Ariosto, Ludovico

Ariosto, Ludovico (ldōvē`kō äryôs`tō), 1474–1533, Italian epic and lyric poet. As a youth he was a favorite at the court of Ferrara; later he was in the service of Ippolito I, Cardinal d'Este, and from 1517 until his death served Alfonso, duke of Ferrara. He was never properly rewarded by his patrons. While in the service of the cardinal, he began writing his masterpiece, the Orlando Furioso, published in its final form in 1532. This epic treatment of the Roland story, theoretically a sequel to the unfinished poem of Boiardo, greatly influenced Shakespeare, Milton, and Byron. It was intended to glorify the Este family as Vergil had glorified the Julians. Ariosto also wrote lyric verse of unequal merit, but he was among the first to write comedies in the vernacular (based loosely on Roman models), among them I Suppositi [the pretenders] and Il Negromante [the necromancer].

Bibliography

See the famous 16th-century translation of Orlando Furioso by Sir John Harington, ed. by R. McNulty (1972), as well as the recent verse translation by B. Reynolds (2 vol., 1975); studies by B. Croce (tr. 1920, repr. 1966), R. Griffin (1974), and A. R. Ascoli (1987).

---

Ariosto, Ludovico

Ariosto, woodcut after a drawing by Titian from the third edition of Orlando …

(credit: Courtesy of the trustees of the British Museum; photograph, J.R. Freeman & Co. Ltd.)

(born Sept. 8, 1474, Reggio Emilia, duchy of Modena [Italy]—died July 6, 1533, Ferrara) Italian poet. His epic poem Orlando Furioso (1516) is regarded as the finest literary expression of the Italian Renaissance. It enjoyed immediate popularity throughout Europe and was highly influential. He also wrote five comedies based on Latin classics but inspired by contemporary life; though minor in themselves, they are among the first of the imitations of Latin comedy in the vernacular that would long characterize European comedy. He also composed seven satires (1517–25) modeled after those of Horace .