Comparison between Foscolo and Leopardi: argumentative essay on the differences and similarities between the two authors. Comparison between Alla sera and L’infinito.
We find several points of contact between the sonnets Alla sera by Ugo Foscolo and L’infinito by Giacomo Leopardi .First of all, both poets begin their reflection on time and infinity starting from naturalistic elements .
Foscolo begins his verses by commenting on the image of the evening, which he awaits because it incredibly resembles death.Leopardi, instead, stops to contemplate the solitary Mount Tabor, which he loves very much, and the hedge that from there prevents him from seeing the external world with which he identifies the infinite.
The poet’s reflection starts from these images, as he finds himself meditating on the immense space that the hedge excludes from the sight of his eyes and imagining what could be elsewhere.
COMPARISON BETWEEN IN THE EVENING AND INFINITY
Both poets use the adjective “dear” to define the evening and the lonely hill.
For Foscolo, the evening is dear because it is compared to death, which for him represents the cancellation of life and of all earthly suffering .For Leopardi the hill is dear because it is precisely in that solitary place that he stops to imagine the infinite and the world that surrounds him, but which he cannot see.
His fantasies lead him to reflect on the passing of time and the present that lives and involves him. He finds himself comparing the flow of infinite time with that which has already passed. Thus Foscolo is also carried away by his thoughts to the point that in his verses he speaks of the anguish of time that passes inexorably and that drags us with it until it consumes us.
Both poets experience immense joy in front of the themes of their respective sonnets: eternal nothingness for Foscolo and the idea of infinity for Leopardi. Both, in fact, abandon themselves in peace and serenity to these images.
The first, faced with the image of the annihilation of pain and human life, feels his spirit finally calm down and abandon itself to oblivion, even if until then it had always shown itself ardent and ready for battle .
Even Leopardi stops fighting and reflecting on human suffering, and lets himself drown in the sweet sea with which he identifies the infinite.
