LUDOVICO ARIOSTO: BIOGRAPHY AND WORKS - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

Ludovico Ariosto (1474–1533) was a renowned Italian poet, known for being the best narrative poet of the Renaissance. He is hailed for his masterpiece entitled Orlando furioso, this being a perfectly polished romantic epic. It is a continuation of the play Orlando innamorato by the Italian poet Matteo Maria Boiardo that tells the adventures of Charlemagne, Orlando and the Franks.

In addition, at the beginning of his career as a literary writer he wrote his work entitled Satire, which consisted of a compendium of satires related to different themes on the rise and personal of the author.

I, Sailko, from Wikimedia Commons

He was characterized by his “ottava rima” scheme and his narrative comments throughout the work. Furthermore, Ariosto coined the term "humanism" for having focused on the potential strengths of humanity, rather than just its role as subordinate to God.

On the other hand, he managed to maintain a career as an impeccable diplomat and even became governor of Garfagnana (Italian region) and overshadowed his opponents and bandits with his great execution in the political and literary field.

Biography

Early years

Ludovico Ariosto was born on September 8, 1474 in Reggio Emilia, Italy. His father was Count Niccolò, commander of the citadel of Reggio Emilia. When Ludovico was 10 years old, his family moved to Ferrara (his father's native land).

He showed his inclination towards poetry from an early age; even so, his father forced him to study law, so he was in Ferrara during the years 1489 and 1494. After five years in his law career, he was allowed to read classics and he devoted himself to literature studies until 1499.

His studies of Greek literature were interrupted due to the transfer of the city of Spoleto to France to give private lessons to Francesco Sforza. Shortly after, in 1500, Ariosto's father died.

After the death of his father, as the eldest son he had to give up his dreams of a peaceful life dedicated to humanistic studies in order to take care of his four brothers and five sisters. However, Ariosto managed to write some prose comedies and lyrical pieces during that time.

In 1502 he became commander of the citadel of Canossa and in 1503 he entered the service of Cardinal Hipólito de Este, son of Duke Ercole I.

Beginnings as a diplomat

Ariosto's duties as a courtier were strongly at odds with his tastes. He was expected to constantly attend where the cardinal was and accompany him on dangerous expeditions, as well as on trips with diplomatic missions.

In 1508, he performed his play La Cassaria for the first time. The following year, he followed the cardinal in the Ferrara campaign against Venice. That same year, the cardinal had sponsored his performances in the neoclassical comedy, which were later poorly compensated by the cardinal.

In 1512, Ariosto went to Rome with Cardinal Alfonso, who had succeeded Ercole as duke and had allied himself with France in the Santander League war. Unsuccessful in the campaign, they were forced to flee.

The following year, after the election of the new Pope Leo X - hoping to find a situation that would allow him more time to pursue his literary ambitions - he went to the Roman court. Despite that, his trip was in vain and he returned to Ferrara.

That same year he met Alessandra Benucci whom he secretly married a few years later, to avoid the loss of church benefits.

Literary race

Previous years, Ariosto had already started his renowned work Orlando furioso and continued to revise it for several years before its publication.

Finally, in 1516 he published the first version of the work in Venice, which contained 40 songs written in the metric form "ottava rima"; a stanza of eight lines. This tradition was adopted by the Italian writer Giovanni Boccaccio.

Then, in 1517, Cardinal Hippolytus was elected bishop of Buda, Hungary. Despite that, Ariosto refused to follow him. For this reason, the following year he entered the personal service of Duke Alonso (brother of the cardinal) and remained in Ferrara.

At that time he began to compose his seven satires inspired by Horacio's sermons. The first was written in 1517; a noble affirmation of the dignity and independence of the writer.

The second is a critique of ecclesiastical corruption; the third moralizes the need to refrain from ambition; the fourth touches on the subject of marriage; in the fifth and sixth he describes his personal feelings when he was separated from his family by the selfishness of his masters.

Finally, the seventh satire points out the vices of the humanists and reveals their sorrow for not having been able to complete their literary education in their youth.

