Cette thèse se propose de mette en évidence la façon dont Salvatore Quasimodo perçoit le sensible comme un tissu de « signes » qu’il apparente à des messages de l’invisible. Celui-ci les guette dans une quête spirituelle et existentielle générée par son incapacité à habiter harmonieusement le sensible, qu’il tente de combler par un rapport fusionnel à l’invisible : ses premiers poèmes s’apparentent à une solipsiste et onirique sublimation de la souffrance du « je » lyrique dont Dieu est l’interlocuteur unique, dans un dialogue où les mots sont remplacés par les signes. La seconde guerre mondiale introduit un premier changement d’indexation dans le rapport du poète au monde, l’obligeant à une redéfinition de son rapport à l’invisible et, par conséquent, au sensible. Son catholicisme se mue alors en humanisme, manifestation laïque d’une foi qui, elle, ne vacille pas. Au moment où il cesse de croire en Dieu, le poète se met à croire en l’homme. Cet élan enthousiaste est cependant de courte durée : l’homme dont Quasimodo avait rêvé de faire un héros se révèle aussi décevant que Dieu. Le poète se sent alors trahi par l’un comme par l’autre et constate avec amertume la déréliction des signes. Le dernier recueil du Sicilien, Dare e avere, introduit une ultime rupture dans son rapport au monde : celui-ci apparaît soudainement comme réconcilié avec le sensible comme avec l’invisible, dans une plénitude épiphanique. Mais ce qui pourrait à première vue apparaître comme l’accomplissement heureux d’un douloureux parcours initiatique se révèle trompeur : ces derniers recueils sont en réalité une sublimation littéraire de la terreur que ressent le poète à l’approche de la mort. / This thesis aims to show that Salvatore Quasimodo apprehends the physical​​ world as a network of signs he identifies as messages from the invisible world.  He watches out for them in a spiritual and existential quest originating in his inability to live in harmony in the physical world, which he tries to overcome by developing a close relationship with the invisible world. His early poems display the solip​si​​stic sublimation of the sufferings of the poetic voice conversing with God, words being replaced with signs. The Second World War brings about the first major adjustment in the poet's relation to the world, leading him to reconsider his relation to the invisible and, consequently, to the physical world. This is when his Catholic faith turns into a form of humanism, the non-religious expression of an unfaltering faith. As the poet stops believing in God, he starts believing in man. But this fervour does not last, as Quasimodo understands that men are just as cruel as God. The poet Now feeling betrayed by both, the poet acknowledges the dereliction of signs. His last collection, Dare e avere, displays a last alteration in his relation to the world, as he appears to be reconciled with both the physical and the invisible worlds. But what might appear as the happy outcome of a painful initiatory journey proves deceptive : the last collections of poems are actually but a way for the poet to sublimate his growing terror of approaching death.

This thesis defines ‘classical lyricism’ as any mode of appropriation of Greek and Latin monodic lyric whereby a poet may develop a wider discourse on poetry. Assuming classical lyricism as an internal category of enquiry, my thesis investigates the presence of Sappho and Catullus as lyric archetypes in Italian and North American poetry of the 20th century. The analysis concentrates on translations and appropriations of Sappho and Catullus in four case studies: Giovanni Pascoli (1855-1912) and Salvatore Quasimodo (1901-1968) in Italy; Ezra Pound (1885-1972) and Anne Carson (b. 1950) in North America. I first trace the poetic reception of Sappho and Catullus in the oeuvres of the four authors separately. I define and evaluate the role of the respective appropriations within each author’s work and poetics. I then contextualise the four case studies within the Italian and North American literary histories. Finally, through the new outlook afforded by the comparative angle of this thesis, I uncover some of the hidden threads connecting the different types of classical lyricism transnationally. The thesis shows that the course of classical lyricism takes two opposite aesthetic directions in Italy and in North America. Moreover, despite the two aesthetic trajectories diverging, I demonstrate that the four poets’ appropriations of Sappho and Catullus share certain topical characteristics. Three out of four types of classical lyricism are defined by a preference for Sappho’s and Catullus’ lyrics which deal with marriage rituals and defloration, patterns of death and rebirth, and solar myths. They stand out as the epiphenomena of the poets’ interest in the anthropological foundations of the lyric, which is grounded in a philosophical function associated with poetry as a quest for knowledge. I therefore ultimately propose that ‘classical lyricism’ may be considered as an independent historical and interpretative category of the classical legacy.