Torquato Tasso facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Torquato Tasso
|
|
|---|---|
A depiction of Tasso from a German encyclopedia, 1905. Note the laurel crown.
|
|
| Born | 11 March 1544 Sorrento, Kingdom of Naples |
| Died | 25 April 1595 (aged 51) Rome, Papal States |
| Occupation | Poet |
| Genre | Epic poetry, lyric poetry |
|
|
|
| Signature |  |
Torquato Tasso ( TASS-oh, also TAH-soh 11 March 1544 – 25 April 1595) was an Italian poet of the 16th century, known for his 1591 poem Gerusalemme liberata (Jerusalem Delivered), in which he depicts a highly imaginative version of the combats between Christians and Muslims at the end of the First Crusade, during the Siege of Jerusalem of 1099.
Tasso suffered from mental illness and died a few days before he was to be crowned on the Capitoline Hill as the king of poets by Pope Clement VIII. His work was widely translated and adapted, and until the beginning of the 20th century, he remained one of the most widely read poets in Europe.
Legacy
Tasso is commemorated by monuments in Bergamo and Sorrento. There are streets named after him in virtually every major Italian city, most notably in Bergamo, Posillipo (Naples), Rome, Turin, Palermo and Catania, as well as in Palo Alto, California.
