Deity or Divine Sorceress: The Evolution of the donna angelicata in the Italian Works of Dionysios Solomos

Abstract

Wrongfully underestimated is the extent to which the feminine sublime pervades thecollective literary compositions of Dionysios Solomos, from the poetic productions of hisyouth to those literary projects undertaken in the years preceding his death. Indeed, theexpanse of Solomos’ literary works are meticulously laced with transcendental female figures,Christ-like divinities rather, radiating a supernatural aura of which the surrounding cosmosin its entirety is in awe. Gradually discernible becomes the fact that Solomos’ divine, etherealwoman is a ubiquitous, potent force whose successive evolution is not only proof of itsdynamism, but of its indisputable eminence in the works of a poet to whom this woman’spresence is, in no uncertain terms, indispensable. Due to obvious restrictions of space, I havechosen to focus upon the development of the transcendental female form in Solomos’ Italianworks, after all, it is in those Italian poetic compositions of his youth, specifically those whichcomprise the Rime Improvvisate (1822), that the donna angelicatamakes her first of a multitudeof appearances.