Alda Merini is one of Italy's most important, and most beloved, living poets. She has won many of the major national literary prizes and has twice been nominated for the Nobel Prize--by the French Academy in 1996 and by Italian PEN in 2001. In Love Lessons, the distinguished American poet Susan Stewart brings us the largest and most comprehensive s

Acknowledgments, ix Translator's Introduction, 1 Acknowledgments, ix Translator's Introduction, 1 from FIORE DI POESIA: 1951-1997/POETRY'S FLOWER from La presenza di Orfeo / The Presence of Orpheus (1953) La presenza di Orfeo/The Presence of Orpheus, 18 Saro sola?/Will I Be Alone?, 24 from Paura di Dio/Fear of God (1955) Solo una mano d'angelo/Only an Angel's Hand, 26 Maria Egiziaca (Tintoretto)/Mary of Egypt (Tintoretto), 28 Pax/Peace, 30 from Nozze romane/Roman Wedding (1955) Nozze romane/Roman Wedding, 34 La Pieta/The Pieta, 36 La Sibilla Cumana/The Cumaean Sibyl, 38 Quando l'angoscia/When the Anguish, 40 from Tu sei Pietro/You Are Pietro (1961) from Parte prima/The First Part Missione di Pietro/Peter's Mission , 42 from Parte seconda/The Second Part Sogno/Dream, 44 Lirica antica/Antique Lyric, 46 E piu facile ancora/And It Would Be Even Easier, 48 from La Terra Santa/The Holy Land (1984) Io ero un uccello/As for me, I used to be a bird, 50 Tangenziale dell'ovest/Western Ring Road, 52 La luna s'apre nei giardini del manicomio/The moon unveils itself in the madhouse gardens, 54 Il mio primo trafugamento di madre/My first mothertheft, 56 from Per Michele Pierri/For Michele Pierri (unpublished until 1991) Il canto dello sposo/The Song of the Groom, 58 Elegia/Elegy, 60 from La gazza ladra. Venti ritratti/The Thieving Magpie: Twenty Portraits (unpublished until 1991) Saffo/Sappho, 62 Emily Dickinson/Emily Dickinson, 64 Plath/Plath, 66 Alda Merini/Alda Merini, 68 Il pastrano/The Overcoat, 70 Il grembiule/The Apron, 72 L'ospite/The Guest, 74 from Le satire della Ripa/Ripa's Satires (1983) Cesare amo Cleopatra/Caesar loved Cleopatra, 76 from La palude di Manganelli o Il monarca del re/Manganelli's Quagmire or The King's Reign (1992) Otello/Othello, 78 from Titano amori interno/Colossal Inner Loves (1993) La sottoveste/The Slip, 80 from Ballate non pagate/Penniless ballads (1995) Tornai allora a quella neve chiara/Then I went back to that bright snow, 82 from La volpe e il sipario/The Fox and the Curtain (1997) Che insostenibile chiaroscuro/What unbearable chiaroscuro, 84 from Aforismi/Aphorisms (1997), 86 from SUPERBA E LA NOTTE/SUPERB IS THE NIGHT (2000) Sulla noce di un'albicocca/On the pit of an apricot, 92 La cosa piu superba e la notte/The most superb thing is the night, 94 La notte se non e rapida/Night, if it is not swift, 96 C'era una fontana che dava albe/There was a fountain that offered dawns, 98 Naviglio che soccorri la mia carne/Naviglio that succors my fl esh, 100 Ci sono i paradisi artifi ciali/There are artificial paradises, 102 Resti un ardente ulivo/Stay steady burning olive tree, 104 In morte di mia sorella/On the Death of My Sister, 106 O canto della neve chiuso dentro la fossa/Oh song of the snow stuck inside the ditch, 108 Guerra/War, 110 Il Corvo/The Raven, 112 Il grido della morte/The Cry of Death, 116 Unpublished (composed 2001) Nella terra di Scozia/In the land of Scotland, 122 Notes, 125

"[T]hese lovely translations will enable American readers, many of whom will be encountering these poets for the first time, to see what all the fuss is about."--David Skeel, Books & Culture "Every now and then, poetry is capable of hitting the mark--more simply, accurately and succinctly--than anything else in the world. It can touch, heel, inspire, enquire, and what's more, understand, during periods of extreme pain, peril and anguish; which, if we really, really think about it, is what accounts for poetry's inexorable validity. So when something great comes along, it certainly lightens the load and brightens the day. It's simply wonderful, and as such, ought to be embraced with both open arms and an open heart. Such is the case with Love Lessons, the selected poems of one of Italy's most beloved and important poets, Alda Merini."--David Marx, davidmarx.co.uk "Little translated ... in the English language, [Alda Merini's] work is intelligently presented with an insightful introduction by American translator and poet Susan Stewart."--Greta Aart, Cerise Press "The line-by-line accuracy of Stewart's translations nearly makes of Love Lessons a primer for students of Italian."--Will Schutt, West Branch

"What we have in Love Lessons is a fantastic selection of poems by Alda Merini, one of Italy's foremost poets, translated into English by Susan Stewart, one of America's foremost poets. As millions of Italian readers already know—and English readers are about to discover for the first time—to open a book by Merini is to discover a poetry of immediate freshness, unlike any other."—Robert P. Harrison, Rosina Pierotti Professor in Italian Literature, Stanford University"Alda Merini is one of the most powerful contemporary female poets writing in Italian. In poems marked by a visionary clarity and lyricism, she sings of the anger and pain of both erotic love and insanity. Susan Stewart's translation is breathtaking. She has accomplished the impossible: a faithful, almost line-by-line translation that is deeply and authentically poetic. The poems speak in their own tongue."—Margaret Brose, University of California, Santa Cruz