Eugenio Montale

Born Oct. 12, 1896, in Genoa. Italian poet and representative of the hermetic movement.

Montale’s lyric poetry of the 1920’s and 1930’s, including the collections Cuttlefish Bones (1925) and The Occasions (1939), expresses the precarious nature of existence and the inner loneliness of man. During World War II and the period of the Italian resistance movement, his lyrical diary reflected a protest against the inhumanity of fascism, for example, his poem “Hitlerite Spring” (1943). In his postwar poetry, Montale sought to find a way out of pessimism toward greater mutual understanding, as in his collection The Whirlwind and More (1956). In the collection Satura (1972), the lyrical internal monologue is very topical and humanistic themes are combined with social irony. Montale was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1975.