"Carducci was a patriot and committed to the aspirations of the "Risorgimento", the 19th-century movement to unify Italy; thus, there are in the "Barbarian Odes" poems in praise of Garibaldi and queen Margherita.Most of the poems, however, are Classical in theme and even in style, as Carducci often uses forms and meter imitative of Latin poets such as Horace and Virgil.