Epic
Orlando Furioso
Orlando furioso
Ludovico Ariosto · 1532
Opening lines
Le donne, i cavallier, l'arme, gli amori,
le cortesie, l'audaci imprese io canto,
che furo al tempo che passaro i Mori
d'Africa il mare, e in Francia nocquer tanto,
seguendo l'ire e i giovenil furori
d'Agramante lor re, che si diè vanto
di vendicar la morte di Troiano
sopra re Carlo imperator romano.
Of ladies, knights, of arms, of loves,
of courtesies, of daring deeds I sing,
that were in the time when the Moors crossed
the sea from Africa, and did such harm in France,
following the wrath and youthful fury
of Agramante their king, who boasted
that he would avenge the death of Troiano
upon King Charles, the Roman emperor.
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from gutenberg.org
Synopsis
While the Saracen armies of King Agramant besiege Charlemagne's Paris, the pagan princess Angelica flees, pursued by the knights who desire her, and first of all by Roland, whose unrequited love turns to madness. Around him other tales intertwine: the loves of the Christian warrior Bradamante and the Saracen knight Ruggiero, enchanted castles, the hippogriff, and a journey to the Moon.
Context
The poem continues the one that Matteo Maria Boiardo had left unfinished. A first version in forty cantos appeared in Ferrara in 1516; the definitive version, extended to forty-six cantos and enriched with new episodes, was published in 1532, the year before the author's death. In Cervantes, the priest who burns Don Quixote's library spares this book. Michel Orcel translated it into French decasyllables at Éditions du Seuil in 2000; David R. Slavitt gave a verse translation into English at Harvard University Press in 2009.
Who it is for
A long epic in octaves with interwoven stories, to be read in episodes: the narrator moves without warning from one adventure to another.
Prizes and reception
The poem inspired Shakespeare, Spenser and Cervantes, and operas by Handel and Vivaldi.