DOI article:
Benson, Eugene: Gabriele d'Annunzio: the new poet and his work
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.38746#0288
Gabriele d’Annunzio
The New Poet and His Work
By Eugene Benson
Sovran maestro d’ogni melodia ”
I
he new romance and the new prose come to us from Italy.
1 After the attempt, first in France, then here, to make prose
a richer means of expression, it is interesting to see what has been
done in Italian.
It is one thing to limit language, as in a leading article, to the
mere understanding, that is, to the business style ; it is another
thing to make it correspond with, and express, the whole range of
emotion and thought of a poet.
The pedestrian step of the rank and file of writers, doubtless, is
the proper result of discipline ; fit for daily use ; it leads one
forward from fact to fact; but it is not wise to confine all move-
ment of mind and heart to its pace and form.
The concise phrase showing the greatest economy of words,
and the most effective use of them for a given purpose, is not an
illustration of all the resources of language. For a whole order of
sensations and ideas'—those of the poet and the artist, that is to
say
The New Poet and His Work
By Eugene Benson
Sovran maestro d’ogni melodia ”
I
he new romance and the new prose come to us from Italy.
1 After the attempt, first in France, then here, to make prose
a richer means of expression, it is interesting to see what has been
done in Italian.
It is one thing to limit language, as in a leading article, to the
mere understanding, that is, to the business style ; it is another
thing to make it correspond with, and express, the whole range of
emotion and thought of a poet.
The pedestrian step of the rank and file of writers, doubtless, is
the proper result of discipline ; fit for daily use ; it leads one
forward from fact to fact; but it is not wise to confine all move-
ment of mind and heart to its pace and form.
The concise phrase showing the greatest economy of words,
and the most effective use of them for a given purpose, is not an
illustration of all the resources of language. For a whole order of
sensations and ideas'—those of the poet and the artist, that is to
say