Professor Cavatorta presented to us about Italian poetry of the 1960s and 1970s. This was especially literature from the neo-avant-garde movement. At Colby I have not had the opportunity to study poetry, or any literature beyond a novel in the context of a classroom, so I found much of his analysis, and all of meaning that you can get out of not just a single poem, but collection of poems from a movement very intriguing. Professor Cavatorta provided background of the clashing of generations in Italy at the time, post world war 2 and during the Cold War. Two worlds, young and old are unable to communicate with each other because of fundamental different values that, to an extent, manifest in the literature of the time. I learned that in poetry of the neo-avant-garde movement allows the author to disappear, and focusing on new structure methodology. For example, “A fragmented world,” uses nature imagery, but also has very confusing scientific language and a rather disjointed visual structure. However, Professor Cavatorta made the excellent point that confusion helps drive curiosity and the will to figure out what a poem might mean.

As a final thought, there was a comment Professor Cavatora made, and rings true for me: the fate of literature depends on the times. Writings relevant today were not relevant for the past, but the poetry of the neo-avant-garde movement really did reflect the atmosphere of Italy at the time.