Governor of Garfagnana

In 1518, Ariosto was taken under the patronage of the brother of Cardinal Alfonso, Duke of Ferrara. By then, Ariosto had already distinguished himself as a diplomat, mainly due to two visits to Rome as ambassador to Pope Julius II.

His financial situation deteriorated significantly, so he asked the Duke for some help or to allow him to seek employment elsewhere. In this sense, Ariosto had to accept the post of Governor of Garfagnana.

Garfagnana for the time was one of the wildest provinces in the Italian Apennines. He had to hold the position for three years which he did.

During the time he was governor, he faced a group of rival factions that threatened his position; In this sense, Ariosto did not have the necessary means to fulfill his authority and the Duke did little to support him.

Even so, Ariosto showed his great administrative capacity and managed to maintain order in the region. In fact, there was a time when he was walking alone when a group of bandits took him captive; however, upon discovering that it was the author of the furious Orlando, they apologized and released him.

Poetic style

Narrative comments were found in all of Ariosto's writings, which consisted of using a narrative technique to break a plot line in the middle of a song only to return to it later.

Many critics claim that Ariosto used it to create narrative tension; However, they believe that rather what it did was make the reader want to turn the pages without interest, deactivating their attention by allowing so much time to pass until the story is resumed.

Last years

Parallel to his governmental activities, Ariosto did not abandon his literary career. He continued developing his satires plus other literary works.

In 1525, Ariosto managed to save enough money to return to Ferrara, where he bought a house with a garden. It is presumed that between the years 1528 and 1530 he married Alessandra Benucci in secret so as not to renounce certain ecclesiastical benefits.

He spent the last few years with his wife, cultivating her garden and carefully reviewing his work Orlando furioso.

Ludovico Ariosto died on July 6, 1533 after completing the last version of his great narrative poem Orlando furioso. On the other hand, several versions were presented until the last one managed to reach perfection a few months after his death.

Plays

The Cassaria

La Cassaria is a work by Ludovico Ariosto, performed for the first time on March 5, 1508 at the court of Ferrara. Initially the work was written in prose, but it was changed into verse by the author himself between the years 1528 and 1529.

In the history of Italian theater, La Cassaria is the first attempt to deal with the classic genre of comedy.

The action takes place in the old Greek city of Metellino and is fueled mainly by the finds of two cunning servants; Volpino and Fulcio. The themes of young lovers, servants and slaves were in vogue for the legacy of the Latin model such as the works of Virgilio and Horacio.

The central plot of La Cassaria is about Erófilo and Caridoro in love with Eulalia and Corisca, slaves of the malicious Lucrano. The protagonists try to do everything in their power to achieve the love of the young girls, going through a series of obstacles and adventures until they finally achieve their goal.

Orlando furious

There are references that Ariosto began to develop his famous work Orlando furioso in 1508. However, the first version that was published was in 1516 in Ferrara.

Orlando furioso is an original continuation of Boiardo's poem Orlando inmemorato, whose hero of the story is Orlando. It consists of a series of episodes derived from the epic, romances, and heroic poetry of the Middle Ages and the early Renaissance.

The three main nuclei on which the story focuses are Orlando's unrequited love for Angelica, which drives him crazy (furious) and the war between the Christians - led by Charlemagne - and the Saracens led by Agramante.

On the other hand, sensual love is the predominant feeling, but it is diminished by the ironic attitude that the author decided to take and artistic detachment.

The first and second versions consisted of 40 songs written in the metric form of “ottava rima”. The last version, of 46 songs, was published on September 8, 1532 when he had already achieved the perfection that Ariosto wanted.

References

1. Ludovico Ariosto, Portal Encyclopedia of World Biography, (nd). Taken from enclyclopedia.com
2. Ludovico Ariosto, Wikipedia in English, (nd). Taken from Wikipedia.org
3. Ludovico Ariosto, Portal Poemhunter.com, (2010). Taken from poemhunter.com
4. Ludovico Ariosto, Giovanni Aquilecchia, (nd). Taken from britannica.com
5. La Cassaria, Wikipedia in Italian, (nd). Taken from wikipedia.org
6. Latin literature, Portal Wikimpace, (nd). Taken from avempace.com