In 1942, three years after the start of World War II, Ungaretti returned to Axis-allied Italy, where he was received with honors by the officials. The same year, he was made a Professor of Modern Literature at the University of Rome. He continued to write poetry, and published a series of essays. By then, "Hermeticism" had come to an end, and Ungaretti, like Montale and Quasimodo, had adopted a more formal style in his poetry. At Rome, Ungaretti mentored the poet Elio Filippo Accrocca, whose work was greatly influenced by Ungaretti's.