Last Voyage: Selected Poems of Giovanni Pascoli
“The major portion of this ambtious translation is devoted to Pascoli’s revisionist version of Homer’s epic; in it Odysseus does not return home, slay the suitors and embrace his wife. Instead, he falls into a deep sleep, sails past Ithaka and is forced to revisit his former route, complete with heart-stopping adventures and profound grief. The narration is deft, elegiac, and intensely lyrical, making this book a pleasure to read.”—Maxine Kumin  “The poetic landscape of Pascoli, captured here in excellent English translations, is deceptively simple. It resonates like a “sound that falls evenly, softly, like a persuading voice”, to borrow from one of Pascoli’s poems. Spanning short lyrical pieces as well as longer neoclassical narratives, Pascoli's poetry gives an impression of smoothness, though its intensity is derived precisely from hidden dramatic themes and tensions.  At times overtly philosophical, shot through with deep melancholic wisdom or irony, this richly orchestrated verse veers between potent references to ancient civilization and contemporary everyday experiences, displaying a distinct ear for the quotidian profanity of modern Italian poetic language.”—Iztok Osojnik