Table 1 The selected Leopardi essays and... | Emerald Publishing

Table 1

The selected Leopardi essays and poems

Type	Essay	Essay	Poem	Poem
Title	Dialogue between an Elf and a Gnome (“Dialogo di un Folletto e di uno Gnomo”)	Dialogue between Nature and an Icelander (“Dialogo della Natura e di un Islandese”)	Night Song of a Wandering Shepherd in Asia (“Canto Notturno di un Pastore errante dell’Asia”)	The Wild Broom (“La Ginestra”)
Period	1824	Inspired by Voltaire’s “History of Jenni or the Wise Man and the Atheist” (Andrews, 1981).	1831	1834
Summary	An elf and a gnome mock human's belief that the world is made for his exclusive use and consumption. The world, on the other hand, could exist and survive even if humans became extinct, as in effect occurs in the Dialogue	An Icelander travels the world, fleeing nature. Having arrived in Africa, he encounters nature itself in the form of a gigantic woman. The Icelander voices a long indictment against nature but his questions remain unanswered, as he is suddenly either devoured by two starving lions or buried alive in a sandstorm	The Night Song opens with a Kyrgyz shepherd asking the moon rhetorical questions, revealing his doubts about the meaning of life. The wandering shepherd criticizes the development of human life. Oppressed by these anxieties, the shepherd turns to his flock, the only living beings at his disposal. The sheep, however, are not tormented by boredom and tedium, feelings that are essential constituents of the human soul	The Wild Broom begins with the depiction of the slopes of Vesuvius brightened exclusively by a wild broom shrub, solitary in the scenery. After some impressive stanzas (against false notions of progress; a description of the cosmic space from petrified Mount Vesuvius after a massive lava eruption, a dramatic scenery of an anthill disrupted by falling fruit), the poem ends with the broom again, its fragrant shrubs embellishing the desertified countryside
Notable points	The world proceeds even in the absence of humanity. Without calendars, the days can be counted thanks to the course of the moon	The Icelander speaks of his life of suffering and accuses nature of being the cause of humanity's suffering and unhappiness	Human life is nothing more than a frantic journey towards death	The broom is a gentle flower, which although aware of its fragility, does not shirk its destiny
	Humankind has become extinct partly by waging wars against each other, partly by being idle, partly by leading disorderly lives, partly by harming nature and ruining their existence	The universe is an unfathomable mystery to human beings	The moon is intact, in the sense that it reveals a substantial disinterest in the shepherd’s questions, but fully aware of the dynamics that govern human events, despite the silence and apparent indifference	Nature is not a friend of humankind; on the contrary, the only possible form of true progress lies in a confederation of humans who, despite their unhappiness, support each other to survive
	All animal species believe that the world was created for them	According to nature, the world was not made for humanity and its happiness	Having raised his eyes to the celestial vault, the shepherd becomes desolately aware of the immensity of the cosmos	Cosmos, anything but idyllic, offers the opportunity to resume the debate against optimistic ideologies, believing in an absurdly anthropocentric vision of the world that humankind was designed to dominate the universe
	More than any other species, it is man who believes that the world was created for him, and that it is therefore his property. Man refers to everything that exists and happens in nature to himself, so much so as to feel master even of species unknown	If one day humans were to become extinct, perhaps nature would not even notice	The shepherd does not know what benefit this boundless and proud universe brings, nor is he aware of the reason why stars and planets continue their coming and revolving	Nature, in its substantial indifference to earthly affairs, cares neither for man nor for ants, guided by a benevolent design
	Humankind thinks that even the universe is his prerogative, but now that man is extinct, we should not believe that the planets have stopped turning and are mourning for him	Nature reminds us that the life of the universe is a perpetual cycle of transformation of matter so that nothing escapes		The universe is guided by the mechanistic aspects of nature aimed at perpetuating existence in a long process of birth, development, and death, without being inspired by a benevolent design aimed at making the individual happy, whether animal or human

