Leopardi’s Thoughts on Pleasure

            Reading through the many essays and poems of Giacomo Leopardi, he discusses how the human mind views life. Leopardi proclaims that life roots from the imagination and without imagination there would be no hope for happiness. He states “life without imagination, is a death”(Leopardi 91).  Imagination allows us to grow and search for happiness in our lives. It allows us to achieve greatness because it pushes us to want to make our lives better. Imagination is the backbone of the human mind.

Leopardi has many ideas on life but another idea that relates to imagination was his idea of pleasure. In the commentary of his poem, “ Saturday in the Village.” Leopardi states that, “pleasure in itself cannot be grasped.”  (Leopardi 99).  His statement is completely valid. He describes pleasure as a state where every thing is perfect in life and no change is necessary. As humans we will never be completely content because we need change. Our imaginations push us to make goals to better our lives. If we hit the state of absolute pleasure we would lose our imaginations, which, as Leopardi had stated would be death of the human mind.  Humans are better when they are not perfect; struggle in life is good and makes humans stronger. In the poem, “The calm after the storm”, Leopardi states that without the tough things in life we would be unable to appreciate the good.  He even goes on to say that, “without ills, the good things would hardly be good, since after a time they would annoy us” (Leopardi 94).  If we by some chance found complete pleasure we still would not be happy because we would become jaded by the perfection of our lives and motivated to make it better. Life is more interesting because we are striving to be better in as many aspects of our lives. As humans we should not be striving for pleasure but striving to never lose hope in a brighter future.

Leopardi, Giacomo, Thomas Goddard Bergin, and Anne Paolucci.   Selected Poems:

               (Italian Text Included) with Excerpts from the Poet's Journals, Letters, and         

               Notes. Smyrna, DE: Published for The Bagehot Council by Griffon House

               Publications, 2003. Print.

                     

Leopardi: Without Imagination, One is Dead

            In reading the assorted works of Giacomo Leopardi, I was astounded by his emphasis on two completely opposite themes. He puts a large focus on the concept of imagination and the emotions of despair and desolateness. He even writes of his yearning for death. I was confused by these opposite fascinations, one holding so much light and opportunity, the other so dark and final. However, after reading his poem, “To Sylvia,” I was able to determine a correlation between the two themes. I want to argue that the poem, “To Sylvia,” is an allegory for Leopardi’s belief that one’s imagination is destroyed as he/she grows older. Once the imagination is lost, life lacks pleasure and death is the only release.

            Leopardi often praises imagination and slights reason in his works. He writes that, “the imagination, as I said, is the prime source of human happiness” (Casale 51).  Additionally, he states, “infinite pleasure unfindable in reality is thus found in the imagination, from which derive hope, the illusions, etc.” (Casale 50-51). He believes imagination is the only way humans can achieve a state of happiness, and “reason is the enemy of anything great” (Casale 35).  I enjoyed these uplifting passages about resisting the way of the world and letting one’s mind wander. However, a depressing undertone began to emerge in his writing. Leopardi compared himself to “a walking sepulcher, who bears inside him a dead man, a heart once extremely feeling which feels no more” (Casale 137). He also stated that, “(he) was certain that nothing else remained for (him), yet (he) took pleasure only in imagining death” (Bergin and Paolucci 4).

            Thinking on these dark musings, I realized that the tone of his writing had so dramatically shifted, because he was mourning the loss of his own imagination. He

mentions that he has “a heart once extremely feeling which feels no more,” and “nothing else remain(s) for (him)” (Casale 137; Bergin and Paolucci 4). In his youth, he felt the joys of imagination; he had substance in his life and a reason to live. However, he has grown older and the requirements of the adult world cause him to lose his beautiful imagination. My surmises were further validated when Leopardi wrote that, “experience and truth strip away from us day by day some portion of our riches. . . Man is born rich in all, growing up he grows poorer, and arrived at old age he finds himself with almost nothing” (Casale 59).  Leopardi is referring to the naiveté and imagination of youth as the riches. He proclaims that “life, without the imagination is a death,” and “liv(ing) externally made (him) stupid, inept, and inwardly dead” (Bergin and Paolucci 5; Casale 162-163). Leopardi often dwells on imagination and death, because he realizes without his imagination, he is already dead. He longs for the finality of death, because he believes he is no longer able to feel pleasure in life with his imagination gone.

