Sergio Solmi's poetry, though contemporaneous with both the crepuscular and hermetic tendencies of the first half of the twentieth century, remained apart from any movement. He was, however, influenced by the poetry of Giacomo Leopardi and Eugenio Montale. Often melancholic and even ironic, Solmi's verses record the spiritual essence of events and feelings both momentous and intimate, alternating an enthusiasm for life with a sense of life's lacerating toll. Memory plays an important role, as a source of enchantment and unexpected revelation and as a source of painful nostalgia. Solmi's poetry is occasionally marked by an expressionistic element, yet remains controlled by his skeptical intelligence.

In addition to his poetry, Solmi produced a large corpus of essays and literary criticism. The poetry itself has something of an expository tendency: it attests his desire to bear witness to his time by revealing the experience of one man subject to...