GRAF, ARTURO (1848-1913) , Italian poet, of German extraction, was born at Athens. He was educated at Naples university and lectured on Italian literature in Rome, till in 1882 he was appointed professor at Turin. His volumes of verse— Medusa (188o), Poesie e novelle (1874), Dopo it tramonto versi (1893), Morgan (1901), Le Danaidi (1897; enlarged ed. 1905), Rime della selva (1906)—give him a high place among the lyrical poets of his century. A good selection, Poesie, appeared in Of his numerous prose works may be mentioned Roma nella memoria e nelle immaginazioni del medio evo (2 vols., 1882-83). Graf was possessed by a pessimism deeper than that of Leopardi, on whom some of his best critical work was done in his Foscolo, Manzoni, Leopardi (1898) . He died at Turin on May 29, 1913.
See Sartori Treves, Arturo Graf, romanziere e poeta (1904) ; M. Morandi, Arturo Graf (Rome, 1921) ; R. Rizzo, Pessimismo e spir itualismo nell' opera poetica di Arturo Graf (Catania, 1921) .