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Torquato Tasso

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Poet

The Resume

    (March 11, 1544-April 25, 1595)
    Born in Sorrento, Naples, Italy
    Lyric poet
    Best known works were 'Aminta' (1573) and 'Jerusalem Delivered' (1580)

Why he might be annoying:

    He was a child prodigy.
    He was vain and irritable.
    He became increasingly paranoid, believing that his servants were plotting against him, that the Inquisition was about to arrest him, or that he was being poisoned.
    The Duke of Ferrara eventually ordered him confined to the madhouse of St. Anna (1579-86).
    Biographers in the 18th and 19th centuries added fictional elements to his life story -- such as claiming that unrequited love for a noblewoman caused his madness -- to enhance his image as a misunderstood and persecuted genius.

Why he might not be annoying:

    His family lost much of their fortune due to political machinations in the Kingdom of Naples.
    His sister Cornelia barely survived an Ottoman attack against Sorrento (1558).
    He died just days before Pope Clement VIII was to name him poet laureate of Rome and grant him a pension.
    He was an idol of the Romantic poets, with Lord Byron paying to spend a night in his cell at St. Anna's.
    His life inspired a play by Goethe and an opera by Donizetti.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 5 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 7 Votes: 85.71% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 11 Votes: 54.55% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 11 Votes: 54.55% Annoying