[Mario Luzi's] Su fondamenti invisibili made us aware of a new, resolutely tragic tone in his voice. The preciosite characteristic of the Italian hermetic school had disappeared, and in its place we had heavy, slow-moving poems tending towards some negative revelation. Luzi has now produced a volume of critical essays, ranging in subject from Lucretius to Montale. [Vicissitude e forma] shows a remarkable advance on his previous critical work, if an increasing awareness of tragedy can be labelled as an advance….

Every page of [Vicissitude e forma] turns out to be a desperate rather than a confident defence of poetry. Luzi seems to be making poetry into the legitimate expression of an inner world rather than a technique. But the battle for the preservation of this inner world is lost, and Luzi knows it.

Guido Almansi, "Bearers of Ill-Luck," in The Times Literary Supplement (© Times Newspapers Ltd. (London...