Sandro Penna
Sandro Penna was an Italian poet born in Perugia in 1906, known for his homoerotic themes expressed through brief and epigrammatic verse. His childhood was marked by a tumultuous relationship with his heiress mother and health challenges that delayed his education. Penna pursued a degree in accounting before moving to Milan and Rome, where he engaged in various odd jobs while cultivating a passion for literature, influenced by romantic poets such as Hölderlin and Rimbaud. He formed a significant connection with the poet Umberto Saba, whose work inspired Penna's own literary endeavors. His first poetry collection, "Poesie," was published in 1938 during Mussolini's regime and received positive reviews despite the era's oppressive climate. Penna's work often celebrated the beauty of youth, but it faced backlash for its homosexual themes, particularly after the 1957 reissue of "Poesie," which provoked anti-gay sentiments. Despite financial struggles later in life, his poetry continued to resonate, and he was awarded the Premio Bagutta in 1977 for his collection "Stranezze." Penna passed away on January 21, 1977, from heart failure, reportedly linked to an overdose of sleeping pills.
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Subject Terms
Sandro Penna
Poet
- Born: January 12, 1906
- Birthplace: Perugia, Italy
- Died: January 21, 1977
- Place of death: Rome, Italy
Biography
Sandro Penna was born in Perugia, Italy, in 1906. His father was a shopkeeper; his mother was an heiress and she and her son shared a tumultuous relationship that informed Penna’s childhood. Penna himself suffered from poor health as a child and did not begin school until he was eight years old. Ultimately he took a degree in accounting from Perugia’s technical institute and moved to Milan and later to Rome, where he worked at a number of odd jobs. A voracious reader, he explored the works of romantic poets such as Friedrich Hoelderlin, Arthur Rimbaud, Edgar Allan Poe, and Oscar Wilde.
Penna met Umberto Saba, one of his literary heros, through a doctor to whom he went for help dealing with his homosexual desires. Saba’s novel about an older man’s love for a young man had already engaged Penna’s interest, and Saba’s influence helped Penna as he began to publish. Although all of Penna’s poetry dealt with homoerotic themes, it was never pornographic, nor was it so specific that it roused outrage in the reading public. By the same token, the poet was never unduly eager to get his work into print; instead, he seems to have been confident that his poems would find their own time. Nevertheless, his first volume, Poesie (1938), found a publisher during the relatively repressive era of Benito Mussolini’s dictatorship. It received favorable reviews and was reissued twice.
Through wartime Italy and afterwards, Penna eked out a living, partly by dealing in prepared foods and later dealing in artwork supplied by artist friends; his mother’s inheritance was also helpful in supporting him. The second issuing of Poesie in 1957 won the Viareggio Prize but resulted for the first time in an outburst of antigay sentiment from the public. Nevertheless, Penna continued to publish his brief and epigrammatic verse; his usual subjects are beautiful boys, angelic but unspecific in his description. At the end of his life, Penna suffered from a variety of health problems exacerbated by lack of funds, a situation which led him to give interviews for money. With the help of some writer friends, his collection Stranezze was published in 1976. It was awarded the Premio Bagutta in 1977. A week later, on January 21, 1977, Penna died of heart failure, perhaps brought on by an overdose of sleeping pills.