THE EIGHTEENTH AND NINETEENTH CENTURIES: ITALY
Poets: Metastasio, Goldoni, Alfieri, Monti, Leopardi. Prose Writers:
Silvio Pellico, Fogazzaro, etc.
LITERARY AWAKENING.--After a long decadence, Italy, less overwhelmed
politically than previously, reawoke about 1750. Once more poets came
forward: Metastasio, author of tragedies and operas; Goldoni, a very
witty and gay comic poet; Alfieri who revived Italian tragedy, which had
been languishing and silent since Maffei, and who, like Voltaire in
France, and with greater success, established a philosophical and
political tribune; Foscolo, sufficiently feeble in tragedy but very
touching and eloquent in _The Tombs_, inspired by Young's _Night
Thoughts_ and _The Letters of Jacob Ortis_, an interesting novelist and
eloquently impassioned patriot; Monti, versatile and master of all
recantations according to his own interests, but a very pure writer and
not without brilliance in his highly diversified poems.
EMINENT PROSE WRITERS.--Italy could show eminent prose writers, such as
those jurisprudent philanthropists Filangieri and Beccaria; critics and
literary historians like Tiraboschi.
NINETEENTH CENTURY.--In the nineteenth century may first be found among
poets that great poet, the unhappy Leopardi, the bard of suffering, of
sorrow, and of despair; Carducci, a brilliant orator, imbued with
vigorous passions; Manzoni, lyricist, dramatist, vibrating with patriotic
enthusiasm, affecting in his novel _The Betrothal_, which became popular
in every country in Europe. In prose, Silvio Pellico equally moved Europe
to tears by his book _My Prisons_, wherein he narrated the experiences of
his nine years of captivity at the hands of Austria, and found his
agreeable tragedy of _Francesca da Rimini_ welcomed with flattering
appreciation. Philosophy was specially represented by Gioberti, author of
_The Treatise on the Supernatural_, and journalism by Giordani, eloquent,
at times with grace and ease, and at others with harshness and violence.
THE MODERNS.--As these words were written came the news of the death of
the illustrious novelist Fogazzaro. Gabriel d'Annunzio, poet and
ultra-romantic novelist, and Mathilde Serao, an original novelist, pursue
their illustrious careers.