Arrows in the Gale & Other Poems

This volume comprises the collected poems that Arturo Giovannitti wrote in English. Giovannitti's extremely long and loose Whitmanesque lines, as well as his eulogy "The Death of Flavio Venanzi," "The Bankrupt's Suicide" and "Scientist," provide a key piece in understanding the development of the prose poem in the United States. Giovannitti made prominent, but largely forgotten, contributions to American arts and letters during the first part of the twentieth century, well before Italian-Americans were recognized as making valid contributions to the cultural life of the United States - at least outside the realm of theatrical performers, singers and musicians. This cultural amnesia may be due in part to Giovannitti's radicalism and pacifism, in part to him not exactly living as a choir boy throughout his life and in part due to his reluctance to promote himself as a writer. His mission was to sing to those slaving away in factories and sweatshops, to sing to those who (if they were lucky) could read his poems in various socialist newspapers and journals (but who were more likely to have had someone read Giovannitti's work to them or possibly heard him speak at a union meeting or political gathering). Giovannitti's political mission shaped his poetic vision and expression. As orator, agitator, organizer, poet, playwright, essayist, journalist, doubter and believer, he sought to better the plight of the worker.