SOURCE: Garofalo, Silvano. “Giosuè Carducci.” In Dictionary of Italian Literature, pp. 100-03. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, Inc., 1979.

In the following essay, Garofolo discusses themes of nature and Roman history in Carducci's works.

Carducci, Giosuè (1835-1907), poet, critic, and scholar. Son of a doctor and the oldest of three children, Carducci spent most of his childhood in Bolgheri, south of Livorno, the setting of two of his finer poems, “Davanti San Guido” (“Before San Guido”) and “Idillio Maremmano” (“The Idyll of Maremma”). His republican political views gave way to acceptance of the monarchy with the annexation of Rome to the Italian kingdom. In 1860, he was appointed professor of Italian literature at the University of Bologna and held this position until 1904, when he retired because of failing health. His accomplishments as a leading poet of the new Italy were recognized by the government, which made him senator for life in...