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Aleardo, Count Aleardi

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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ALEARDO, COUNT ALEARDI (1812-1878), Italian poet, was born at Verona on the 4th of November 1812, and thus soon after his birth became an Austrian subject. Inspired from his cradle with a hatred of the foreigner, he found himself disqualified for the position in the public service to which his rank would have entitled him, and unable to publish his patriotic verses. Arnaldo da Rocca, a narrative poem, nevertheless appeared in 1842, and the revolutionary year 1848 made an opening for his Lettere a Maria. He took an active part in the popular uprising, and was for some time imprisoned. In 1856 he produced the finest of his pieces, an ode to the maritime cities of Italy, and in 1858 a poem on his own misfortunes. After the expulsion of the Austrians from Lombardy he returned to Verona, published his poems in a collected edition (1862), became professor at the Academy of Fine Art, member of the Italian parliament and eventually senator. He died on the 17th of July 1878. Aleardi's warmth of patriotic feeling hardly finds adequate expression in his poetry; it is his merit to excel in description, but his fault to substitute description for action.