Ludovico Ariosto

Ludovico Ariosto known as Arioste (born the September 8th 1474 with Reggio of Emilie and dead the July 6th 1533 with Ferrare) was a Italian Poète of the Renaissance.

Biography

Resulting from a noble family but without great resources, Ludovico Ariosto accepted a good humanistic education, but always regretted not having learned the Greek. Charged very early with ensuring the education of his brothers and sisters, it could not be devoted as much as it would have wished it being studied and poetry. Entered in 1504 with the service of the cardinal Hippolyte d' Este, it achieves for this prince of many embassies, in particular near the Pape Jules II. Having refused to follow the prelate in Hungary, it passed to the service of Alphonse d' Este, duke of Ferrare and brother of the cardinal. This last entrusted to him like ultimate load the government of Garfagnana, a province hard and infested by the armed robbery. It drew some with honor and could be finally withdrawn in its small house of Ferrare (always visible) surrounded by the affection of its mistress and her son.

It is between these various loads that Arioste did not cease working with its masterpiece, the furious Roland ( Orlando furioso ), subtle parody of the chivalrous poem, which is presented in the form of a one following the Roland in love with Matteo Maria Boiardo, its predecessor. It braids there, with a supreme skill and a very modern formal irony, three broad topics: the war between Charlemagne and Buckwheats, the madness of Roland vainly in love with inconstancy Angelica, finally loves and the marriage of Roger and Bradamante, imaginary ancestors of the dynasty of Este. Composed of 46 songs, of which the poetic unit is the octave ( stanza ), mixing the tragedy with pleasant, the lyric one with romantic, abrasive with as much of freedom than of control of all the European culture, of Homère to the contemporaries while passing by the medieval novels, the furious Roland , sublimates the book and human experiment of Arioste in a perpetually moving symphony characters and events which, after the collapse of the reference marks of the Middle Ages, reflects the smiling skepticism of the Rebirth. Its compatriots, in their admiration, called it the divine Arioste .

It published its poem for the first time in 1516, in 40 songs, but it did not cease improving it and in 1532 an increased edition of six songs gave some.

Works translated into French

furious Roland , translation and notes of Michel Orcel, foreword of Italo Calvino, the Threshold, Paris, 2000.
Satires of Arioste , introduction, translation, comments and notes of Michel Paoli, Grenoble, Ellug, 2003,

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