WILLIAM WORDSWORTH AND GIACOMO LEOPARDI:

BOTH ...

• thought that NATURE was linked to the concept of truth
• saw NATURE as a period of hope and illusions
• believed that RECOLLECTION was essential to poetry

LEOPARDI'S CONCEPT OF NATURE WAS EXTREMELY PESSIMISTIC:

IN LEOPARDI'S 'CANTO NOTTURNO DI UN PASTORE ERRANTE DELL'ASIA':

• the image of the moon is central to the poem
• NATURE does not accompany man through life

IN WORDSWORTH'S ODE 'INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY':

• the image of the sun is central to the poem
• NATURE accompanies man through life

LIKE ROUSSEAU,WORDSWORTH BELIEVED THAT:

• children were the least corrupted ages of man
• the SOUL PRE-EXISTED in heaven before birth
• it was the poet's DUTY to recall the heavenly pre-existance of the soul trough IMAGINATION

LEOPARDI CAN ALSO BE ASSOCIATED WITH:

• Gray
• Byron
• Keats