Futurism came around during the twentieth century in the Italian and Russian movement in literature and arts. It declared a separation between past art and focuses on new art, technology, and politics which was more commonly manifested through primitivism. Futurists rejected self-awareness in lyricism of symbolism- the domination of time. Futurism gravitated towards visual art that talked about conservative social elements and confronted them to create a violent negative response.
Italian Futurism started with a manifesto created by F. T. Marinetti (1876-1944) which was titled "Fondazione e Manifest del Futurismo" (The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism). He stated that a piece of work without an aggressive element count not be considered a masterpiece. In relation to poetry he said in "Parole in Liberta" (Words of Freedom) enforcing a language of free syntax and logical order that allows the poet to show intense emotion. He used freedom of imagery and metaphor, which led him to typography, using different fonts and sizes he expressed freedom of disposition of words. Other Italian poets were E. Cavacchiolio, L. Folgore and A. Palazzeschi.
In Russia, like Italy, Futurism began to take over and revolt against symbolism. Russian Futurist split into two: Cubo-futurism and Ego-Futurism. Cubo-futurism characteristic was the boarding of words with arbitrary and derived words. Ego-Futurism also characterized with Cubo-futurism with urban imagery and eccentric words. In contrast to Cubo-futurism, Ego Futurism moved away from typography and explored self expression.
Paolo Buzzi
The Fireflies, 1913
They flutter through the streets as evening falls,
darting from square to square
on their mysterious errands,
quick and quiet, each one a point of light
the women of Copenhagen
on their bicycles
What a fantastic show
of shooting-stars:
deep shadow, sudden gleam
in the dense foliage of a park,
fireflies they seem.
giving off an aura as of wood-nymphs.
They sparkle past,
heels flashing, ballet-dancers.
Try to catch one,
she will flit away, and leave a gleaming trail
just like a firefly.
followed by others, coming and going.
Night, and this city of stone becomes an arena
for fireworks,
a city of trees turned into a great, burning bush
made up of frenzied fireflies.
Earth and sky seem covered over with them
in a see-saw game of constellations.
Babies, little girls and sweethearts,
v1rgins, viragoes, spouses, mothers and nannies,
princesses and peasant-lasses, clerks and suffragettes,
who knows where their wheels are taking them, and their dreams?
Ah, universe, I think, they may be comets
that touched the street for one
bright instant with a flick of the tail.
