Salvatore Quasimodo

In 1935 a daughter was born to him outside his marriage.

On June 14, 1968, he died of cerebral haemorrhage in a hospital in Naples. He was buried in Milan at the ‘Cimitero Monumentale’.

He was born on August 20, 1901, in Modica, Sicily to Gaetano Quasimodo and Clotilde Ragusa. His father was a railroad employee.

His family relocated to Messina in 1908, where his father was delegated to help people hit due to a catastrophic earthquake.

He joined the ‘Institute of Mathematics and Physical Palermo Technical’ in 1916.

His first poems were published in ‘Nuovo giornale letterario’, a monthly journal, though short-lived, founded by him in 1917.

He completed his graduation from the Technical College of Messina in 1919 and then moved to Rome to complete his education in engineering at the ‘Politecnico’ there, but had to drop out due to financial constraints. He also studied Greek and Latin.

He relocated to Florence in 1929 after accepting an invitation from his brother-in-law and writer Elio Vittorini. Vittorini introduced him to poets like Arturo Loria, Eugenio Montale, Alessandro Bonsanti and Gianna Manzini. Eventually he became an adherent of the Hermetic movement.

In 1930 he was appointed by the ‘Civil Engineering Corps’ and was posted in Reggio Calabria in southern Italy. The same year he published three of his poems ‘Tree’, ‘First Time’ and ‘Angels’ in ‘Solaria’ magazine.

Thereafter in 1930 itself he came out with his first collection of poems, ‘Acque e terre’ (‘Waters and Earths’), which was published for ‘Solaria’ editions. The collection was based on the theme of Sicily, his native place that he left years ago.

He relocated to Imperia in 1931 and thereafter to Genoa. In Genoa he met several personalities of ‘Circoli’ magazine including Camillo Sbarbaro.

His successful alliance with ‘Circoli’ magazine saw him publish his second collection of poems, ‘Oboe sommerso’ (‘Sunken Oboe’) with them in 1932. He is seen as a more matured poet and the poems stand out for their rhythmic synchronisation of words encompassing a lyrical core.

In 1959 he received the Nobel Prize for Literature.