Zanella, Coleridge, and Shelley

Abstract

Carducci would have appealed to Matthew Arnold as fulfilling a condition which he required of the great poet-that he should give us thought, as well as beauty. For a time, until symbolism began to turn the current in another direction, the tendency of the age was towards a poetry which should be learned and thoughtful-a poetry which should draw inspiration from history and archaeology, and even, with discretion, from the natural sciences. In this respect the work of Zanella, Carducci, and Pascoli in Italy corresponds in some measure with the work of men like Leconte de Lisle and Sully Prudhomme in France. Yet, of the Italians we have mentioned, only Carducci is at all well known in England and America, while Zanella has hardly been heard of, except by professed students of Italian literature.