Old Poetry Poetry • Poets • Essays • Forums •

Umberto Saba

I lived from 1883-1957. I was from Italy, and am in the European category.

Umberto Saba was born Umberto Poli, in 1883. His father: a christian, abandoned his mother: a jew, while she was still pregnant with him, so Saba was brought up by his mother and aunts in the Jewish quarter of Trieste; he did not meet his father until he was 20 years old.



Saba garnered little formal education. In 1919, he purchased a bookstore in Trieste, in 1921, he published a collection of poems under his own imprint. The title of the collection is

"Il canzoniere" which translates to "The Songbook". The poems were arranged as if they were in a narrative order, the book posed itself in a countinous lyrical unity which seemed to

present itself as an autobiography.



Saba would gradually add to the volume, and new editions appeared in 1945, 1951, and 1961. At the eventual end, it contained more than four hundred poems, written over a fifty year period.



Since Saba was of mixed race (christian and jewish), he had to leave Trieste during the Nazi occupation. He fled to Florence, Italy, and spent the duration of the war moving from house to house to keep one step ahead of possible deportation or worse. Saba died in 1957 in Gorizia, Italy.









biblio: ilnarratore.com

Popular poetry

Search my poetry:
1 - 10 of 15  Show all by written, popularity, title, first line
  • A Winter Noon
    Who in the moment of my happiness
    (God forgive my using a word so grand,
    21 lines, 2 comments
  • La Capra
    Ho parlato a una capra.
    Era sola sul prato, era legata.
    14 lines
  • Il Borgo
    Fu nelle vie di questo
    Borgo che nuova cosa
    93 lines
  • Dopo La Tristezza
    Questo pane ha il sapore d'un ricordo,
    mangiato in questa povera osteria,
    21 lines
  • Teatro Degli Artigianelli
    Falce martello e la stella d'Italia
    ornano nuovi la sala. Ma quanto
    23 lines
  • Cittą Vecchia
    Spesso, per ritornare alla mia casa
    prendo un'oscura via di cittą vecchia.
    26 lines
  • L'ora Nostra
    Sai un'ora del giorno che pił bella
    sia della sera? tanto
    25 lines
  • Squadra Paesana
    Anch'io tra i molti vi saluto, rosso-
    alabardati,
    22 lines
  • A Mia Moglie
    Tu sei come una giovane
    una bianca pollastra.
    94 lines
  • Tre Momenti
    Di corsa usciti a mezzo il campo, date
    prima il saluto alle tribune. Poi,
    19 lines
1 - 10 of 15  Show all by written, popularity, title, first line

Start a forum topic about this poet

, Content