biography
| name: |
Leopardi, Giacomo, conte (Count)
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pronunciation:
[layohpah(r)dee]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1798–1837)
|
| biography:
| Poet and scholar, born in Recanati, EC Italy. He was a gifted, congenitally handicapped (hunch-backed) child who by the age of 16 had read all the Latin and Greek classics, and outstripped any tutor found for him. Most of his afflicted life was lived in hopeless despondency (humanity can only redeem itself by accepting its own tragic destiny) and unrequited love, and this became the basis of his superb lyric poetry and prose. Among his most noted works are those collected under the title I canti (1831). |
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