Poesia civile a Milano dopo l’Unità

The essay gives proper consideration to the Milanese poetical production which, after the Unification, was oriented towards political and civil topics leaving aside the experience of Scapigliatura and realism (verismo in Italian literature) after the disillusionment with the solution to the process of Risorgimento proposed by the house of Savoy. Given the absence of an authoritative voice able to fuse the tensions and expectations of the end of the century in a personal re-elaboration, what remains of the literary scene is the presence of political figures who became poets (Felice Cavallotti and Filippo Turati) and followed the example set by Carducci and his iambic metre. In the second part of the essay, the relationship between Carducci and Cavallotti is duly examined, focussing on the points of convergence (their poetical expression as the result of democratic ideals, inspired by the teachings of Garibaldi) and on the divergences (their opinions of such political figures as Francesco Crispi).