The New Student's Reference Work/Ariosto, Ludovico

Arios'to, Ludovico, a famous Italian poet, was born at Reggio near Modena in 1474, the eldest of ten children. As a boy he showed ability and taste in composition, but at the wish of his father he studied law. After a trial of five years he gave up the attempt, and turned to the study of the classics, and devoted himself to literature as a profession. A few lyrical poems gained him as a patron the son of the Duke of Ferrara, and he spent some years in his service. The death of his father left him to support the family, and compelled him to give more time to the service of his patron, but meanwhile he was producing his great poem Orlando Furioso, a work at which he toiled for some ten years. Its appearance made him famous. His patron alone treated the poem with contempt, and soon dismissed Ariosto from his service. The Duke of Ferrara then became his patron, and made him governor of a small district. After three years of successful rule he returned to Ferrara, where he lived till his death in 1533. Besides his great poem, he wrote a number of comedies and satires, and a theater was built for the playing of his pieces. The Orlando Furioso still stands in Italy at the head of all poems of chivalry, and has been translated into many languages. The plot is taken from the wars of the time of.