Peer Gynt

Henrik Ibsen

Casa editrice: CLXBX

Sinossi

Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen is a sweeping dramatic poem that blends folklore, fantasy, satire, and psychological insight into a timeless exploration of identity and ambition. First published in 1867, this imaginative and thought-provoking work stands as one of Ibsen's most celebrated creations, capturing the restless spirit of a man who spends his life fleeing responsibility while chasing illusions of greatness.

The story follows Peer Gynt, a charming yet reckless dreamer whose boundless imagination and inflated self-belief propel him on a lifelong journey of adventure and self-deception. From the rural landscapes of Norway to distant deserts and surreal realms of trolls and mythic beings, Peer's travels are as fantastical as they are symbolic. Along the way, he seeks wealth, power, admiration, and meaning—yet continually avoids commitment, honesty, and accountability.

At its heart, Peer Gynt is a profound meditation on the question: What does it mean to truly be oneself? Peer prides himself on his individuality, but his constant shape-shifting—adapting to circumstance, pursuing selfish desires, and evading consequences—raises doubts about whether he possesses any authentic core at all. Ibsen masterfully contrasts illusion with reality, fantasy with truth, and ego with integrity.

Interwoven with the grand and surreal episodes of Peer's adventures is the quiet, enduring presence of Solveig, whose unwavering love stands in stark contrast to Peer's restless wandering. Through this emotional counterpoint, Ibsen deepens the play's moral and philosophical dimensions, exploring themes of redemption, faithfulness, and the cost of a life lived without genuine self-knowledge.

Rich in symbolism and infused with elements of Norwegian folklore, Peer Gynt moves fluidly between satire and seriousness. Ibsen critiques romantic nationalism, societal ambition, and the human tendency toward self-delusion, all while crafting a dramatic work of poetic beauty and theatrical spectacle. The play's imaginative scope is matched by its psychological depth, making it both an entertaining adventure and a searching inquiry into the human condition.

Often performed alongside Edvard Grieg's iconic musical score, Peer Gynt has secured its place as a cultural landmark. Yet beyond its famous scenes and fantastical episodes lies a deeply human story about fear, longing, and the search for meaning.

Bold, imaginative, and philosophically resonant, Peer Gynt remains a powerful exploration of identity and accountability—an enduring reminder that the greatest journey is not across the world, but within the self.

Disponibile da: 03/03/2026.

Lunghezza di stampa: 179 pagine.

Poesia e teatro

Altri libri che potrebbero interessarti

The Flying Fish - Decadent poet...

John Gray

Poetry unleashes talents and thoughts that can make us think very differently about our world

Mostra libro

Duino Elegies

Rainer Maria Rilke

We have a marvelous, almost legendary image of the circumstances in which the composition of this great poem began. Rainer Maria Rilke was staying at Duino Castle, on a rocky headland of the Adriatic Sea near Trieste. 
One morning, he walked out onto the battlements and climbed down to where the cliffs dropped sharply to the sea. From out of the fierce wind, Rilke seemed to hear a voice: Wer, wenn ich schriee, horte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen? (If I cried out, who would hear me up there, among the angelic orders?). 
He wrote these words, the opening of the first Duino Elegy, in his notebook, then went inside to continue what was to be his major opus—completely only after another ten, tormented years of effort—and one of the literary masterpieces of the century.  
Duino Elegies speaks in a voice that is both intimate and majestic on the mysteries of human life and our attempt, in the words of the translator David Young, “to use our self-consciousness to some advantage: to transcend, through art and the imagination, our self-deception and our fear.”

Mostra libro

Robert Browning - Selected Poems

Robert Browning

Robert Browning was a deeply religious man who wrestled to obtain and keep his Christian faith. His conviction was that life in this world is so riddled with evil and sorrow that only a future life can make sense out of it. He viewed life as a training ground which God provided in His divine love and sovereign will. 
Given Browning’s intensely romantic love affair with Elizabeth Barrett, it is characteristic that he should view love as life’s animating force and the key to its meaning. To Browning, the most dreaded fate would be to live a “ghastly smooth life, dead at heart.” This view of life is projected throughout his poetry. 
Included in this collection are “Johannes Agricola in Meditation”, “The Pied Piper of Hamelin”, “Youth and Art”, “Beatrice Signorini”, “Spring Song”, and many others.

Mostra libro

Naming the Trees

Ness Owen

In this our imagined future we watch them sound the trees hoping for deadwood, knowing the living are always harder to cut.
– Show Us What it is to Love a Forest with Song
A deep-dive into the human relationship with trees and how trees have shaped folklore and literature. Sparked by a campaign to save the ancient forest of Penrhos, an SSSI on Ynys Môn, from being turned into a holiday camp, Ness explores Welsh folklore of trees and her own love for and engagement with the trees and other wild aspects of her home, as well as more common garden flowers, which should be treated with respect (Daffodils are Dangerous). Ness has an ongoing conversation with her native language and some poems are presented bilingually: there is a link to be made between the disregarding of native language and the disregarding of native habitat. Far more than a book of nature poems there is a simmering frustration at the casual way we despoil our environment without any concern for what is destroyed or the ongoing impact of that destruction.

Mostra libro

cliche

Lee Brady

A chance meeting between a performance artist and a bartender at a bar sparks some intriguing insights.

Mostra libro

When Can We Be Soft? - Poems of...

Bobbie Isabel

In this debut poetry collection, Bobbie Isabel explores the pressure women face to constantly be strong, and the exploitation they endure when the world will not let them be soft. Employing a combination of free verse and more traditional forms, Bobbie expresses the female perspective of strength and resilience through pain, trauma, and ultimately hope. Within poetic expression, she has found her voice, as the poem "Keeping Silent" says, that speaks for the little girl she was, that comforts her tormented adolescent self, and that fortifies the broken woman she has been with boundaries of empathy and compassion for who she was at each stage and what she lived, understanding that her tears were not silent but rather screams of injustice. 
This collection of poetry comes from a place of pain; even the poems of hope grew from those ashes. Therefore, there will be subjects some will find difficult to read.

Mostra libro