John Addington Symonds

“ Essentially a poet of impulse and instinct, he was hampered in production by his own rules. The five years between 1565 and 1570 seem to have been the happiest of Tasso's life, although his father's death in 1569 caused his affectionate nature profound pain. Young, handsome, accomplished in all the exercises of a well-bred gentleman, accustomed to the society of the great and learned, illustrious by his published works in verse and prose, he became the idol of the most brilliant court in Italy. ”

“ This irritated the duke of Ferrara. Alfonso hated nothing more than his courtiers leaving him for a rival duchy. He thought, moreover, that, if Tasso were allowed to go, the Medici would get the coveted dedication of that already famous epic. Therefore he bore with the poet’s humours, and so contrived that the latter should have no excuse for quitting Ferrara. Meanwhile, through the years 1575, 1576, 1577, Tasso’s health grew worse. Jealousy inspired the courtiers to calumniate and insult him. ”

“ But to Tasso he was never cruel,—hard and unintelligent perhaps, but far from being that monster of ferocity which has been painted. The subsequent history of his connexion with the poet, over which we may pass rapidly, will corroborate this view. While at Sorrento, Tasso hankered after Ferrara. The court-made man could not breathe freely outside its charmed circle. He wrote humbly requesting to be taken back. Alfonso consented, provided Tasso would agree to undergo a medical course of treatment for his melancholy. ”

“ One of them he attached to the duke of Mantua, the other to the duke of Parma. After all his father’s and his own lessons of life, he had not learned that the court was to be shunned like Circe by an honest man. In estimating Duke Alfonso’s share of blame, this wilful idealization of the court by Tasso must be taken into account. That man is not a tyrant’s victim who moves heaven and earth to place his sister’s sons with tyrants.
In 1586 Tasso left St Anna at the solicitation of Vincenzo Gonzaga, prince of Mantua. ”

“ He left France next year, and took service under Duke Alfonso II. of Ferrara. The most important events in Tasso's biography during the following four years are the publication of the Aminta in 1573 and the completion of the Gerusalemme Liherata in 1574. The Aminta is a pastoral drama of very simple plot, hut of exquisite lyrical charm. It appeared at the critical moment when modern music, under Palestrina's impulse, was becoming the main art of Italy. The honeyed melodies and sensuous melancholy of Aminta exactly suited and interpreted the spirit of its age. ”

“ Tasso's father was a poet by x^redilection and a professional courtier of some distinction. In those days an Italian gentleman of modest fortunes had no congenial sphere of society or occupation outside the courts of petty ecclesiastical and secular princes. When, therefore, an opening at the court of Urbino offered in 1557, Bernardo Tasso gladly accepted it. The young Torquato, a handsome and brilliant lad, became the companion in sports and studies of Prancesco Maria della Bov ere, heir to the dukedom of Urbino. ”

“ Erminia seeking refuge in the shepherd's hut,—these lovely pagan women, so touching in their sorrows, so romantic in their adventures, so tender in tlieir emotions, rivet our attention, while we skip the battles, religious ceremonies, conclaves, and stratagems of the campaign. ”

“ The fate which condemned him for life to be a poet and a courtier like his father was sealed by this early entrance into princely palaces. At Urbino a society of cultivated men pursued the eesthetical and literary studies which were then in vogue. Bernardo Tasso read cantos of his Amadigi to the duchess and her ladies, or discussed the merits of Homer and Yirgil, Trissino and Ariosto, with the duke's librarians and secretaries, Torquato grew up in an atmosphere of refined luxury and somewhat pedantic criticism, both of which gave a permanent tone to his character. ”

“ But Bernardo had suffered in his own career so seriously from addiction to the Muses and a prince that he now determined on a lucrative profession for his son, Torquato was sent to study law at Padua. Instead of applying himself to law, the young man bestowed all his attention upon philosophy and poetry. Before the end of 1562 he had produced a narrative poem called Rinaldo^ which was meant to combine the regularity of the Virgilian with the attractions of the romantic epic. ”

“ Hor can it be said that society was wrong. Tasso had proved himself an impracticable human being; but he remained a man of genius, the most interesting personality in Italy. Long ago his papers had been sequestered. Now, in the year 1580, he heard that part of the Gerumlemme was being published without his permission and without his corrections. Next year the whole poem was given to the world, and in the following six months seven editions issued from the press. The prisoner of St Anna had no control over his editors ”

“ Sentiment, not sentimentality, gives value to what is immortal in the GeruscUemme, It was a new thing in the 16th century, something concordant with a growing feeling for woman and with the ascendant art of music. ”