Jerusalem Delivered

Jerusalem Delivered Gerusalemme Liberata Torquato Tasso THE COMPLETE 20 CANTOS Jerusalem Delivered is an epic poem by the Italian poet Torquato Tasso first published in 1581, which tells a largely mythified version of the First Crusade in which Christian knights, led by Godfrey of Bouillon, battle Muslims in order to take Jerusalem. The poem is composed of eight line stanzas grouped into 20 cantos of varying length. The work belongs to the Italian Renaissance tradition of the romantic epic poem, and Tasso frequently borrows plot elements and character types directly from Ariosto's Orlando furioso. Tasso's poem also has elements inspired by the classical epics of Homer and Virgil (especially in those sections of their works that tell of sieges and warfare). One of the most characteristic literary devices in Tasso's poem is the emotional conundrum endured by characters torn between their heart and their duty; the depiction of love at odds with martial valour or honor is a central source of lyrical passion in the poem. TORQUATO TASSO was born at Sorrento on March 11, 1544, and died in Rome on April 25, 1595, aged fifty-one. He belonged to an old family of Bergamo, and was a poet’s son. His father Bernardo Tasso, full fifty years old at the time of his son’s birth, had then been for thirteen years in the service of Ferrante Sanseverino, Prince of Salerno, and had married in 1536 the beautiful and spiritual Porzia de’ Rossi, of the house of the Marquises of Calenzano. Their son Torquato was first educated at schools of the Jesuits in Naples, Rome, and Bergamo. They were the best schools of the time. At eight years old the boy read Greek and Latin, and had begun to write Italian verse. Then he was in Pesaro for a time, sharing the education given to the son of the Duke of Urbino. After this he was for a year in Venice with his father, and then, at the age of thirteen,, he was sent to study law at Padua.