Lord Byron,Ugo Foscolo and Giacomo Leopardi present thematic convergences that may ultimately grouped under the common heading of the Italian Risorgimento. The complex issues in Foscolo'a and Leopardi's reflections have a direct counterpart in the topographies of Canto IV of Byron's "Childe Harold". Meditations over ruins and the attendant assessments of their import link Byron an Foscolo, whilst also transforming their standpoints and conclusions. For Byron the visit and description of the classical Roman landscapes coincide with a reflection on liberty as an absolute value which, however, is soon reintegrated within a fundamentally private sphere. Foscolo's "Sepolcri", by contrast, insists on the possibility of action in the present,although the poem also works from within the context of recurrent interpretations of the glorious memories of Italy. Similarly, the ruins in Leopardi's "Canzoni" ("All'Italia" and "Ad Angelo Mai") inspire direct political action.Not only does Leopardi's retrospective view eschew elegiac intentions, but it also constitutes an essential prelude to his "Discorso sopra lo stato presente del costume degli Italiani". Elaborating the same topoi, Byron, Foscolo ad Leopardi reveal the different discourses at the basis of their works through profoundly dissimilar results.
Facets of The Risorgimento: The Debate on the Classical Heritage from Byron's Child Harold to Leopardi's Canzone ad Angelo Mai
PALA, MAURO
2005-01-01
Abstract
Lord Byron,Ugo Foscolo and Giacomo Leopardi present thematic convergences that may ultimately grouped under the common heading of the Italian Risorgimento. The complex issues in Foscolo'a and Leopardi's reflections have a direct counterpart in the topographies of Canto IV of Byron's "Childe Harold". Meditations over ruins and the attendant assessments of their import link Byron an Foscolo, whilst also transforming their standpoints and conclusions. For Byron the visit and description of the classical Roman landscapes coincide with a reflection on liberty as an absolute value which, however, is soon reintegrated within a fundamentally private sphere. Foscolo's "Sepolcri", by contrast, insists on the possibility of action in the present,although the poem also works from within the context of recurrent interpretations of the glorious memories of Italy. Similarly, the ruins in Leopardi's "Canzoni" ("All'Italia" and "Ad Angelo Mai") inspire direct political action.Not only does Leopardi's retrospective view eschew elegiac intentions, but it also constitutes an essential prelude to his "Discorso sopra lo stato presente del costume degli Italiani". Elaborating the same topoi, Byron, Foscolo ad Leopardi reveal the different discourses at the basis of their works through profoundly dissimilar results.
I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
