At the end of the book of Canti of 1835 Leopardi inserted some “extravagant” texts. At the XXXV place, Imitazione/Imitation, verse in hendecasyllables and seven-syllables, probably written in 1828, which elaborates anew the txt of the La feuille by Antoine-Vincent Arnault. At the XXXXVI place Scherzo, verse in eighteen hendecasyllables and seven-syllablesi composed in Pisa on 15 February 1828, in which albeit in a jocose way the lack of “lima”, that is of style, is noted in contemporary composition.
There follow five Frammenti/Fragments: XXXVII, “Odi, Melisso: io vo’ contarti un sogno/Hark Melissa, I shall now tell you a dream”, twenty eight hendecasyllables, composed at Recanati perhaps in 1819, published in the “Nuovo Ricoglitore” in January 1826 and in the Bologna 1826 collection (with the title Lo spavento notturno/Nightly fear) but excluded from the Florence 1831 edition.
XXXVIII, “Io qui vagando al limitare intorno/ I here wander around”, fifteen hendecasyllables in terza rima, constitutes verses 40-54 of the Elegia II, published in the Bologna 1826 edition and composed perhaps in 1818 (at the time of the poet’s love for Geltrude Cassi: the Elegia I is the Canto later entitled Il primo amore/First Love).
XXXIX, “Spento il diurno raggio in occidente/Spent the rays of day in the west”, seventysix hendecasyllables in terza rima, widely elaborates the first part of the Cantica Appressamento della morte, composed at Recanati in 1816.
XL, Dal greco di Simonide (“Ogni mondano evento/Every mundane event”), in hendecasyllables and seven-syllables written in Recanati between 1823 and 1824, is the translation of a fragment by the Greek poet of the VII century BC Semonides of Samos: but Leopardi believed it was Simonides of Ceos (mentioned in All’Italia); in verses 10-8 they were published also in the Parini, ovvero della gloria/Parini, that is to say of glory e in the “Corriere delle Dame” on 10 November 1827, with the title La speranza.
Lastly, LXI, Dello stesso (“Umana cosa picciol tempo dura/Human things last a short time”), in hendecasyllables and seven-syllables, composed together with the preceding one, tanslates a fragment which is impossible as yet to identify as being by one or the other of the Simonides.
Last texts
