The latter part of his life was spent in writing comedies and
satires, and in revising the Orlando Furioso. He died in Ferrara, June 6,
1533.
The Orlando Furioso is a sequel to Boiardo's Orlando Innamorata, Ariosto
taking up the story at the end of that poem. Its historical basis is the
wars of Charlemagne with the Moors, which were probably confused with
those of Charles Martel. As the Orlando of the poem is the same Roland
whose fall at Roncesvalles in 778 is celebrated in the Song of Roland, its
events must have occurred before that time.
Although the poem is called Orlando Furioso, Orlando's madness occupies a
very small part of it, the principal threads of the story being Orlando's
love for Angelica and his consequent madness, the wars of Charlemagne, and
the loves of Bradamant and Rogero. From this Rogero the family of Este
claimed to be derived, and for this reason Ariosto made Rogero the real
hero of the poem, and took occasion to lavish the most extravagant praises
upon his patron and his family.
With these principal threads are interwoven innumerable episodes which are
not out of place in the epic, and lend variety to a story which would
otherwise have become tiresome. The lightness of treatment, sometimes
approaching ridicule, the rapidity of movement, the grace of style, and
the clearness of language, the atmosphere created by the poet which so
successfully harmonizes all his tales of magic and his occasional
inconsistencies, and the excellent descriptions, have all contributed to
the popularity of the poem, which is said to be the most widely read of
the epics.
Pages:
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405