Ariosto, Ludovico

Ariosto, Ludovico (1474-1533), Italian poet, born in Reggio nell'Emilia. At an early age he wrote comedies that were favourably noticed by Ippolito I, Cardinal d'Este. From 1503 to 1517 Ariosto was one of Ippolito's courtiers. He then entered the service of the cardinal's brother, Alfonso I, Duke of Ferrara. Aristo's greatest poem, the Orlando Furioso (1st version, 1516; final version, 1532), is ostensibly a continuation of the unfinished epic poem Orlando Innamorato (1487), by the Italian poet Matteo Maria Boiardo, which reworks the legends of Charlemagne and the Christian Knights' war against the Saracens. Actually, the poem, written in the metric form of ottava rima, a poetic stanza of eight rhyming lines of eleven syllables, is a tribute to the patrons of Ariosto, the Este family, and its real hero is Ruggiero d'Este, the legendary founder of the house. Many critics consider it among the finest epics written because of its vigour and technical mastery of style. It became immediately popular throughout Europe following its publication in 1516 and greatly influenced the literature of the Renaissance. Ariosto's other works include comedies such as La Lena (1529, The Wind), as well as odes, satires, and sonnets.