Yves Bonnefoy and translation: the teaching and example of Italy

Leopardi owes much to Petrarch, but the two poets figure the opposition not only of classicism and modernity but also of a religion and faithlessness, an opposition metaphorised by the contrast between fixed form and free verse. Bonnefoy uses these Italian examples to reflect upon his poetics and his language, on the one hand through the sonnet form, on the other, through driving his language beyond its analytical vocation.