DOI: 10.1344/AFLC2015.5.2 THE CONSCIENCE OF POETIC LANGUAGE AS A REDOUBT OF DEEP SPIRITUAL FREEDOM AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF GUIDO GOZZANO’S LA VÍA DEL REFUGIO

Abstract

This study examines the reasons for the complex structure of Gozzano’s La vía del refugio (1907), the first book of poetry out of the two he published during his lifetime. This collection of poems brings together the first phase of Gozzano’s poetry (1901-1907) where Gabriele d'Annunzio’s aesthetic influence is predominant. During the preparation and structuring of this first book for its publication, in 1907, Gozzano had to hid this clear influence due to the intelligent change of direction of his poetics which evolved towards a type of anti-aesthetic poetry and, therefore, against d’Annunzio’s own poetry. The censorship that the poetic texts underwent resulted in a book seemingly devoid of d’Annunzio’s elements in which the author assumed a conception of poetic language which was more in agreement with the European poetic experimentation of the time and was also aimed at the literary expression of full spiritual freedom.