Tasso, Torquato
Tasso, Torquato
Italian poet, born at Sorrento near Naples in 1544; died at Rome, in 1595; son of Bernardo Tasso, who was also an author and of noble family, and of Porzia de Rossi. He enriched the Italian literature of the Renaissance with an epic glorifying the Crusades. The depth of his Catholic feeling accords well with the growing resistance to the Reformation developed at Rome in the latter half of the sixteenth century. Educated at the Court of the Dukes of Urbino and later at Venice and the University of Padua, and soon carried away by the whirl of frivolous society, he manifested great precocity, composing his poem “Rinaldo” before reaching the age of twenty. Already he had determined to celebrate in verse the prowess of Godfrey de Bouillon, and had composed the entire first canto. When he had settled at Ferrara in the suite of Cardinal Louis d’Este, he resumed the work. In 1570 he accompanied the cardinal on a voyage to France, and returned in time to hear at Rome the news of the victory of Lepanto. The atmosphere was suitable for the composition of the “Gerusalemme liberata”, on which Tasso continued to work after his return to the Court of Duke Alphonso II at Ferrara. Moreover he composed an excellent pastoral idyl, “Aminta” (1573). The poet had now adopted the practice of consulting some learned friends, among others Mgr. Scipio Gonzaga, on the definitive form of his great work, and was very careful not to violate the rules of good literature then commonly accepted.
After 1575, in addition to his literary anxieties, Tasso suffered from intense religious scruples. His life had not been free from reproach; he had frequently been carried away by the storms of passion, and now he became an almost helpless victim of remorse of conscience. He was tormented by the thought of the liberties he had allowed himself in his poems, and consulted the inquisitors. Months of painful doubt followed, with happily a little respite which allowed him to complete his work, some dangerous passages of which he wished to justify by allegorical interpretation. In 1587 his anxieties returned with increased intensity. Court life became unsuitable for him under the circumstances. He began to travel and left Duke Alphonso, but only temporarily, for he returned a prey to a kind of mania about persecution which induced the duke, who had lost patience, to send him to St. Anne’s lunatic asylum. The publication of the “Gerusalemme liberata” was undertaken by his friends Angelo Ingegneri and Febo Bonna, the latter working almost in accordance with the wishes of the poet. When at length Tasso left the asylum and was received by the Gonsaga, he began about 1586 to revise his poem and after six years he transformed it into the “Gerusalemme conquistata”, an inferior work. It was, however, more satisfactory to certain critics, who had taken umbrage at the “Gerusalemme liberata”. Finally, accepting the invitation of Cardinal Aldobrandini, Tasso went to Rome, where he died in the Convent of Sant’ Onofrio, under the protection of the pope, the day before he was to be crowned as poet laureate.
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Gerusalemme liberata (Florence, 1895), critical edition by SOLERTI; translations of the epic by SMITH (London, 1851) and JAMES (London, 1865); Opere minori di T. Tasso (Bologna, 1895); Prose diverse (Florence, 1875); Lettere di T. Tasso (Florence, 1855-8); Appendice alle opere in prosa (Florence, 1893); SERASSI, Vita di Torguato Tasso (1785); SOLERTI, Vita di Torquato Tasso (Turin, 1895); MILMAN, Life of Torquato Tasso (London, 1850); D’OVIDIO, Studi critici (Naples, 1879); MAZZONI, Tra Libri e carte; CANTU, Storia della letteratura italiana, XI (Florence, 1865); DE SANCTIS, Storia della litt. ital., II (Naples, 1894), xvi; FERRASSI, T. Tasso (Bassano, 1880); T. Tasso e i benedettini cassinessi (Rome,1886-7),BOULTING, Tasso and his Time (London, 1907).
GIUSEPPE GALLAVRESI. Transcribed by Douglas J. Potter Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XIVCopyright © 1912 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, July 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Tasso, Torquato
a celebrated Italian poet, was born at Sorrento, where his parents were visiting, March 11, 1544. Soon after his parents returned to Naples with him, and committed their son, at the age of three years, to the care of a man of learning. At four he was sent to the college of the Jesuits, where he made such rapid progress that at seven years of age he was pretty well acquainted with the Latin and Greek tongues. Bernardo the father of the poet, following his patron, the prince of Salerno, into France, committed his son, then nine years old, to Maurice Cataneo, who assiduously cultivated the early disposition of his pupil to polite literature. When Tasso was twelve. years of age he went to join his father, who soon afterwards placed him in the University of Padua, where he wrote Rinaldo, a poem, being then in his eighteenth year. Invited by the principal persons of the city and college of Bologna, he took up his residence there, but shortly after, upon the invitation of Scipio Gonzaga, prince of the academy at Padua, returned to that city, and became incorporated into the academy, at the age of twenty years. He here formed the design of his celebrated poem, Jerusalem Delivered, and being urged by Alphonso II, duke of Ferrara, took up his residence hi his palace. He continued to work upon his great poem, which he completed in his thirtieth year, but it was printed, even then, against his will. Not long after, being engaged in a duel, he was arrested by order of the duke, ostensibly to screen him from the designs of his enemies. After about a year’s detention, he escaped, and retired to Turin, where he endeavored to remain concealed. He soon became known, and was received by the duke of Savoy, who showed him every mark of esteem. Fearful of being given up to the duke of Ferrara, he left Turin and went to Rome, where he was treated with great honor by all classes. Shortly after he took up his residence with his sister at Sorrento, and then returned to Ferrara, hoping to have his writings restored to him. Failing in this he left that city, and went to Mantua, Padua, and Venice, finally trying his fortune once more with the duke, who, pretending to believe that his mind had become affected, caused him to be confined in the hospital of Santa Anna. After seven years’ confinement, his release was procured byVincentio Gonzaga, prince of Mantua, who brought him to his own city. Wearied with dependence, he resolved to retire to Naples, and from there he went to Bisaccio with his friend Manso. At the approach of winter they returned to Naples, and soon after Tasso went to Rome, where he lived about a year, and, after some wandering, took up his residence at Naples again with the count of Palena. Here he applied himself to the composition of Jerusalem Conquered. He abandoned Naples again to go to Rome upon the invitation of cardinal Cynthio Aldobrandini. Disgusted with the life of a courtier, he obtained permission to retire to Naples, where he took up his lodging in the Benedictine convent of San Severino. He was, however, soon recalled to Rome, to be publicly crowned with laurel in the capitol. He arrived in that city in the beginning of 1595, but while the preparations for the ceremony were being made, Tasso fell ill, and died, in the monastery of San Onufrio, April 25, 1595.