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Ugo Foscolo

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"Foscolo" redirects here. For the surname, seeFoscolo (surname).

Niccolò Ugo Foscolo
Portrait by François-Xavier Fabre, 1813
Portrait byFrançois-Xavier Fabre,1813
Born(1778-02-06)6 February 1778
Zakynthos(Zante),Ionian Islands,Republic of Venice,nowGreece
Died10 September 1827(1827-09-10)(aged 49)
Turnham Green,now London, England
Resting placeBasilica of Santa Croce, Florence
Pen nameDidimo Chierico
OccupationPoet, writer, soldier
LanguageItalian
NationalityVenetian-Greek
CitizenshipVenetian (1778–1799),Italian(until 1814), Britain (1814–1827)
Period1796–1827
GenresLyrical poetry,epistolary novel,literary critic
Literary movementNeoclassicism,Pre-Romanticism
PartnerIsabella Teotochi Albrizzi(1795–1796)
Isabella Roncioni(1800–1801)
Antonietta Fagnani Arese(1801–1803)
Fanny "Sophia" Emerytt-Hamilton(1804–1805)
Quirina Mocenni Magiotti(1812–1813)
ChildrenMary "Floriana" Hamilton-Foscolo
(from Fanny Hamilton)
Signature

Ugo Foscolo(Italian:[ˈuːɡoˈfoskolo,fɔs-];[1]6 February 1778 – 10 September 1827), bornNiccolò Foscolo,was a Greek-Italian writer, revolutionary and poet.[2]

He is especially remembered for his 1807 long poemDei Sepolcri.

Early life[edit]

Foscolo was born inZakynthosin theIonian Islands.His father Andrea Foscolo was an impoverishedVenetiannobleman and doctor, and his mother Diamantina Spathis wasGreek.[3][4][5][6][7][8]

In 1788, upon the death of his father, who worked as a physician inSpalato(present-daySplit, Croatia), the family moved toVenice,and Foscolo completed the studies he began at theDalmatiangrammar school at theUniversity of Padua.[9]

Amongst his Paduan teachers was the AbbéMelchiore Cesarotti,whose version ofOssianwas very popular in Italy, and who influenced Foscolo's literary tastes; he knew bothmodernandAncient Greek.His literary ambition revealed itself in the appearance in 1797 of his tragedyTieste—a production that enjoyed a certain degree of success.[9]

Politics and poetry[edit]

Foscolo, who, for unknown reasons, had changed his Christian name Niccolò to that of Ugo, began to take an active part in the stormy political discussions which thefall of the Republic of Venicehad triggered. He was a prominent member of the national committees, and addressed an ode toNapoleon,expecting Napoleon to overthrow the Venetianoligarchyand create a free republic.[9]

TheTreaty of Campo Formio(17 October 1797), under which, the French having indeed forced the dissolution of the ancient Republic of Venice, then handed over the city and theVenetoto theAustrians(in exchange for theAustrian Netherlands) gave a rude shock to Foscolo, but did not quite destroy his hopes. The state of mind produced by that shock is reflected in his novelThe Last Letters of Jacopo Ortis(1798), which was described by the 1911Encyclopædia Britannicaas a more politicized version ofJohann Wolfgang von Goethe'sThe Sorrows of Young Werther:"for Foscolo's hero embodies the mental sufferings and suicide of an undeceived Italian patriot just as Goethe's hero places before us the too-delicate sensitiveness, embittering and at last cutting short the life of a private German scholar."[9]

The story of Foscolo's novel,The Last Letters of Jacopo Ortishad a groundwork of melancholy fact. Jacopo Ortis had been a real person; he was a young student fromPadua,and committed suicide there under circumstances akin to those described by Foscolo.[9]

Foscolo, like many of his contemporaries, had thought much about suicide.Cato the Youngerand the many classical examples of self-destruction described inPlutarch'sLivesappealed to the imaginations of young Italian patriots as they had to the heroes and heroines of theGirondein France. In the case of Foscolo, as in that of Goethe, the effect produced on the writer's mind by the composition of the work seems to have been beneficial. He had seen the ideal of a great national future rudely shattered; but he did not despair of his country, and sought relief in now turning to gaze on the ideal of a great national poet.[9]

After the fall of Venice, Foscolo moved toMilan,where he formed a friendship with the older poetGiuseppe Parini,whom he later remembered with admiration and gratitude.[9]In Milan, he published a selection of 12Sonnets,blending the passionate sentiments shown in"Ortis"with classical control of language and rhythm.

