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Animal Farm by George Orwell

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Animal Farm , written by George Orwell , is a political fable that tells the story of a group of farm animals who rebel against their cruel human master, hoping to create a society where all animals are equal, free, and happy. Inspired by the dream of the wise old pig Old Major, the animals overthrow the farmer Mr. Jones and take control of the farm, renaming it Animal Farm. At first, the animals work together to build an egalitarian community based on the principles of Animalism, summarized in the Seven Commandments painted on the barn wall. However, over time, the pigs—led by the cunning and power-hungry Napoleon—begin to seize control. They gradually assume privileges, manipulate language and truth, and use fear and propaganda to maintain power. Eventually, they become indistinguishable from the humans they once overthrew. This allegory clearly reflects the events of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the rise of Stalinism. The animals represent different social and political groups...
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The traditional fragmentation of time in philosophy and literature: Henri Bergson and Virginia Woolf

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Henri Bergson (1859–1941) is, together with Maine de Biran, one of the greatest representatives of a philosophical French movement called Spiritualism.

Spiritualism opposes materialism and positivism, i.e., the metaphysical attitude of scientists who systematically put religion and spirituality aside.

Spiritualism is inspired by the philosophy of Augustine, Descartes, Pascal, focusing on ethical problems.

In the essay Matter and Memory (1896), the philosopher has a deep interest in human cognitive power and in the role of memory and memories.

According to French philosopher, memories are distinguished in pure memories, which are accumulated by consciousness in our memory, and in memory-images, which are articulated by perception into a series of representations.

In this way, when we observe something, we activate a series of images and consequent actions that depend on our previous experiences.

Another key element of Bergson's thought is the theory of élan vital, developed in his essay Creative Evolution.

The élan vital is the vitalistic momentum, which would be at the origin of the entire existence of the universe.

According to Bergson, intuition becomes the necessary tool to know the reality and identify qualitative characteristics (and not only quantitative, as advocated by positivists) between several psychological states.

Another important and innovative theory developed by Bergson is the conception of time and its flow.

To the straight and orderly sequence of chronological events, typical of Aristotelian logic and derived from the analytical activity of our intellect, Bergson opposes intuition, which means time as a continuum. Thus, the time of inner duration, a qualitative dimension connected to the activity of consciousness, acquires much more importance compared to the chronological and measurable time.

Bergson's conception of time profoundly affects the early 19th century artistic and literary world such as Impressionism, Cubism, and intellectuals of the time such as Proust, Einstein, Pirandello and Woolf.



Virginia Woolf is considered one of the most important female novelists belonged to First Generation Modernists.

Her early novels, One Way and Night and Day, immediately show her intention to break the old narrative models inherited from English nineteenth-century novels, especially the subordination of characters and actions to the novel's main theme and descriptions of traditional environments and characters.

However, the first recognitions of her literary originality only began to arrive with her novel Mrs Dalloway. 
In this work we observe the technical competence and experimental commitment of the author characterized by the introduction of some images until then proper to poetry.
Influenced by the philosophy of Henri Bergson, she experiments with particular interest the narrative time, both in her individual appearance and in the flow of variations in the consciousness of the character.

Time is described by the writer in her essay Modern Fiction as the difference between time of the clock and time of the mind.
Like Bergson, Virginia states that chronological time is made up of equal and measurable moments; on the other hand, subjective time is related to consciousness, it is irreversible and made up of unique moments.

This conception of the writer's time is visible in the adoption of short meaningful time units: one day in Mrs Dalloway; two different days in To the Lighthouse, ten years apart but linked through the characters' consciousness; a few hours in Between the Acts.
These short time units, that relate to external events, are expanded almost beyond limits by what goes on within the characters' mind, which can cover years and range from past, present to future.

In order to highlight the way the characters' mind is affected by time of the mind and the impressionistic flow of human thoughts, Virginia Woolf adopted in her novels the stream-of-consciousness technique, indirect narration and other literary espressions (e.g. Orlando, The Waves, Mrs Dalloway, To the Lighthouse).

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Analisi del testo. Tre cose solamente mi so 'n grado di Cecco Angiolieri

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Testo Tre cose solamente mi so 'n grado, le quali posso non ben men fornire: ciò è la donna, la taverna e 'l dado; queste mi fanno 'l cuor lieto sentire. Ma sì me le conven usar di rado, ché la mie borsa mi mett'al mentire; e quando mi sovvien, tutto mi sbrado, ch'i' perdo per moneta 'l mie disire. E dico: – Dato li sia d'una lancia! – Ciò a mi' padre, che mi tien sì magro, che tornare' senza logro di Francia. Trarl'un denai' di man serìa più agro, la man di pasqua che si dà la mancia, che far pigliar la gru ad un bozzagro. Parafrasi Solamente tre cose mi piacciono delle quali, però, non posso disporre: cioè la donna, l'osteria e il gioco d'azzardo; queste cose rendono allegro il mio cuore. Purtroppo, posso permettermele di rado perché la mia borsa non mi consente di realizzare tutti i miei desideri; quando mi rendo conto di ciò, mi metto a sbraitare poiché per mancanza di denaro perdo il mio desiderio. Perciò, dico a me stesso ch...
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Wars and social revolt in 14th century

