Selection of Modern Italian Poetry in Translation

Payne pays particular attention to poets of the fifties and sixties, futurists, and female poets. She notes that the futurists, who have rarely been translated, were particularly important as they were truly original, attempting to develop new notions of word, line, sound, and phrase. Such new notions make translating them particularly challenging. She also offers a large sampling from poets of the fifties and sixties, many of whom have won the Viareggio Prize. Poems by women in this volume reflect diverse schools and directions while maintaining a distinctly female voice.