            I believe Leopardi’s poem, “To Sylvia,” is an allegory for the death of imagination in the time of one’s youth. He begins the poem, by addressing Sylvia, a young, beautiful girl who dies at an early age. He asks her,

Sylvia do you still remember / that time in your mortal life / when beauty shone in your elusive / and smiling eyes, and you, / thoughtful and happy, climbed / the threshold of your youth?                                                      (Bergin and Paolucci 81)

I believe Sylvia to be Leopardi’s own imagination. Within the allegory, I believe these first verses to be a remembering of the life and vibrancy his imagination used to possess. He is recalling how Sylvia, his imagination, was once thriving, beautiful and happy. He remembers how his imagination reached a peak, creating beautiful opportunities and ideas before him. He goes on to say,

my Sylvia! / What human life and fate seemed like, back then! When I’m reminded / of all that hope a desolate and bitter / feeling takes hold of me, and once again / I mourn my wretched fate.                       (Bergin and Paolucci  81, 83)

In these verses, Leopardi reminisces on the promise life used to hold. He realizes that life has been only a disappointment to these hopeful imaginings. The reality of “his wretched fate” makes him bitter. I find this verse interesting, because Sylvia is the person whose hopes never got the chance to prosper; the poem is actually focusing on her wretched fate. He refers to his own fate, however, which I believe further confirms the identity of Sylvia as his imagination, because her death led to his unimaginative, unhappy life.  The poem continues to explain Sylvia’s death at a very early age. Leopardi mourns, writing,

Oh, how quickly, how / quickly you went by, dear friend of my / young age, my long-mourned hope! / Is this that world? /. . .  / this the destiny of man? At the sight / of the truth you fell, poor wretch, / and with your hand pointed, far of, / to a cold death and a bare tomb.                                                    (Bergin and Paolucci 83)

Leopardi acknowledges that Sylvia died at a “young age,” taking “(his) long-mourned hope” with her (Bergin and Paolucci 83). Leopardi wrote previously that hope is derived from imagination, confirming that Sylvia is his imagination, because with her death, she took away hope (Casale 50-51). He mentions that “at the sight / of the truth, (she) fell” (Bergin and Paolucci 83). I believe the truth he is referring to is the truth that the working, functioning world does not desire imagination. It requires reason and intelligence. The world often leaves little to no room for imagination, and because of this, Sylvia, Leopardi’s imagination, died. With her death she pointed to the grave, meaning that life without her is just a meaningless march to the release of death. Without imagination there is no pleasure in life, and the only thing left is “a cold death and a bare tomb” (Bergin and Paolucci 83).

            Leopardi focuses on imagination and death throughout his writings. I believe he connects the two ideas through his poem, “To Sylvia,” an allegory for the disappearance of youth’s imagination. He uses writing techniques like these to share his belief that without imagination, one can no longer experience pleasure, and death is the only release.

Leopardi's ideas

In a recent reading I examined Giacomo Leopardi and his ideas. I must admit some of Leopardi’s ideas do not make the most sense to me. In one of his paragraphs he touches on the ideas of reason and illusions. He goes onto say, “ Reason is the enemy of everything great; reason is the enemy of nature; nature is great and reason is small. What I mean is that the more a man is dominated by reason, the less chance or the more difficulty he will have in being great. Few can achieve greatness (perhaps none in art or poetry) unless they are ruled by illusions” (Leopardi 35).  I strongly disagree with this statement from Leopardi. Reason is one of the most important things in life. Without reason there would be no cause. Reason is why we do the things we do.

To say that a man dominated by reason cannot achieve greatness is irrational. There is always a need for reason that way one can learn and then continue their path to greatness. Had everyone believed greatness came from illusions then there would be no go-getters and people would be siting around waiting for greatness to come to them. I know this for a fact though; nobody is great at what they do because they had an illusion that it would come to them. Instead they used reason to determine how to become great. I would compare this to a sport in some sense. A soccer player cannot become great by just wanting to become a professional player. They cannot have this illusion that it will just come to them, instead they use reason, to practice and practice to the point where they then can achieve greatness.

However, Leopardi does make a good point in one of his paragraphs. He says, “The greatest happiness possible for a man in this world is when he lives peacefully in his calling with the quiet…” (Leopardi 39).  To me “your calling” is what you are supposed to do in life and Leopardi is stating that you are the happiest when you find your calling. This statement goes similarly to another common saying, “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” (Confucius) This statement coincides with Leopardi’s in that you will be happy if you find what you are meant to do.

