CARRER, LUIGI ARMINIO. — Born in Venice on 12 Feb. 1801; in his youth he improvised tragedies in the manner of Sgricci; he then devoted himself to philological studies; he was assistant to the chair of philosophy at the University of Padua until 1883; he then turned to journalism and directed Il Gondoliere, a periodical that met with public favour and appeared until 1847; in 1845 he was appointed vice-secretary of the Istituto Veneto and in 1846 director of the Istituto Correr; d. in Venice on 23 Dec. 1850.
These manifold activities did not hinder his poetic production: his first collection of poems dates from 1819; to it followed the poem entitled Il Clotaldo (Venice 1826), the Poesie (Padua 1831–32) and the Ballate, a collection of mostly narrative songs, of a romantic flavour, first published in 1834 and reprinted in 1837 with the addition of other romances. Among the Idilli, those of biblical subject are noteworthy: I primi esuli, L’arcobaleno, Agar, Abigaille, Le stagioni cristiane… See also in the Poesie a manifesto of Romanticism, the ode in decasyllables: La poesia dei secoli cristiani. His most important prose work is that entitled Anello di sette gemme o Venezia e la sua storia; but the prose writer is far inferior to the poet. C. was an ingenious artist with a facile vein blending classical and romantic taste; yet in life as in art he lacked deep feeling and firm convictions.
