Questo lavoro mira ad offrire una nuova prospettiva dalla quale leggere la dialettica fra cultura pagano-mitica e cultura cristiana che attraversa tutta la tradizione letteraria italiana. Tema comune alle due visioni del mondo, la trasformazione è figura guida dell’intera ricerca, figura che assume declinazioni differenti e prende il nome di metamorfosi nella cultura mitica e quello di conversione nella cultura cristiana. La novità della prospettiva consiste nel tentativo di una lettura di carattere retorico di questi due fenomeni, con lo scopo di formalizzare due tipi di poetica che corrispondano al tema della metamorfosi e a quello della conversione. Applicando al vasto materiale offerto da Divina Commedia, Gerusalemme liberata, Adone, Promessi sposi, tragedie manzoniane e da alcune poesie tratte dall’Alcyone di d’Annunzio gli strumenti derivati dagli studi antropologici sui sacrifici arcaici di Girard e dalle intuizioni di Bottiroli a proposito della traduzione letteraria di alcuni schemi logici propri alla cultura occidentale si è potuta constatare una corrispondenza costante tra le forme dei contenuti ‘metamorfosi’ e ‘conversione’ e le particolari forme dell’espressione con cui essi sono stati rappresentati. Una volta individuate, le particolari forme dell’espressione sono state codificate in figure retoriche, tanto che si è giunti ad indicare lo schema, in generale, dell’antitesi come marca propria alla poetica della metamorfosi e la figura della correctio come caratteristica della poetica della conversione. / This work aims at offering a new perspective from which it is possible to read the dialectic between the heathen-mythical culture and the Christian culture that runs through the whole literary Italian tradition. Transformation is the theme in common between the two visions of the world, it is the leading figure of the whole research and it assumes different forms. It takes the name of metamorphosis in the mythical culture and of conversion in the Christian culture. The novelty of this perspective consists in the attempt of a rhetorical reading of these two phenomena, in order to formalize two kinds of poetics., that could correspond to the theme of metamorphosis and conversion. Applying to the large materials offered by Divina Commedia, Gerusalemme liberata, Adone, Promessi sposi, tragedies by Manzoni and some poems from Alcyone by d’Annunzio the instruments deriving from the anthropological studies about archaic sacrifices by Girard and from the intuitions of Bottiroli about literary transposition of some logical schemes, which are typical of the Western culture, it was possible to notice a constant correspondence between forms of contents ‘metamorphosis’ and ‘conversion’ and the particular forms of the expression, with which they have been represented. Once they have been pointed out, the particular forms of expression have been codified in figures of speech, so that it was possible to indicate the overall scheme of the antithesis as the proper sing of the poetics of metamorphosis and the figure of correctio as the feature of the poetics of conversion.

Political language's power to influence public opinion drives the present investigation into proverbs used by presidents during 1945-2008. The study’s purpose is to explore the proverbial language of American presidents, employing a digital methods approach. In addition to the predominant use of quantitative and comparative analyses, qualitative analysis is also occasionally employed. The research examines proverb frequency, patterns, and shifts in political speeches, revealing shared trends and distinctive usage of the proverbs. It also considers presidency duration and political circumstances, uncovering the presidents that favored proverbs in their discourses. Adopting computational means and tools, the study intends to cover gaps in existing research by quantifying proverb usage, focusing on the nuanced sociopolitical fabric. The research is based on vast bibliographic references including studies conducted by old paremiologists, as well as modern computational endeavors. Although the proverbs’ nature involves challenges such as metaphoricity, and existence of variants can cause difficulties in their identification by the tools, the research has been completed, answered all research questions that spanned proverb presence, evolution, and disparities among presidents' speeches, and produced interesting results. Overall, the research enhances understanding of proverbs' role in political discourse, revealing how politicians shape leadership communication through language. Due to the fact that all data was retrieved by open accessed sources, the research has not encountered any copyright issues. Some of the findings were expected, while others were unpredicted. The alternating sequence of challenges and achievements resulted in an understanding of previously raised questions as well as the need to tackle new ones.