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[NathanielZhu]

Hello, I need people to proofread my roughdraft of my reasurch paper. I need suggestions fast! I MUST get an A on it because i am not doing so well.

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Nathaniel Zhu

MYP English 9

March 16, 2007

Mrs. Morris

The Frame of Perfection; A guide to organize Leopardi’s Poetry

Leopardi’s background/milieu influenced his writing, which is seen in “The Infinite” and “To the Moon” in the areas of health and social because he wrote all the poems to express his loneliness caused by his deformity.


I.Background/Milieu of Leopardi

A.Development of his poetry

1. Created to express

2. Experiences in Library

B. Life in Italy

II.Analysis of Poems

A.Analysis of “The Infinite”

B.Analysis of “To the Moon”

III.Impact of Poems

A.Impact of “The Infinite”

B.Impact of “To the Moon”

IV Connection between Poems

A.Written in Loneliness

B.Written about unlimited thoughts

V. Compare/Contrast between poems

A. Comparison of “The Infinite”

C.Comparison of “To the Moon”

Giacomo Leopardi Rough Draft Nathaniel Zhu 1A

Leopardi’s background/milieu influenced his writing, which is seen in “The Infinite” and “To the Moon” in the areas of health and social because he wrote all the poems to express his loneliness caused by his deformity. His whole life was seen as a dark path of torture and loneliness which is shown in his masterpieces (Bickersteth n.p).. Only a person as trist as Leopardi can create works like his. All his life, he so deeply craved learning that he sacrificed the chance to gain health. Day and night, he studied in his father’s 20,000 book library and read books up to 4500 pages long (Bickersteth n.p)! He learned a wide range of languages including Greek and Latin. He had a private tutor that was quickly exhausted of material (Bickersteth n.p). Leopardi never liked living in Recanati, his home city and tried to run away but his father quickly uncovered his plans and terminated it (Zott n.p). Leopardi worked hard and learned everything he could come across but his physical appearance hindered his process and prevented him from getting a job in an educational field because people thought a person as weak as him would not last long with this job. Every failure is expressed in his poetry through great detail due to his wide ranged vocabulary. Leopardi suffered from depression which gave him a pessimistic view on everything. Since he regards Joy as a form of despair, he concluded that the only true joy is death. His father knew he has great potential thus taught him hard, and in some time, he had more knowledge than great scholars which put them to shame. Leopardi’s works are little known outside of Italy, and in the English speaking countries, the study of his works limit to mainly academic circles.
Poetry is Leopardi’s dialect of expressing his deepest feelings. He wrote masterworks like All Italia (To Italy) in 1819, A Silvia (To Silvia) in 1828, and Alla Luna (To The Moon) (Bickersteth n.p). Alla Luna is written one night and as he is marveled by the moon as he remembers all the sad memories. The first line, “Oh gracious moon, now as the year turns,” is the beginning of his recollection of memories (Towler n.p). He is just identifying that time moves fast but the next line, “I remember how, heavy with sorrow,” is when Leopardi starts to identify the reason that he is writing the poem (Towler n.p).. In line 6, “Your face seemed clouded, temulous” is a description of the poet’s own life and is confirmed in the next 2 lines when he is describing his life as “painful.” When he wrote, “Of my grief is pleasing to me How welcome in that youthful time -when hope's span is long,” Leopardi is how seems to like his sadness and then compares himself to when he was young and full of hope (Towler n.p). With his range of vocabulary learned through all the years in the library’s giant collection, he has an incredible ability to describe his feelings that few have. In the poem, L’infinito, the last line of the poem, “And sweet to me is shipwreck in this sea,” is one of the few times that Leopardi expresses his feeling in a more positive way (Barricelli n.p). The lines, “Space still beyond, there is a more than mortal Silence spread out to the last depth of peace, Which in my thought I shape until my heart” speaks almost directly. The great poet is saying that the universe can not be seen as a mortal, or living; He is saying that people are afraid of death because they are afraid to see deeper into the unknown. In the line “The infinite silence and the passing voice,” he is taking time to think and compare his thoughts of the seasons, death, and the living (Bickersteth n.p).
Leopardi provides great description that allows many readers to get a taste of what he feels. Alla Luna impacts a person with its deep connection with the moon and how the appearance affects a person’s memories (Towler n.p). Alla Luna is like a trip to the past and a trip to his memory when he was a young crippled child; watching the Moon and the infinite wonders in space from a hill and admiring its glory is what Leopardi expressed in his powerful poem. L’infinito impacts the reader in a totally different way. This poem expresses that happiness that comes from death and the freedom from mortal restrictions while the other shows that sadness appears from memories. Although the two poems have huge differences, it has one major similarity that Leopardi has in all his poetry. He writes them to help relieve him of stress and loneliness. The translations of his work is straight and clear to what the poet’s trying to say but it gives a different feeling reading in English than Italian. This would deprive a great chunk of understanding which leads to the actual feeling the reader receives.
A person’s Milieu has the greatest effect on the outcome of a poem. It is one’s milieu that encourages a person to want to write a poem. Leopardi had a very depressing milieu which is his result of being unhealthy and crippled. He said that it would take very brave women to love a man whose only beauty is his soul. Leopardi, the great poet sees himself has a disgusting monster. Although Leopardi seems to be a total hermit, he actually has a loyal friend (Antonio Ranieri) (Origo n.p). His poetry is a great reflection of his emotions that are only written when he feels lonely. The poem A Silvia was written to express his love for Silvia. “The Infinite” can be compared to a person who had been stung by a box jellyfish, died, and was revived in a hospital. The People describe seeing magical things like the gates of heaven. “The Infinite” is a wonder of how far space can go until it reaches the end. “The Moon” can be compared to a long journey that finally comes to an end and a when a person looks at the moon, all the memories of the journeys will flow back.
Giacomo Leopardi is a genius of poetry. His poems touch each person in a special way by writing from the deepest part of the soul so it will be a match everyone. Leopardi had a difficult life and was thought to be crazy but not a lot knew the true Giacomo Taldegardo Francesco di Sales Saverio Pietro Leopardi (Origo n.p). The greatest poets all have one thing in common; they all have a meaningful milieu.

Giacomo Leopardi Research Citations Nathaniel Zhu 1A

Bickersteth, Geoffrey. “Conte Giacomo Leopardi (1798-1837).”
Little Blue Light. 2003. 19 February
2008. <http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/leopard.htm>
Mario. “Giacomo Leopardi.”
Litkicks. 23 January 2003. 23 February
2008.<www.litkicks.com>.
Barricelli, Jean Pierre, “Giacomo Leopardi.”
Barricelli, Jean Pierre. 1986. 19 February
2008. < http://www.answers.com/ >
Towler, Mike. “L'Infinito Giacomo Leopardi.”
Mike Bowler. April 1998. 19 February
2008. <http://www.tcm.phy.cam.ac.uk>
Vangelisti, Paul. Giacomo Leopardi.
Ed. Ron Padget.
New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2000.
Zott, Lynn. "Leopardi, Giacomo: Introduction. Nineteenth-Century Literary Criticism.”
Gale Group, Inc. 2004. eNotes.com. 2006. 19 Feb
2008. <http://www.enotes.com/ >.