Still hoping that his country would be freed by Napoleon, in 1799 Foscolo enlisted as a volunteer in theNational Guardof Napoleon'sCisalpine Republic,was wounded at Cento, near Bologna, and taken as prisoner to Modena. Liberated after the French armies took Modena, he took part in the battle of theTrebbia(1799) and was wounded again in defence of the siege ofGenoa(1800).[10]Following the battle ofMarengo(1800), he returned to Milan, and there gave the last touches to his "Ortis",published a translation of and commentary uponCallimachus,commenced a version of theIliadand began his translation ofLaurence Sterne'sA Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy.[9]He also took part in a failed memorandum intended to present a new model of unified Italian government to Napoleon.

In 1804, Foscolo returned to military service in Napoleon's cause, attached to the Italian Division of Napoleon's army, based inBoulogne-sur-Mer,as part ofNapoleon's invasion force against Britain.Foscolo himself was stationed inValenciennes,where he fathered a daughter, Floriana, by Sophia St John Hamilton, daughter ofLady Mary Hamilton.[11][12]

Following the defeat atTrafalgar(1805) and Napoleon's abandonment of his plans for invasion, Foscolo returned to Italy in 1806. Before leaving France, however, Foscolo once again metAlessandro Manzoniin Paris. Some seven years younger, Manzoni was still living in the house of his motherGiulia Beccaria.Studies have noted very close analogies (textual, metrical and biographical) between the poetry of Foscolo and Manzoni in the period 1801 to 1803, such as those between Foscolo'sAll'amica risanata( "To the healed friend"), an ode toAntonietta Fagnani Arese,and Manzoni'sQual su le cinzie cime( "Who, on the peaks of Cynthus")[13][14][15]

In 1807, occasioned by Napoleon's 1804 decree forbidding burials within city limits,[16]Foscolo wrote hisDei Sepolcri( "On Sepulchres"), which may be described as his sublime effort to seek refuge in the past from the misery of the present and the darkness of the future. The mighty dead are summoned from their tombs, as ages before they had been in the masterpieces of Greek oratory, to fight again the battles of their country.

Dei Sepolcri,1809
FromDei Sepolcri,1807

All'ombra de' cipressi e dentro l'urne
confortate di pianto è forse il sonno
della morte men duro? Ove piú il Sole
per me alla terra non-fecondi questa
bella d'erbe famiglia e d'animali,
e quando vaghe di lusinghe innanzi
a me non-danzeran l'ore future,
né da te, dolce amico, udrò piú il verso
e la mesta armonia che lo governa,
né piú nel cor mi parlerà lo spirto
delle vergini Muse e dell'amore,
unico spirto a mia vita raminga,
qual fia ristoro a' dí perduti un sasso
che distingua le mie dalle infinite
ossa che in terra e in mar semina morte?

Lines 1–15[17] English translation:
Beneath the cypress shade, or sculptured urn
By fond tears watered, is the sleep of death
Less heavy? — When for me the sun no more
Shall shine on earth, to bless with genial beams
This beauteous race of beings animate —
When bright with flattering hues the coming hours
No longer dance before me — and I hear
No more, regarded friend, thy dulcet verse,
Nor the sad gentle harmony it breathes —
When mute within my breast the inspiring voice
Of youthful poesy, and love, sole light
To this my wandering life — whatguerdonthen
For vanished years will be the marble reared
To mark my dust amid the countless throng
Wherewith the Spoiler strews the land and sea?[18]

In January 1809, Foscolo was appointed to the chair of Italian rhetoric at the University ofPavia.In Pavia, Foscolo resided at thePalazzo Cornazzani,later home toContardo Ferrini,toAda Negriand toAlbert Einstein,respectively.[19]His inaugural lecture "On the origin and duty of literature",was conceived in the same spirit as hisDei Sepolcri.In his lecture, Foscolo urged his young countrymen to study literature, not in obedience to academic traditions, but in their relation to individual and national life and growth.[9]

The sensation produced by this lecture played no small part in provoking the decree of Napoleon by which the chair of rhetoric was abolished in all the Italian universities under Napoleonic control. Soon afterwards, in 1811 Foscolo's tragedy ofAjaxwas presented at Milan, with little success; and because of its supposed allusions to Napoleon, he was forced in 1812 to move from Milan toTuscany.

