The literature of the Italian Renaissance, which was inaugurated by Petrarch and Boccaccio, reached its highest point with Ariosto. Tasso, equally great with Ariosto, lived at the beginning of a long period of decline; the Jerusalem Delivered projecting the last rays of the glories of the Renaissance into this new period. The sixteenth century, especially the first half, is the golden age of Italian literature, comparable to that of Augustus in Rome, Louis XIV. in France, and Queen Elizabeth in England. In the narrow confines of this sketch we have only been able to treat in some detail the great writers thereof, Boiardo, Ariosto, and Tasso. Yet the number of men of genius and talent is legion--giants indeed lived in those days--not only in the field of art and scholarship but in literature. In lyrical poetry were Pietro Bembo, the Petrarch of his times; Michel Angelo and Vittoria Colonna. In the pastoral poem, besides Tasso, there were Sannazaro and Guarini, the former (whose Arcadia was imitated in England by Sidney and Spenser) on the border-line between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the latter on that between the sixteenth and seventeenth. In comic poetry there was Francesco Berni, who worked over Boiardo's Orlando Innamorato, which has since then been read almost wholly in this version. In prose was developed an especially rich literature, among the great masters of which we may mention in history, Nicholas Machiavelli, who, in his Prince, introduced a new philosophy of politics; Guicciardini, Varchi, and Nardi; in the history of art, Vasari; in novels and stories, Luigi da Porto, who first told the story of Romeo and Juliet; Giraldo Cinzio, Matteo Bandello, who continued the work of Boccaccio and Sacchetti. Forming a special group are Benvenuto Cellini, whose autobiography has made him famous; Firenzuola, who wrote on the beauty of woman; Baldasarre Castiglione, the Lord Chesterfield of his day, who in his book on the Courtier, depicted the character of the perfect gentleman according to the ideals of the times. SUMMARY AND QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW Lack of true epic hitherto--Tasso (1544-95) the first to give Italy an epic in the style of Homer and Vergil--Pathos of his life--His works: The pastoral poem Aminta; a tragedy, Torrismondo; Jerusalem Delivered--Long preparation for his masterpiece--The sixteenth century the Golden Age of Italian literature: Bembo, Sannazaro, Guarini, Berni, Machiavelli, Guicciardini. 1. Would you call the Divine Comedy and Orlando Furioso true epics? 2. Give briefly the main facts of Tasso's life. 3. What was the real cause of his unhappiness? 4. Describe his death. 5. What was the Aminta; when was it written? 6. What is the theme of Jerusalem Delivered? 7. Why did Tasso choose this subject? 8. Give in brief outline the plot. 9. Tell the story of Sophronia and Olindo.