News at Eleven: Pronouns aside, [Umberto] Saba emerges

as a poet powerfully drawn to figures of mothers and girls, as well as to cityscapes. He also loved animals, in a manner so forthright it has been called Franciscan. Consider "The Goat," the poem by which he is best known outside of Italy, from House and Countryside (1909-1910), in which he celebrated the early days of his marriage. The poem is worth giving in full. It shows Saba in mature command of his resources, an art of plain speech and infinitely subtle suggestion:

I talked to a goat.

from The New Republic: Life As A Poem

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