Melchiorre Murenu (

Macomer Macomer ( sc, Macumère) is a town and ''comune'' of Sardinia (Italy) in the province of Nuoro. It is situated on the southern ascent to the central plateau (the Campeda) of this part of Sardinia, at the junction of narrow-gauge lines branching fro ...

1803 – 1854) was a blind Sardinian poet.Melchiorre Murenu, "Tutte le Poesie", Edizioni della Torre, 1990. Melchiorre Murenu is known as the "

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

"Paola Pittalis, Storia della letteratura in Sardegna, Cagliari, 1998, p.84 because (just like the great Greek poet) he was blind and lived his entire life for poetry. He was born in

where he lived his entire life. At the age of three he became blind because of

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

. Murenu's father was imprisoned when Melchiorre was ten years old, and is thought to have died during his imprisonment. This unfortunate circumstance drove Murenu's family in poverty (Murenu spoke of the difficult times of his childhood in the poem ''Supplica a Monsignore Bua''). In these difficult circumstances Murenu could not afford to be formally educated, and he enjoyed spending time at the local church. There he acquainted himself to the biblical texts and, thanks to a prodigious memory, he could recite entire passages of the scriptures, as well as the daily sermons, entirely by heart. Despite this background (or, perhaps, because of it), poverty and oppression are the main subjects of Murenu's poetry. Among his most famous lyrics are ''Supplica a Monsignore Bua'' ("Supplique to Mgr. Rua", about his family's misfortunes), '' S'istadu de Sardigna '' ("State of Sardinia", about the pervasive injustice against the defenseless people of Sardinia), and '' Tancas serradas a muru'' ("walled lands"), a quartile about the appropriation of lands. Another famous composition by Murenu sealed his fate; it is ''Sas isporchizias de Bosa'' ("Bosa's filth"), a fictional (and decidedly unflattering) description of the city of

Bosa Bosa is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Oristano (until May 2005 it was in the province of Nuoro), part of the Sardinia region of Italy. Bosa is situated about two-thirds of the way up the west coast of Sardinia, on a small hill, abou ...

. It is commonly thought that because of this poem, some of Bosa's inhabitants decided to avenge such offense by killing him. The night of 21 October 1854, three men, claiming to be there on behalf of a poet known to Murenu, lured him out of his place and pushed him over a cliff.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murenu, Melchiorre 1803 births 1854 deaths Sardinian-language poets Italian poets Italian male poets Blind writers 19th-century poets 19th-century Italian male writers