Abstract

The dissertation investigates some aspects of the myth of Hellas in the work of Giacomo Leopardi, in a comparative perspective. The first chapter analyzes the influences of Greek lyric on Leopardi's poetry. The second chapter focuses on the notion of classical mythology in the Romantic period, with a particular attention to such German authors as F. Schlegel, Schiller, and Holderlin. In the third chapter the issue of a possible presence of Platonic elements in Leopardi is discussed, and a comparison is made with the Romantic interpretations of Shelley and Pater. In the extensive introduction, Leopardi's pessimistic philosophy is contrasted with Schopenhauer's and Nietzsche's views, and the redeeming power of his own Hellenic ideal is emphasized. The conclusion deals with the philosophical relevance of any literary attempt at retrieving the past, and the brief epilogos is an epigraphic meditation on the significance of writing poetry in our age, after the gods have departed