947)
Allegria di naufragi ("The Joy of Shipwrecks", 1919)
L'allegria ("The Joy", 1931)
Sentimento del tempo ("The Feeling of Time", 1933)
Traduzioni ("Translations", 1936)
Poesie disperse ("Scattered Poems", 1945)
Il dolore ("The Pain", 1947)
La terra promessa ("The Promised Land", 1950)
Un grido e paesaggi ("A Shout and Landscapes", 1952)
Il taccuino del vecchio ("The Old Man's Notebook", 1960)
Vita di un uomo ("The Life of a Man", 1969)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Ungaretti
https://behindtheirlines.blogspot.com/search?q=Giuseppe+Ungaretti
