Ravenna - Ravenna in Literature

Ravenna in Literature

  • Ravenna is the setting for Thomas Middleton's The Witch.
  • Lord Byron lived in Ravenna between 1819 and 1821, led by the love for a local aristocratic and married young woman, Teresa Guiccioli. Here he continued the Don Juan and wrote the Ravenna Diary, My Dictionary and Recollections.
  • Oscar Wilde wrote a poem entitled "Ravenna" in 1878.
  • Russian Symbolist poet Alexander Blok wrote a poem entitled Ravenna (May–June 1909) inspired by his Italian journey (spring 1909).
  • During his travels, German poet Hermann Hesse came across Ravenna and was inspired to write two poems of the city. They are entitled Ravenna (1) and Ravenna (2).
  • The City of Ravenna is mentioned in Canto V in Dante's Inferno.
  • T.S. Eliot's poem "Lune de Miel" (written in French) describes a honeymooning couple from Indiana sleeping not far from the ancient Basilica of Sant' Apollinare in Classe, (just outside Ravenna), famous for the carved capitals of its columns, which depict acanthus leaves buffeted by the wind, unlike the leaves in repose on similar columns elsewhere.

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