The chief fruits of his stay inFlorencewere the tragedy ofRicciarda,theOde to the Graces,left unfinished, and the completion of his translation ofLaurence Sterne'sSentimental Journey,including his own fictional memoirNotizia intorno a Didimo Chierico( "News concerning Didymus the cleric") (1813), covering much of the same ground as that ofSterne'smain character, the Reverend Yorick; which he (Foscolo) had begun during his service atBoulogne-sur-Mer.In his account ofDidimo Chierico,Foscolo throws much light on his own character. His version of Sterne is an important feature in his personal history.[9]

Foscolo returned to Milan in 1813, until the return of the Austrians in 1815; from there he passed intoSwitzerland,where he wrote a fierce satire in Latin on his political and literary opponents; and finally he sought the shores of England at the close of 1816.[9]

Blue plaque inEdwardes Squarein west London

London[edit]

His now-empty tomb in the churchyard ofSt Nicholas Church, Chiswick

During the eleven years spent by Foscolo in London, until his death there, he enjoyed all the social distinction which the most brilliant circles of the English capital could confer on foreigners of political and literary renown, and experienced all the misery which follows on from a disregard of the first conditions of domestic economy.

His contributions to theEdinburgh ReviewandQuarterly Review,his dissertations in Italian on the text ofDante AlighieriandGiovanni Boccaccio,and still more his English essays onPetrarch(1821), of which the value was enhanced byBarbarina Brand's admirable translations of some of Petrarch's finest sonnets, heightened his previous fame as aMan of Letters.However, he was frequently accused of financial ineptitude, and ended up spending time indebtors' prison,which affected his social standing after his release.[9]

According to theHistory of the County of Middlesex,the scientist and businessmanWilliam Allenhired Foscolo to teach Italian at the Quaker school he co-founded, theNewington Academy for Girls.[20]His general bearing in society – as reported byWalter Scott– had not been such as to gain and retain lasting friendships. He died atTurnham Greenon 10 September 1827, and was buried atSt Nicholas Church, Chiswick,where his restored tomb remains to this day; it refers to him as the "wearied citizen poet", and incorrectly states his age as 50. Forty-four years after his death, on 7 June 1871, his remains were exhumed at the request of the King of Italy and taken to Florence, where with all the pride, pomp and circumstance of a great national mourning, found their final resting-place beside the monuments ofNiccolò MachiavelliandVittorio Alfieri,ofMichelangeloandGalileo,in the church ofSanta Croce,[9][21]thepantheonof Italian glory he had celebrated inDei Sepolcri.

As noted by historianLucy Riall,the glorification of Ugo Foscolo in the 1870s was part of the effort of the Italian government of this time (successful in completing theItalian unificationbut at the cost of a head-on confrontation with theCatholic Church) to create a gallery of "secular saints" to compete with those of the Church and sway popular feeling in favor of the newly created Italian state.[22]

References in modern culture[edit]

Works[edit]

Poetry[edit]

  • Ai novelli repubblicani,ode(1797)
  • A Bonaparte liberatore[To Bonaparte the liberator], ode (1797)
  • A Luigia Pallavicini caduta da cavallo[To Luigia Pallavicini fallen from a horse], ode (1800)
  • All'amica risanata[To the healed (female) friend], ode (1802)
  • Non son chi fui, perì di noi gran parte,sonnet(1802)
  • Che stai?,sonnet (1802)
  • Te nudrice alle Muse,sonnet (1802)
  • E tu ne' carmi avrai perenne vita,sonnet (1802)
  • Perché taccia il rumor di mia catena,sonnet (1802)
  • Così gl'interi giorni in lungo incerto,sonnet (1802)
  • Meritamente, però ch'io potei,sonnet (1802)
  • Solcata ho fronte,sonnet (1802)
  • Alla sera[To the night (evening)], sonnet (1803)[24]
  • A Zacinto[To Zakinthos], sonnet (1803)
  • Alla Musa[To the Muse], sonnet (1803)
  • In morte del fratello Giovanni[In death of brother John], sonnet (1803)
  • Dei Sepolcri[Of the sepulchres],carmen(1807)
  • Delle Grazie[Of theGraces], short poem (1803–1827, unfinished)

