The title of this project alludes to the terms used by Gabriele D'Annunzio to describe his translation experiments (from Latin and Ancient Greek) in his first youthful collection of poems.
Firstly, I propose a textual analysis and a literary interpretation of his essays on several Horatian poems and the translations (from Catullus, Tibullus and, above all, from Horace for the Latin and from Pseudo-Homer for the Greek) produced by the Italian poet in his youth (1879-81).
Secondly, I will research both the stylistic and intertextual influence of classical texts (especially those commented and translated) on D'Annunzio's early poetry (1879-1892).
The aim is to carry out a monographic study in the following way: critical edition of translations and commentaries; literary and intertextual commentary through the analysis of references, allusions and specific topoi that D'Annunzio introduced in his early texts, based on his experience as a reader (and translator) of the classics.
Recurring motifs in D'Annunzio's literature and their relation to the ancient auctores will provide a point of departure for this research, with a specific field of investigation being the youthful lyric production (1879-1892, i.e. from Primo vere to Elegie Romane).