POETRY

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31784, 14 September 1968, Page 4

POETRY

Poetry Australia, Number 22/23 (August 1968). Edited by Grace Perry. South Head Press. 100 pp.

As far as content is concerned, very little criticism can be levelled at this Italian Issue: well-known poets like Quasimodo, Montale, and Ungaretti are included, and the parallel translations of all the poems are close enough to be very helpful without being shackled by literal clumsiness. Selection of the poems (by a total of 22 writers) was made by Vanni Scheiwiller, an Italian publisher, who also assisted Walter and Mary de Rachewiltz in the translation. The anthology is introduced by 25 pages of “notes on some modem Italian poetry” by Frederick May, Professor of Italian at Sydney University. His informal critical technique In places lapses into vague emotionalism, and the essay could be profitably condensed into about five pages, but the introduction is nevertheless an indispensable asset to the issue, especially for those who are not familiar with the Italian cultural climate.

The individual may determine whether parallel texts are in fact valuable for a wide audience—the amount a poem loses in translation varies considerably according to the style—but It cannot be denied that a large amount of space is wasted in this issue by the printing In entirety (with translation) of a number of poems in both the text and also the Introduction.