Torquato Tasso

thumb|right|Lost is all the time that you don't spend in love. Torquato Tasso (March 11 1544 – April 25 1595) was an Italian epic poet and dramatist, best known for his Rinaldo (1562), Aminta (1573) and Gerusalemme Liberata (1580). Quotes Vaghe Ninfe del Po, Ninfe sorelle,E voi de' boschi e voi d'onda marinaE voi de' fonti e de l'alpestri cime. Lovely Nymphs, ye sister Nymphs of the river Po,And ye from out the greenwood and where the sea-waves beat,And ye who live by fountains and on hill-tops high. Rime d'amore ("Rhymes of Love"), 175. Aminta (1573) Aminta Perduto è tutto il tempoChe in amar non si spende. Lost is all that timeI didn't spend in love! Act I, scene i, lines 26–31. Variant translations: All time is truly lost and goneWhich is not spent in serving love. All time is lost that is not spent in love. Lost is all the time that you don't spend in love. Gerusalemme Liberata (1581) Jerusalem Delivered thumb|The sacred armies, and the godly knight,That the great sepulchre of Christ did free,I sing. Canto l'arme pietose e 'l capitanoche 'l gran sepolcro liberò di Cristo. The sacred armies, and the godly knight,That the great sepulchre of Christ did free,I sing. Canto I, stanza 1 (tr. Edward Fairfax) thumb|He, full of bashfulness and truth, Loved much, hoped little, and desired nought. Ei che modesto è sì, com'essa è bella,Brama assai, poco spera, e nulla chiede. She fair, he full of bashfulness and truth,Loved much, hoped little, and desired nought. Canto II, stanza 16 (tr. Fairfax) Chi la pace non vuol, la guerra s' abbia. Who scorneth peace shall have his fill of war. Canto II, stanza 88 (tr. Fairfax) thumb|In a world so mutable and blindit's often constancy to change one's mind. Chè nel mondo mutabile e leggiero,Costanza è spesso il variar pensiero. For in a world so mutable and blindit's often constancy to change one's mind. Canto V, stanza 3 (tr. Wickert) thumb|Too dark the place and too inscrutablewhere mortal men their deepest thoughts control. Chè 'n parte troppo cupa, e troppo internaIl pensier de' mortali occulto giace. Too dark the place and too inscrutablewhere mortal men their deepest thoughts control. Canto V, stanza 41 (tr. Wickert) Dal sonno alla morte è un picciol varco. For little differs death and heavy sleep. Canto IX, stanza 18 (tr. Fairfax) thumb|Under whose feet, subjected to His grace,Sit nature, fortune, motion, time and place. Ha sotto i piedi il Fato e la Natura,Ministri umíli, e 'l moto, e chi 'l misura. Under whose feet, subjected to his grace,Sit nature, fortune, motion, time and place. Canto IX, stanzas 56–57 (tr. Edward Fairfax) Chè sovente addivien che 'l saggio e 'l forteFabbro a se stesso è di beata sorte. They make their fortune who are stout and wise,Wit rules the heavens, discretion guides the skies. Canto X, stanza 20 (tr. Fairfax) thumb|So cities fall, so perish kingdoms high,Their pride and pomp lies hid in sand and grass:Then why should mortal man repine to die? Giace l'alta Cartago; appena i segniDell'alte sue ruine il lido serba.Muojono le città, muojono i regni; Copre i fasti e le pompe arena ed erba; E l'uomo d'esser mortal par che si sdegni:O nostra mente cupida e superba! Great Carthage low in ashes cold doth lie,Her ruins poor the herbs in height scant pass,So cities fall, so perish kingdoms high,Their pride and pomp lies hid in sand and grass:Then why should mortal man repine to die,Whose life, is air; breath, wind; and body, glass? Canto XV, stanza 20 (tr. Fairfax) Deh mira (egli cantò) spuntar la rosaDal verde suo modesta e verginella;Che mezzo aperta ancora, e mezzo ascosa,Quanto si mostra men, tanto è più bella.Ecco poi nudo il sen già baldanzosaDispiega: ecco poi langue, e non par quella,Quella non par che desiata innantiFu da mille donzelle e mille amanti.Così trapassa al trapassar d'un giornoDella vita mortale il fiore, e 'l verde:Nè, perchè faccia indietro April ritorno,Si rinfiora ella mai, nè si rinverde. 'Ah, see,' he sang, 'the shamefast, virgin rosefirst bursting her green bud so timidly,half hidden and half bare: the less she showsherself, the lovelier she seems to be.Now see her bosom, budding still, uncloseand look! She droops, and seems no longer she—not she who in her morning set afirea thousand lads and maidens with desire.So passes in the passing of a daythe leaf and flower from our mortal scene,nor will, though April come again, displayits bloom again, nor evermore grow green.' Canto XVI, stanzas 14–15 (tr. Wickert) thumb|Gather the rose of love, while yet thou mayest,Loving, be loved; embracing, be embraced. Cogliam d'Amor la rosa: amiamo or quandoEsser si puote riamato amando. Gather the rose of love, while yet thou mayest,Loving, be loved; embracing, be embraced. Canto XVI, stanza 15 (tr. Fairfax) Compare: Gather the Rose of Love, whilst yet is time,Whilst loving thou mayst loved be with equal crime. Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, B. II, C. XII, st. 75 Gather ye rosebuds while ye may. Robert Herrick, "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time" Misattributed Fortune rarely accompanies anyone to the door. This is sometimes said to be by Torquato Tasso, and sometimes to be a quotation from Goethe's verse play Torquato Tasso, but it is from Joseph Jacobs' translation of Baltasar Gracián's Oráculo manual y arte de prudencia , maxim no. 59. In the original Spanish: Pocas veces acompaña la dicha a los que salen. It is the fortunate who should extol fortune. Though attributed to Tasso this is in fact from Goethe's Torquato Tasso, Act II, scene iii, line 115. In the original German: Das Glück erhebe billig der Beglückte! The day of fortune is like a harvest day,We must be busy when the corn is ripe. Actually from Goethe's Torquato Tasso, Act IV, scene iv, line 63. In the original German: Ein Tag der Gunst ist wie ein Tag der Ernte:Man muss geschäftig sein, sobald sie reift. Quotes about Tasso The most excellent of modern poets, ... whom I reverence next to Virgil. John Dryden, Preface to An Evening's Love, or The Mock-Astrologer (1668) I found that I had an affinity with writers like Ariosto and Tasso, at least to the extent of loving their poetry. (“Those allegories of Ariosto and Tasso were in some ways very futuristic with those fantastic voyages-they were almost like science fiction without the science.”) Of course they didn't really have science to use. But they had a similarly disciplined imagination. 1982 interview in Conversations with Ursula Le Guin No man in the world was ever born with a greater genius and more qualified for epic poetry. Voltaire, An Essay on Epic Poetry (1727) See also Aminta Jerusalem Delivered External links it:Autore:Torquato Tasso Torquato_Tasso Torquato Tasso Category:Poets from Italy Category:Playwrights from Italy Category:1544 births Category:1595 deaths Category:LGBT people Category:Epic poets Category:Catholics from Italy Category:People from Campania