What is Ludovico Ariosto?
[[File:Vincenzo Catena 016 detail.jpg|thumb|right|Ludovico Ariosto]] '''Ludovico Ariosto''' ([[Reggio Emilia]], 8 September 1474 – [[Ferrara]] 6 July 1533) was an [[Italy|Italian]] [[poet]]. He is best known as the author of the [[love|romance]] [[epic poetry|epic]] ''[[Orlando Furioso]]'' ([[1516]]). The poem is a continuation of [[Matteo Maria Boiardo]]'s ''[[Orlando Innamorato]]''. It tells about the adventures of [[Charlemagne]], [[Orlando]], and the [[Franks]] as they [[fight]] the [[Saracens]] with diversions into many side plots. Ariosto composed the poem in the [[ottava rima]] [[rhyme scheme]] and introduced [[narration|narrative]] [[commentary]] throughout the work. Ariosto spent the greater part of his life at Ferrara including many years in the service of Cardinal Ippolito d'Este and then of Duke Alfonso I. His poem ''Orlando Furioso'' is designed to exalt the Este family; in its final form it was first published in 1532. It is the greatest of the Italian romantic epics. Ariosto also wrote lyric poetry in Italian and Latin, some satires and four comedies.<ref>Drabble, Margaret, ed. (1985) ''The Oxford Companion to English Literature''; 5th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press; p. 40</ref> ;Minor works * ''La Tragedia di Tisbe'' (1493) * ''La Cassaria'' (1508) * ''I Suppositi'' (1509) * ''Il Negromante'' (1520) * ''La Lena'' (1528) * ''Studenti'' (1518) == References == {{Reflist}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Ariosto, Ludovico}} [[Category:1474 births]] [[Category:1533 deaths]] [[Category:Italian poets]] [[Category:16th-century Italian writers]] {{bio-stub}}