LEOPARD Giacomo (Leopardi Giacomo)

(1798-1837)
Poetic heritage Leopardi has only a few dozen poems, first published in 1831 under the name Songs (Canti). These works are imbued with a deep pessimism, color life of their author. Among the prose works Leopardi - Moral Essays (Operette morali), philosophical essays, written mostly about. 1824 and published in 1827; Thoughts (Pensieri), published posthumously in 1845, as well as Diary of reflection (Zibaldone), a conglomerate of disparate notes taken from 1817 to 1829.
Leopardi was born June 29, 1798 in Recanati. As a child, violation of bodily development deprived of its normal for this age classes, and the first time he left his home only in the age of 32. In 1833 he moved to Naples. Died Leopardi in Naples, June 14, 1837.

Leopardi Life can be summed up in one phrase: continuous search and frustration. Proclaiming that he needed love, fire, desire and life, it all failed,. Most of his life he lived for disabled and therefore unable to accept offers of foreign universities cooperation. One of the main sources of frustration Leopardi was the growing conviction that Christianity - another illusion, he was kind deeply mystical, and lost faith left a painful void. Disappointment awaited him, and in politics: Leopardi dreamed of Italy, decent republican heritage of antiquity, and saw it defeated by the Austrian domination.

He likes the theory of Rousseau on the original good nature, Leopardi often expressed in verse, its sense of natural beauty. The creation of such poems as Infinity, inspired by his surroundings Recanati. But considering the nature of the abstract, as the driving force of the universe, he found her cold and indifferent. Often, one product contains both eyes, as in the poem gorse, or Flower of the Desert (La ginestra, 1836).

Leopardi's poetry is essentially lyrical. It is a philosophical conclusion, or rather, the skepticism, but not any solid philosophical system. Rather, it can be found in his prose. With knowledge in Greek philology and the cult classic style Leopardi considered himself classicist, and this view was shared by his contemporaries. However, a pronounced subjectivity makes it more likely be attributed to romantic followers of Rousseau. Subjectivity is distinguished as poetry and prose Leopardi, though at first glance, his poems and think objectively reveal considerable psychological insight.

Leopardi proclaims the imagination of the main source of human happiness. Imagination is for him - an escape from reality, from the realm of truth. The first essay moral essays, . History of Humanity (1824), . a summary of the outlook Leopardi and allegorically reflects his own life experience: the naive enthusiasm, . search for perfection, . disappointment, . fatigue life, . consequently, . despair,
. In the romantic worldview shared by Leopardi, an individual, feeling miserable, extends this state on the whole world and announce the existence of any pain. His experience Leopardi saw as the pursuit of truth, which, when discovered, proved to be a curse: if the gods spoke the truth about their happiness, man, it just opens their eyes to the hopelessness of his suffering. Hence Leopardi belief that knowledge is detrimental to happiness.