Carlo Bo

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Carlo Bo (January 25, 1911 – July 21, 2001) was an Italian poet, literary critic, humanist, professor, and senator for life. He was born in Sestri Levante, Italy. He studied at the University of Florence from 1929 to 1934, switching from classical to modern literature and earning his degree in 1934. Bo wrote his first book in 1935, a study of Jacques Rivière. In 1936 he published an essay in the literary magazine Il Frontespizio about “literature as a way of life,” outlining his ideas on hermetic poetry, a difficult, tightly crafted poetry style.

In 1939 he began teaching French literature at the University of Urbino. From 1947 he was rector of the University of Urbino, a role he held for more than 50 years. Bo was made a senator for life on July 18, 1984. He belonged to several political parties: Christian Democrats (1987–1994), Italian People’s Party (1994–2001), and The Daisy (2001 until his death).

Bo helped lead the hermetic poetry movement, influencing poets like Salvatore Quasimodo and Eugenio Montale, who both won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Bo did not win the Nobel. He once commented on Dario Fo’s 1997 Nobel Prize, saying he might be too old to understand and that literature keeps changing. He wrote about 40 books and founded the Gentile da Fabriano prize. He died in Genoa in 2001 at age 90.