DOI article:
Benson, Eugene: Gabriele d'Annunzio: the new poet and his work
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.38746#0293
By Eugene Benson 289
style is rare, that the many are incapable of recognising it; for
the many are only curious about life, and dull about art. The
problem for the real artist is to inform art with life, and make art
give shape to life, which is in fact its highest office—for the art of
life is more than the art of painting, or music ; it is the result of
all art acting on the stuff of our days as they come and go. And
yet we call artists, only those who, mastering the technique of
some art, produce beautiful works, yet live sordidly, mindless
that the great artist is like Goethe, who makes a beautiful and
harmonious whole of his life.
Now that d’Annunzio appears to have “ dominated the inevit-
able tumults of his youth,” and walks in the paths of art and beauty
with a pure and serene mind, made free by the truth, we are to
recognise him as master, not only of his art, but of himself. He
emerges from his sense-bound experience with a high philosophy
of being. In a magnificent tribute to Socrates, “ the Master,” he
repeats the immortal narrative of Phaedo, the beloved disciple.
Few pages of modern literature are comparable to his account of
the Platonic dialogue. It is in le Vergine delle Rocce that you can
read anew the impressive story of the last moments of Socrates,
even to the caressing gesture of the serene philosopher, who pauses
in his discourse on death, and the soul, and immortality, to touch
with a playful hand the beautiful hair of Phaedo. The Platonic
narrative is reproduced, freshened and quickened to serve anew as
the note of c< music ” for which d’Annunzio himself is striving.
He strikes a philosophic note ; he shows a Pagan sense of beauty.
The book opens with a solemn, almost Sacerdotal, intonation.
The carnal muse of the new poet seems absent, and we are led to
expect the development of his theme guided by the antique lover
of wisdom, with a full expression of the higher life of the senses
and the soul. It holds nothing vulgar or common, and it aims to
express
style is rare, that the many are incapable of recognising it; for
the many are only curious about life, and dull about art. The
problem for the real artist is to inform art with life, and make art
give shape to life, which is in fact its highest office—for the art of
life is more than the art of painting, or music ; it is the result of
all art acting on the stuff of our days as they come and go. And
yet we call artists, only those who, mastering the technique of
some art, produce beautiful works, yet live sordidly, mindless
that the great artist is like Goethe, who makes a beautiful and
harmonious whole of his life.
Now that d’Annunzio appears to have “ dominated the inevit-
able tumults of his youth,” and walks in the paths of art and beauty
with a pure and serene mind, made free by the truth, we are to
recognise him as master, not only of his art, but of himself. He
emerges from his sense-bound experience with a high philosophy
of being. In a magnificent tribute to Socrates, “ the Master,” he
repeats the immortal narrative of Phaedo, the beloved disciple.
Few pages of modern literature are comparable to his account of
the Platonic dialogue. It is in le Vergine delle Rocce that you can
read anew the impressive story of the last moments of Socrates,
even to the caressing gesture of the serene philosopher, who pauses
in his discourse on death, and the soul, and immortality, to touch
with a playful hand the beautiful hair of Phaedo. The Platonic
narrative is reproduced, freshened and quickened to serve anew as
the note of c< music ” for which d’Annunzio himself is striving.
He strikes a philosophic note ; he shows a Pagan sense of beauty.
The book opens with a solemn, almost Sacerdotal, intonation.
The carnal muse of the new poet seems absent, and we are led to
expect the development of his theme guided by the antique lover
of wisdom, with a full expression of the higher life of the senses
and the soul. It holds nothing vulgar or common, and it aims to
express