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Agincourt battle In 1337, war between England and France broke out when Edward III claimed the vacant throne of France. One of the most famous victories in English history was achieved by Henry V at Agincourt. The conflict was interrupted by other tragic events such as the Bubonic plague or Black Death. Under Henry VI's reign, the French obtained spectacular victories thanks to Joan of Arc. In the end, the English kings had lost all their continental possessions. Opposition to the Church developed in the second half of the 14th century under the leadership of John Wycliffe, a member of Oxford University who attacked the supremacy of the Pope. From 1454 to 1485 there was a civil war between the two noble houses of York and Lancaster. It was called the War of the Roses because symbols of Lancaster and York families were respectively red rose and white rose. The war was won by Henry Tudor of the Lancastrian dynasty, and he became Henry VII of England.
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Comparison between Joyce's "Ulysses" and Woolf's "Mrs Dalloway"

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James Joyce (1882-1941) and Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) belonged to the first generation of Modernists and it’s possible to make a comparison between their literary production analyzing their masterpieces: Ulysses and Mrs Dalloway . Ulysses Ulysses is one of the greatest examples of reworking of myth in Modernist literature. Joyce uses the epic model to stress the lack of heroism, ideals, love and trust in the modern world. The plot utterly takes place in Dublin in a single day which involves the life of three characters: Leopold Bloom, an advertising agent, Sthephen Dedalus, a sensitive young man with literary ambitions, and Molly Bloom, Leopold’s wife. Leopold Bloom, compared to Homer’s Ulysses, makes common actions: he wanders throughout the day in the streets of Dublin making errands, stopping at the advertising office and joining a funeral. He is distressed with two deep emotional burdens: the unsolved grief over his baby son’s death and the crumbling relationship with his unfa...
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The Ballad of Lord Randal

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Text "O where ha you been, Lord Randal, my son? And where ha you been, my handsome young man?” I ha been at the greenwood; mother, mak my bed soon, “For I’m wearied wi hunting and fain wad lie down.” “An wha met ye there, Lord Randal, my son? An wha met you there, my handsome young man?” “O I met wi my true-love; mother, mak my bed soon, “For I’m wearied wi hunting and fain wad lie down.” “And what did she give you, Lord Randal, my son? And what did she give you, my handsome young man?” “Eels fried in a pan; mother, mak my bed soon, “For I’m wearied wi hunting and fain wad lie down.” “An wha gat your leavins, Lord Randal my son? And wha gat your leavins, my handsome young man?” “ My hawks and my hounds; mother, mak my bed soon, “For I’m wearied wi hunting and fain wad lie down.” “And what becam of them, Lord Randal my son? And what becam of them, my handsome young man?” “ They stretched their legs out and died; mother, mak my bed soon, “For I’m wearied wi hunting and fain wad lie ...
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Giovanni Pascoli: Lavandare

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Testo Nel campo mezzo grigio e mezzo nero resta un aratro senza buoi che pare dimenticato, tra il vapor leggero. E cadenzato dalla gora viene lo sciabordare delle lavandare con tonfi spessi e lunghe cantilene: Il vento soffia e nevica la frasca, e tu non torni ancora al tuo paese, quando partisti, come son rimasta, come l’aratro in mezzo alla maggese. Analisi e commento Lavandare è un madrigale, ossia un componimento metrico breve a sfondo pastorale, scritto da Giovanni Pascoli ed appartenente alla raccolta Myricae . In questa raccolta l'autore parla della natura che ci circonda, la campagna e gli oggetti quotidiani, osservandoli con lo stupore e la meraviglia di un bambino. Essa incorpora componimenti brevi e lineari che illustrano quadretti di vita campestre che, circondandosi di un alone di mistero, evocano l'idea della morte. Questa caratteristica è presente in Lavandare , nella quale emergono i temi ricorrenti nelle poesie di Pascoli: l'abbandono e la solitudine. Il...
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Analisi del testo. La vita fugge, et non s'arresta una hora di Francesco Petrarca

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I contributi a livello di poesia di Francesco Petrarca e Dante Alighieri a confronto

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  Francesco Petrarca: confronto con Dante Alighieri e i suoi importanti contributi alla nascita della poesia ed allo sviluppo ed alla diffusione della letteratura italiana in Europa   Francesco Petrarca e Dante Alighieri sono considerati insieme a Giovanni Boccaccio i padri fondatori della letteratura italiana ed è proprio in base alle tematiche ed ai canoni stilistici adottati dai tre poeti che si è sviluppata la stessa poesia. Le opere celebri dei due poeti sono degli esempi: la “Commedia” ( o “Divina Commedia” come l’ha rinomata Boccaccio in una delle sue “Letture della Commedia” ) rimane nella letteratura italiana un’opera inimitabile mentre il Canzoniere  è considerata l’opera più imitata tanto che dal Trecento fino ai primi anni del Novecento molti poeti si avvalgono di parecchi “petrarchismi”. La prima differenza che si può notare tra i due intellettuali è l’attenzione rivolta al mondo classico: Dante, uomo del Medioevo, non avverte alcun distacco tra il mo...
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