Leopardi and the Human Experience

In our selected reading on Giacomo Leopardi, he wrote extensively on his perception of happiness and the imagination as a foundation of the human experience. His writings opened my mind further to what I already know, but elaborated on those ideas in a way that gave me a deeper understanding of the mind and its relationship to certain emotions.

I agree with Leopardi's contemplation on his idea of pleasure because he suggests that the soul is constantly looking for what it does not have, good or bad.  “All pleasures must be mixed with displeasure, as we know by experience, for in achieving them, the soul is avidly seeking that which cannot be found” (Leopardi 50). This raises an interesting idea on what our desires are as humans. We do not want our lives to be filled with indifference, so while we are always looking for pleasure, we are also innately drawn to displeasure that can be mixed in with our search for fulfillment. Once we find pleasure in one aspect of our lives, we have to keep moving towards seeking a different pleasure to stay actively content. For humans, indifference is sometimes worse than displeasure.  

Along with our desires for pleasure and displeasure, Leopardi also states that imagination plays a massive role in people's lives.  “The imagination, as I said, is the prime source of human happiness. The more it reigns in man, the happier he will be” (Leopardi 51). In relation to most things, this is a valid statement. Especially when reading literature, a person has to be able to suspend disbelief in order to completely envelop his or herself into the message the author wants to portray. As well, setting and reaching goals in life requires a bit of imagination in order to achieve the ultimate destination. In my own life, I have had to actively use my imagination to set goals for running cross country, and they ultimately paid off because I was able to see myself reaching each stage in the progression of my success.  Although I agree with Leopardi for the most part, I do believe that there needs to be a balance of imagination versus reality. It is possible for a person to become engaged in their own imagination to where it can have adverse effects. A person cannot constantly imagine themselves achieving certain things and have no plan on how to get there. In order for imagination to lead to happiness, a person must be wary of how far their imagination goes.

 Leopardi, Giacomo, and Ottavio M. Casale. A Leopardi Reader. Urbana: University of Illinois, 1981. Print.

 

Themes of Leopardi

Annalysse Mason

First Year Seminar

9/3/13

Leopardi focuses on two main themes throughout his writing in the reader and in the selected poems. The importance of imagination and understanding of reason are dominant matters in the way in which he narrates his life. While reading the selected poems and the reader I quickly realized that the way Leopardi looked at imagination and reason were completely altered when Silvia, whom I read was Leopardi’s coachman’s daughter, passed away.

Silvia was the love of Giacomo Leopardi’s life. She instilled in him a hope for life, a hope for all the things that life would bring, and a hope for his fate. While reading “To Silvia” the reader witnesses Leopardi reminiscing in his time with Silvia and gradually coming to grips, once again, with his current, desolate life without her. Without Silvia he writes “...My long-mourned hope! ...these the joys, the love, the tasks, events, we talked so much about, together?”  Leopardi has not only lost all of his hope for life without Silvia but he questions what life is even worth without her. The reader sees how much Leopardi’s plan of living a happy, love-filled, and long life with Silvia had vanished so unexpectedly. To Leopardi, Silvia was his reason to live, and he had no interest in a life without her.

Leopardi states that the only poets were the ancients and children, for they had not felt, as Leopardi writes, “...the inevitable unhappiness of the world”. Leopardi was no longer a poet but a philosopher because he had felt this inevitable happiness, as compared to, as he states, “merely being acquainted with it.” While writing, long after Silvia’s death, he states “...my fantasy had almost dried up, not only in the making of poetry, but also in the appreciation of the beauties of the natural world, which still leave me as unmoved as a stone.” Without Silvia, Leopardi became a philosopher in his mind, because he felt like a mind that had experienced the cruelties of the world could not ever imagine anything, especially happiness, which could later lead to poetry.

After Silvia’s death we see the happy, imaginative, and dedicated poet that Leopardi once was disappear as quickly and unexpectedly as Silvia did, describing her death as “you sleep, for slumber welcomed you in your quiet rooms: and not a single worry gnaws at you; and you can’t possibly know or imagine how deep a wound you opened in my breast.”  Leopardi’s life without Silvia was a constant, desperate struggle, which we read in his poems. Giacomo Leopardi, languished without Silvia, was still capable of writing good poetry even though he believed he no longer could. Reading the selected poems was a pleasant surprise to me after reading the reader and seeing the lack of hope he had for his own writing.