Torquato Tasso

Torquato Tasso (1544–1595) was an Italian poet whose epic Jerusalem Delivered recounts the First Crusade and became a landmark of Renaissance literature.

Jerusalem Delivered: An epic poem by Torquato Tasso about the Christian conquest of Jerusalem during the First Crusade. This is Tasso’s defining work and the clearest expression of his poetic ambitions.
Ottava rima: An Italian stanza form of eight lines, usually rhyming ABABABCC. Tasso uses its interlocking rhymes and closing couplet to shape narrative movement.
Ferrara: A city in northern Italy that became a major Renaissance court under the Este dynasty. Tasso served the Este court there, where he composed and revised much of his epic.
Bernardo Tasso: An Italian poet and diplomat, and the father of Torquato Tasso. Bernardo’s literary career and unfinished epic influenced his son’s ambitions.
Gerusalemme liberata: The Italian title of Torquato Tasso’s epic poem Jerusalem Delivered. The poem circulated in revised forms and became the source of Tasso’s enduring fame.
Italian Renaissance: A period of cultural change in Italy, conventionally dated from the fourteenth through the sixteenth centuries. Tasso wrote amid its courtly literary culture and renewed engagement with classical art.
Epic simile: An extended comparison in an epic poem, often elaborated across several lines. Tasso’s expanded comparisons give battle scenes and emotional episodes heightened scale.
House of Este: An Italian noble dynasty that ruled Ferrara and other territories during the Renaissance. Este patronage placed Tasso within the court that supported his literary career.
Alfonso II d'Este: Duke of Ferrara from 1559 to 1597 and a patron at whose court Tasso served. Tasso’s service to Alfonso tied his literary life to the Este court.
Gerusalemme conquistata: A revised epic by Torquato Tasso, published in 1593 and based on Jerusalem Delivered. Tasso’s later reworking reveals his changing response to poetic and religious criticism.

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FerraraRelated: Tasso spent part of his career at the Este court in Ferrara.