Novels[edit]

Plays[edit]

  • Tieste[Thyestes] (1797)
  • Ajace[Ajax] (1811)
  • Ricciarda(1813)

References[edit]

  1. ^Luciano Canepari."Foscolo".DiPI Online(in Italian).Retrieved13 January2021.
  2. ^Biography at Infotube
  3. ^Scotti, Mario (1997)."FOSCOLO, Ugo".Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani,Volume 49: Forino–Francesco da Serino(in Italian). Rome:Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana.ISBN978-8-81200032-6.Retrieved2 July2024.
  4. ^Ugo Foscolo: An Italian in Regency England,Vincent, Eric Reginald Pearce, 1894, Cambridge University Press, p. 106
  5. ^The Chronicles of Fleetwood House,Adam John Shirren, 1977 Pacesetter Press, p. 155
  6. ^Introduction to Italian Poetry, Rebay, Luciano, Courier Dover Publications, p. 97
  7. ^Dictionary of Italian Literature,Bondanella, Julia Conaway,Peter E. Bondanella,Greenwood Press, p. 215,ISBN0-313-20421-7
  8. ^The Australian Library Journal,1951 Library Association of Australia, University of Michigan, p. 179
  9. ^abcdefghijklmOne or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Stuart, James Montgomery (1911). "Foscolo, Ugo".InChisholm, Hugh(ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 27 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 730–731.
  10. ^Italian:Ugo Foscolo - Enrollment in the National Guard (1799-1801)
  11. ^Italian:Ugo Foscolo - the years in France (1804-1806)
  12. ^"Voyages in text: Ugo Foscolo - 1802-1814 - In Frances, military service in the Italian Division"(in Italian). Archived fromthe originalon 22 April 2013.Retrieved4 January2024.
  13. ^Pierantonio Frare,Foscolo e Manzoni – rapporti biografici e polemiche testuali,inRivista di letteratura italiana,XVII, 1 (1999), pagg. 29–50
  14. ^Poesie di Alessandro Manzoni prima della conversione,co note critiche di Alberto Chiari, LeMonnier, Firenze, 1932; and then in Franco Gavazzeni,Alessandro Manzoni: poesie prima della conversione,Einaudi, Torino, 1992
  15. ^Gianmarco Gaspari,Beccaria-Foscolo<---Manzoni,Annali Manzoniani, I (1990), pagg. 197-218, also cited inLetteratura delle riforme,Sellerio, Palermo, 1990, pagg. 232-258
  16. ^Hainsworth, Peter (2005)."Dei Sepolcri".Oxford Companion to Italian Literature.Retrieved5 January2024.
  17. ^Foscolo, Ugo (1807)."Dei Sepolcri".Classicitaliani.Retrieved17 March2015.
  18. ^From Robert Walsh,The American Quarterly Review,Volume 16, p. 77
  19. ^University of Pavia."Einstein, Albert".Museo per la Storia dell'Università di Pavia.University of Pavia.Retrieved7 January2023.
  20. ^A.P. Baggs, Diane K. Bolton and Patricia E.C. Croot, 'Stoke Newington: Education', in A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 8, Islington and Stoke Newington Parishes, ed. T. F. T. Baker and C. R. Elrington (London, 1985), pp. 217–23. British History Onlinehttp:// british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol8/pp217-223[accessed 28 March 2016].
  21. ^""Exhumation of poet Ugo Foscolo (1778-1827), on May 31, 1871, in the cemetery of Chiswick, near London. The works ended on 7 June 1871." Photograph by Caldesi & C, United Kingdom, London 1871. (Photo by Fototeca Gilardi/Getty Images) ".Getty Images.Retrieved21 September2020.
  22. ^Riall, Lucy (2007).Garibaldi: invention of a hero.Yale University Press. p. 4.
  23. ^Fusco, Franca Oliva (January 2018).Franca Oliva Fusco: Cinema e Poesia.ISBN9788827543719.
  24. ^Foscolo, Ugo."To the Night".Cultured.Retrieved3 March2014.
  25. ^First edition byVincenzo Di Benedetto,Turin 1991.

External links[edit]

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