SOURCE: Cairns, Christopher. “Giosuè Carducci.” In Italian Literature: The Dominant Themes, pp. 68-70. Devon, U.K.: David & Charles Limited, 1977.

In the following essay, Cairns examines historical, patriotic, and political themes in Carducci's poetry.

Carducci's life had the unification of Italy at its centre, as can be seen from his dates, 1835-1907. He was not without companion poets—such as Mameli, Mercantini, Prati and Aleardi—to chronicle the Risorgimento political conscience, but Carducci came to be looked on as the official poet of the new Italy, and his poems survive the test of time better than many by his contemporaries. Thus Carducci became the true heir of Alfieri, Foscolo and Leopardi.

His father had been politically active in the revolution of 1848 and Carducci lived through the thick of the political ferment from which the new nation emerged. He grew old in the idealism of university teaching and translated the...