Bidspirit auction | Giuseppe Ungaretti

Giuseppe Ungaretti - Giuseppe Ungaretti - Letter to Marthe Roux - 2 pp., 1958. In Paris, returning from the war, the poet falls in love with Marthe Roux , the enfant frêle also beloved by his close friend, the avant-garde poet Guillaume Apollinaire . Apollinaire had once promised Ungaretti he would translate his first book, The Buried Port, into French. The book had been printed in the trenches by his friend Ettore Serra in Udine, at the height of the Great War. But he died before he could keep his promise. Ungaretti then translates some of his poems himself, to offer them as gifts for Marthe to read. A beautiful story of love and friendship, of war and death. From that period is the present, moving and beautiful autograph letter signed, in French (two thickly written 4th gr. pages, sd but dated '18), from the poet to the ”soft girl”: ”Je suis au combat sur terre de France et si ce secteur est calme pour le moment, ce n'est pas de ma faute [...] I détache de tout [...] je n'ai qu'un désir immense de repos [...] I'll help you, and I'll hope for you again, and I'll never forget the truth.” But it's a farewell letter. Shortly afterwards, still in Paris, Ungà married Jeanne Dupoix. But Marthe remains in Ungaretti's heart. In 1958, after a long period of suffering, Jeanne died. On this occasion, the poet wrote one of the most beautiful poems of his later years, Forever, which was included in The Old Man's Notebook.