Born in Caracal, his parents were Grigore Carianopol, a court clerk, and his wife Atena (née Popescu).
After fleeing home twice, the first time at age fourteen, his father sent him to a Bucharest military school for munitions specialists.
His first book, Flori de spin (1931), along with two that appeared soon after, Virgil Carianopol (1933) and Un ocean, o frunte în exil (1934), form part of his first, avant-garde phase.
His next period included Scrisori către plante (1936), which won a prize from the Romanian Writers' Society; Carte pentru domnițe (1937); Frunzișul toamnei mele (1938) and Scară la cer (1940).
They are marked by a clearer lyricism, the stylization of older motifs and the crystallization of elegiac inflections, reflections of his own voice, into a melancholic melody of life's ephemeral quality.