Leopardi
was an Italian author and poet in the early 1800’s. In Giacomo Leopardi: Selected Poems, a compilation of his poems and
journal entries, he discusses his theory on poets: “…there were never poets
except among the ancients, and there are none today except among children and
the young; the modern men we call poets are none other than philosophers.” Children
are true poets because they see the world simply and find pleasure in all
things beautiful. He compares the poets of his time to philosophers because
they write to express their opinions and theories about life. Life is no longer
simple to them like it was when they were young. The irony in his statement is
that he too is a poet who uses his poetry to spread his philosophies.
One
of these such philosophies is his theory of life and death. Leopardi explains
that a friend told him not to fear death, but wish for it. Because of this, he
is extremely pessimistic. He is always prepared for the worst so that he never
has false hope, as exemplified in his poem “La Sera Del Dì Di Festa”: “I surely
would never dream you’d think of me. Instead I would ask how much longer I must
live, and throw myself to the ground, and shout and tremble.” He is speaking to
a woman whom he seemed to care for, but who did not care for him. He prepares
himself for the worst possible scenario by hoping for his death so that he is
not disappointed by the triviality of being loved.
I
disagree with Leopardi’s view here because I believe it is necessary for one to
have pleasure in one’s life to contrast the pain. Contentedness acts as a recovery
from moments in life that are miserable. One must be able to recall happy
moments to recover from sad ones. It is possible that the reason Leopardi was a
writer was because he was perpetually depressed and writing was the only thing
he was able to do.
Leopardi, G., Bergin, T. G., & Paolucci, A. (2003). Selected
poems: (Italian text included) with excerpts from the poet's journals, letters,
and notes. Smyrna, Del.: Published for The Bagehot Council by Griffon House
Publications
Leopardi, G., & Casale, O. M. (1981). A Leopardi
reader. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
I, too, thought it was interesting how Leopardi could make the statement, “there are (no poets) today except among children and the young” (Bergin and Paolucci 7). Leopardi, himself, is a self-proclaimed poet, yet he makes numerous statements negating the skills of adult poets. He wrote, “children find everything in nothing, men nothing in everything” (Casale 59). Leopardi believes children are the only true poets, because they still possess imagination, and their fantasies, musings, and ideas have not been tainted or killed by the realities of the world. Adults, on the other hand, do not possess free minds anymore. Their thinking processes are too realistic and inhibited to create beautiful, astounding poetry.
ReplyDeleteIt is also true that Leopardi often writes of his wish for death. He has a very negative image of life, and claims that, “the day of birth for creatures born is dark” (Casale 177). This negative image spurns from more than just his fear of possessing a false illusion or hope, however. He wrote that “(he) thought of the desire for death as heroic” (Bergin and Paolucci 4). For him, “life, without the imagination, is a death” (Bergin and Paolucci 5). As an adult, he no longer possesses the innocent and naïve wildness of thought he had as a child. The world has blotted out his hopes and dreams, making him think realistically and factually. He used to believe that at his death, his friends would mourn, because “’such hopes, such greatness, such talent without fruit!’” (Bergin and Paolucci 4). However, he realizes that without his imagination, “nothing else remained for (him),” and it would be heroic to remove himself from this world, instead of wallow away, listlessly and without purpose (Bergin and Paolucci 4). He would rather have the aforementioned reaction from his friends at his death, than their rejoicing because he has been removed from his earthly suffering. He fears they would be happy at his passing, because “he had nothing good to look forward to” (Bergin and Paolucci 4). In order for this not to be the case, he believes an early death to be heroic.