Corrado Govoni defies definition in spite of the fact that he has been identified as a member of both the crepuscolari (twilight poets) and Filippo Tommaso Marinetti's futurist movement. Govoni assimilated different poetics into his own particular brand of poetry, which includes a conflation of styles and influences that exemplify the nature of his eclecticism and his attempt to encompass all he liked and admired. It was he who first articulated those poetic elements that became indispensable to the crepuscolari, in a letter written to fellow poet Gian Pietro Lucini in 1904: "Ho sempre amato le cose tristi, la musica girovaga, i canti d'amore cantati dai vecchi nelle osterie, le preghiere delle suore, i mendicanti pittorescamente stracciati e malati, i convalescenti, gli autunni melanconici pieni di addii, le primavere nei collegi quasi timorose, le campagne magnetiche, le chiese dove piangono indifferentemente i ceri, le rose che si sfogliano sugli...