I. "All 'Italia." This poem, written at the age of twenty, though appearing first in the collection, was not by any means a first attempt at poetry. Leopardi had, it is true, up to this time devoted his attention chiefly to learned subjects, but he had written as well a considerable amount of verse, one of his earliest productions being a tragedy in three acts, "Pompeo in Egitto," which shows great command of language for the age of thirteen, at which it was written. We find, therefore, in this first poem of the celebrated series, full mastery over the mechanism of verse and fine flashes in the three opening stanzas, but the introduction of Simonides is not a happy fiction. He should have confined himself to the history of his own country, which offers more striking themes than this classical reminiscence.
II. "Sopra il Monumento di Dante." The tyranny of Napoleon I., that weighed so heavily on Italy in the early part of this century, is most forcibly described, especially in the wonderful stanzas narrating the death of the Italian troops in the Russian campaign of 1812. How sublime are the opening lines of the tenth stanza:
"Di lor querela il boreal deserto, E conscie fur le sibilanti selve."
The apostrophe to Dante in the fifth stanza is full of fervour; but, perhaps the only instance of bombast to be found in our poet is the preceding address to the sculptors.
III. "Ad Angelo Mai." I have mentioned above that I consider this Ode to Angelo Mai on his discovery of Cicero's "Republic," one of our poet's three great masterpieces. I was confirmed in this opinion by Johannes Scherr, who, in his "Allgemeine Literaturgeschichte," extols it as one of the sublimest Odes in any language. How great, therefore, was my surprise on perusing Montefredini's Life of Leopardi, to find that the author has nothing but blame and ridicule for this poem. He, though so ardent an admirer of Leopardi, cannot find words strong enough to express his contempt for such rubbish. We may, indeed, agree with him, that the discovery of an old manuscript by a monk is scarcely an event of sufficient importance to warrant poetical raptures. But if we condemn all poems that take their starting point from a slight occurrence, we must begin by denying merit to Pindar, for what can be more intrinsically trivial than the foundation on which he builds his lofty fabrics? It is further a mystery to me how Montefredini can understand the eighth stanza to allude to Tasso, when it is obvious that it applies to no one but Ariosto, and is a most exquisite description of the effect produced by that poet on the mind, offering, perhaps, the finest passage in a poem replete with beauties. How sublime are the verses on Columbus, and how picturesque is the lamentation on the decline of the imaginative powers!
