Torquato Tasso (11 March 1544 – 25 April 1595) was an Italian poet of the 16th century, best known for his poem La Gerusalemme liberata (Jerusalem Delivered, 1580), 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. He suffered from mental illness and died a few days before he was due to be crowned as the king of poets by the Pope. Until the beginning of the 19th century, Tasso remained one of the most widely read poets in Europe.
Read more about Torquato Tasso: Other Works, The Disease, Tasso and Other Artists, English Translations
Famous quotes by torquato tasso:
“Honour, thou first didst close
The spring of all delight,
Denying water to the amorous thirst;”
—Torquato Tasso (1544–1595)
“O happy, golden age!
Not for that rivers ran
With streams of milk, and honey dropped from trees;”
—Torquato Tasso (1544–1595)
“None merits the name of Creator but God and the poet.”
—Torquato Tasso (1544–1595)
“Her voluntary fruits, free without fees;”
—Torquato Tasso (1544–1595)