Epic
Jerusalem Delivered
La Gerusalemme liberata
Torquato Tasso · 1581
Opening lines
Canto l’arme pietose, e ’l Capitano
Che ’l gran sepolcro liberò di Cristo.
Molto egli oprò col senno e con la mano;
Molto soffrì nel glorioso acquisto:
I sing the pious arms and the Captain
Who freed the great sepulchre of Christ.
Much did he achieve with wisdom and with hand;
Much did he suffer in the glorious conquest:
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from it.wikisource.org
Synopsis
During the First Crusade, the Christian army led by Godfrey of Bouillon marches on Jerusalem, which is held by the Muslims. Satan stirs up adversaries and temptations against it: the enchantress Armida draws Christian knights away from their duty, beginning with the most valiant, Rinaldo; Tancred loves the pagan warrior Clorinda, while Princess Erminia falls in love with him. Battles, duels and spells delay the siege.
Context
Completed in the mid-1570s, the poem first circulated in unauthorised editions, one of them, incomplete, published in Venice in 1580; the first complete editions appeared in Parma and Ferrara in 1581. The author later gave a reworked version, under the title “La Jérusalem conquise”. Jean-Michel Gardair translated it into French in the Livre de poche in 1996; in English, Anthony Esolen translated it in 2000 under the title “Jerusalem Delivered”, and Max Wickert in 2009 under that of “The Liberation of Jerusalem”.
Who it is for
An epic in twenty cantos and in octaves, to be read in instalments: loves, duels and enchantments follow one another.
Prizes and reception
According to Oxford University Press, the poem inspired Spenser, Milton, Goethe and Byron, as well as composers and painters.
Sources for this page 4
The pages consulted to check this page.