Giacomo Leopardi Italian poet Date of Birth: 29.06.1798 Country: Italy

Biography of Giacomo Leopardi

Giacomo Leopardi, an Italian poet, was born on June 29, 1798, in Recanati. Due to a physical disability in his childhood, he was deprived of normal activities for his age and only left his home for the first time at the age of 32. In 1833, he moved to Naples. Leopardi's poetic legacy consists of only a few dozen poems, first published in 1831 under the general title "Canti" (Songs). These works are imbued with deep pessimism, which colored the entire life of their author.

Among Leopardi's prose works are "Operette morali" (Moral Essays), philosophical essays mainly written around 1824 and published in 1827; "Pensieri" (Thoughts), published posthumously in 1845; and "Zibaldone," a conglomeration of miscellaneous notes made from 1817 to 1829. Leopardi was born on June 29, 1798, in Recanati. Due to a physical disability in his childhood, he was deprived of normal activities for his age and only left his home for the first time at the age of 32. He died in Naples on June 14, 1837.

Leopardi's life can be summarized in one phrase: continuous search and disappointments. Proclaiming that he needed love, fire, desire, and life, he experienced failure in everything. He spent most of his life as an invalid and, therefore, could not accept offers from foreign universities for collaboration. One of the main sources of Leopardi's despair was his growing conviction that Christianity was another illusion. He had a deeply mystical nature, and the loss of faith left behind a painful void. Disappointment also awaited him in politics: Leopardi dreamed of an Italy worthy of the republican heritage of antiquity but saw it subjugated under Austrian rule.

As a follower of Rousseau's theory of the inherently good nature, Leopardi often expressed in his poems his sense of natural beauty. The surroundings of Recanati inspired him to create such poems as "Infinity." However, when contemplating nature abstractly as the driving force of the universe, he found it indifferent and cold. Often, one work contains both perspectives, as in the poem "La ginestra" (The Broomflower, 1836). Leopardi's poetry is essentially lyrical. It contains philosophical conclusions or, rather, skepticism, but lacks a complete philosophical system. It can be found more in his prose. With knowledge of Greek philology and the classical style, Leopardi considered himself a classicist, a view shared by his contemporaries. However, the pronounced subjectivity places him more among the romantic followers of Rousseau. Subjectivity distinguishes both Leopardi's poetry and prose, although at first glance, his "Thoughts" are more objective and reveal considerable psychological insight.

Leopardi proclaims imagination as the primary source of human happiness. For him, imagination is an escape from reality, from the realm of truth. The first essay in the "Moral Essays," "History of Mankind" (1824), is a brief exposition of Leopardi's worldview and allegorically reflects his own life experience: naive enthusiasm, the search for perfection, disillusionment, weariness of life, and, as a result, despair. In the romantic worldview shared by Leopardi, the individual, feeling unhappy, extends this state to the entire universe and declares all existence as suffering. Leopardi regarded his life experience as a search for truth, which, when found, turned out to be a curse. While truth speaks to the gods of their bliss, for humans, it merely opens their eyes to the hopelessness of their suffering. Hence Leopardi's conviction that knowledge is destructive to happiness.