Type	Essay	Essay	Poem	Poem
Title	Dialogue between an Elf and a Gnome (“Dialogo di un Folletto e di uno Gnomo”)	Dialogue between Nature and an Icelander (“Dialogo della Natura e di un Islandese”)	Night Song of a Wandering Shepherd in Asia (“Canto Notturno di un Pastore errante dell’Asia”)	The Wild Broom (“La Ginestra”)
Period	1824	Inspired by Voltaire’s “History of Jenni or the Wise Man and the Atheist” (Andrews, 1981).	1831	1834
Summary	An elf and a gnome mock human's belief that the world is made for his exclusive use and consumption. The world, on the other hand, could exist and survive even if humans became extinct, as in effect occurs in the Dialogue	An Icelander travels the world, fleeing nature. Having arrived in Africa, he encounters nature itself in the form of a gigantic woman. The Icelander voices a long indictment against nature but his questions remain unanswered, as he is suddenly either devoured by two starving lions or buried alive in a sandstorm	The Night Song opens with a Kyrgyz shepherd asking the moon rhetorical questions, revealing his doubts about the meaning of life. The wandering shepherd criticizes the development of human life. Oppressed by these anxieties, the shepherd turns to his flock, the only living beings at his disposal. The sheep, however, are not tormented by boredom and tedium, feelings that are essential constituents of the human soul	The Wild Broom begins with the depiction of the slopes of Vesuvius brightened exclusively by a wild broom shrub, solitary in the scenery. After some impressive stanzas (against false notions of progress; a description of the cosmic space from petrified Mount Vesuvius after a massive lava eruption, a dramatic scenery of an anthill disrupted by falling fruit), the poem ends with the broom again, its fragrant shrubs embellishing the desertified countryside
Notable points	The world proceeds even in the absence of humanity. Without calendars, the days can be counted thanks to the course of the moon	The Icelander speaks of his life of suffering and accuses nature of being the cause of humanity's suffering and unhappiness	Human life is nothing more than a frantic journey towards death	The broom is a gentle flower, which although aware of its fragility, does not shirk its destiny
	Humankind has become extinct partly by waging wars against each other, partly by being idle, partly by leading disorderly lives, partly by harming nature and ruining their existence	The universe is an unfathomable mystery to human beings	The moon is intact, in the sense that it reveals a substantial disinterest in the shepherd’s questions, but fully aware of the dynamics that govern human events, despite the silence and apparent indifference	Nature is not a friend of humankind; on the contrary, the only possible form of true progress lies in a confederation of humans who, despite their unhappiness, support each other to survive
	All animal species believe that the world was created for them	According to nature, the world was not made for humanity and its happiness	Having raised his eyes to the celestial vault, the shepherd becomes desolately aware of the immensity of the cosmos	Cosmos, anything but idyllic, offers the opportunity to resume the debate against optimistic ideologies, believing in an absurdly anthropocentric vision of the world that humankind was designed to dominate the universe
	More than any other species, it is man who believes that the world was created for him, and that it is therefore his property. Man refers to everything that exists and happens in nature to himself, so much so as to feel master even of species unknown	If one day humans were to become extinct, perhaps nature would not even notice	The shepherd does not know what benefit this boundless and proud universe brings, nor is he aware of the reason why stars and planets continue their coming and revolving	Nature, in its substantial indifference to earthly affairs, cares neither for man nor for ants, guided by a benevolent design
	Humankind thinks that even the universe is his prerogative, but now that man is extinct, we should not believe that the planets have stopped turning and are mourning for him	Nature reminds us that the life of the universe is a perpetual cycle of transformation of matter so that nothing escapes		The universe is guided by the mechanistic aspects of nature aimed at perpetuating existence in a long process of birth, development, and death, without being inspired by a benevolent design aimed at making the individual happy, whether animal or human

Source(s): Table created by authors