Elio Pagliarani's vigorous and exacting experimentation with language accounts for his poetic importance. By his constant and documented ideological debate with the literary establishment, especially as a member of "Gruppo '63," Pagliarani has protected artistic freedom from the encroaching, declining aesthetics of neorealism and hermeticism, and from the debilitating compromises sought by postindustrial authoritarians. In three broad periods of activity, he has chronicled the harsh stories of common people, exposed the exasperating quality of the language available to poets, and recycled traditional reflective texts to promote a calm inner debate. The poet lives in Rome with his wife, the former Cetta Petrollo; they have two children.

Born in Viserba on 25 May 1927, Pagliarani developed strong sensitivities to mathematical thinking, poetic expression, social justice, and the tenuousness of existence. He studied at the Liceo Scientifico, where he aspired to become a mathematics professor. His father, a courageous socialist persecuted since...