Margherita Guidacci
Margherita Guidacci was an influential Italian poet and translator, born on April 25, 1921, in Florence, Italy. She pursued her education in literature at the University of Florence, earning her degree in 1943. Guidacci published her first poetry collection, "La sabbia e l'angelo," in 1945, which poignantly addressed the themes of war and loss following World War II. Throughout her career, she was dedicated not only to her own poetry but also to translating the works of significant English and American authors, including Emily Dickinson and John Donne. Her teaching career spanned several institutions, including the University of Macerata and the Instituto Universitario di Magistero Maria Assunta in Rome.
In the 1970s, Guidacci experienced a prolific phase, producing ten books in ten years, with notable works such as "Neurosuite," which delved into the complexities of life within a mental health setting. Her poetry evolved over the years, reflecting a shift from grief to a celebration of life and the search for harmony amidst suffering. Guidacci received numerous accolades throughout her life for her literary contributions, culminating in a legacy that includes approximately twenty-two original poetry volumes and over thirty translations. She passed away on June 19, 1992, in Rome, leaving a lasting impact on 20th-century Italian poetry.
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Margherita Guidacci
Poet
- Born: April 25, 1921
- Birthplace: Florence, Italy
- Died: June 19, 1992
- Place of death: Rome, Italy
Biography
Margherita Guidacci was born on April 25, 1921, in Florence, Italy. She attended the Lycée Michelangelo. As a child, her life was lonely. Although she began writing as a child, her real work began while studying literature at the University of Florence, earning a degree in 1943. She married Luca Pinna, a writer and sociologist, in 1949, and moved with him to Rome.
Guidacci brought out her first volume of poetry in 1945, La sabbia e l’angelo (the sand and the angel). The book, coinciding with the end of World War II, thematically addressed the war dead. She won the Grazie Prize in 1948 for a collection of unpublished poems. Between 1945 and 1951, Guidacci also worked tirelessly on translations of Emily Dickinson’s poems and John Donne’s sermons into Italian. She also began teaching in public school in 1947. In 1973, Guidacci began teaching at the University of Macerata, where she remained until 1982. She later taught at the Instituto Universitario di Magistero Maria Assunta in Rome.
During the 1950’s and 1960’s, Guidacci continued to concentrate on her translations of important English and American writers, although she did publish three books of poetry during these years. In 1970, Guidacci began a period of remarkable creativity, producing ten books in ten years. Notable among these volumes is her 1970 Neurosuite in which she closely examines life inside a mental hospital. Artistic works, life events, or historical happenings informed many of her poems written between 1970 and 1980. Thematically, many of these poems are concerned with death. Her 1980 volume, L’altare di Isenheim, includes a section of poems written after the death of her husband, and speaks to the grief and absence she felt.
In 1983, Guidacci published Inno alla gioia (hymn to joy). The poems in this book celebrate life in all its forms. The poems mark a thematic shift from her earlier work. Increasingly over the next years, her work turned to not only a recognition of the pain of life, but also to the overwhelming sense that there is harmony and order to the universe, and that all life is part of some harmonious whole. The poems of the last volume published during her lifetime, Il buio e lo splendore (darkness and splendor), published in 1989, continue this theme. Guidacci died on June 19, 1992, in Rome.
Guidacci was honored throughout her life with a series of prizes and awards. Beginning with the 1948 Grazie Prize, she also won the 1957 Carducci, the 1965 Cervia, the 1971 Ceppo, the 1974 Gabicce, the 1975 Lerici, the 1976 Scanno, the 1978 Biella, the 1980 Pontano, the 1981 Silvi, the 1983 Tagliacozzo, and the 1988 Basilicata prizes.
Guidacci’s legacy includes some twenty-two books of her own works and over thirty books of translations of important American and English writers, including Henry James, Mark Twain, Edith Sitwell, Joseph Conrad, Ezra Pound, Emily Dickinson, and John Donne, among others. Her achievements as both poet and translator earned her a spot in the highest ranks of twentieth century Italian poetry.