Iris, between Montale and Celan

In the history of twentieth-century Western poetry, the messenger of the gods and personification of the rainbow, Iris (Ἶρις, -ιδος), holds a privileged position in the poetics of Eugenio Montale (1896–1981) and Paul Celan (1920–1970). Specifically, her presence plays a decisive role in the poems Iride (1943–1944) and Sprachgitter (1957), collected respectively in the books of poems La bufera e altro (1956) – as the first text of the fifth section (Silvae) – and in Sprachgitter (1959) – as the fourth text of the third section