Figura e occhio in "La bella vista" di Umberto Fiori

Visual elements play a key role in Umberto Fiori’s poetry. In his early collections, the author pursued a significant deflation of the lyrical subject, by omitting biographical information, while at the same time giving overwhelming importance to the act of seeing. In "La bella vista" (2002), “sight” becomes even more central both as a thematic nucleus and as stylistic framing. This study investigates the key stylistic devices deployed in "La bella vista", which revolve around the act of seeing. Thanks to the extensive and consistent use of these devices, the poems in the collection are best described as images seen by what can be defined as a “lyrical eye”. The most important among the figural strategies deployed are the high frequency of verbs of seeing, the extensive recourse to detail selection and montage, the employment of visual similes, and the presence of lighting effects and contrast. The analysis aims to show how the use of these devices is closely bound with the philosophical core of the book, which engages with the nature of logos and the foundations of community.