Born: 28-Sep-1565
Birthplace: Modena, Italy
Died: 25-Apr-1635
Location of death: Modena, Italy
Cause of death: unspecified

Gender: Male
Religion: Roman Catholic
Race or Ethnicity: White
Occupation: Poet, Critic

Nationality: Italy
Executive summary: The Rape of the Bucket

Italian poet, a native of Modena, where he was born and died. From 1599 until 1608 he was secretary to Cardinal Ascanio Colonna, and in this capacity saw some diplomatic service; he was afterwards employed for some time in similar occupations by Charles Emmanuel, Duke of Savoy. His best-known literary work is a burlesque epic entitled La Secchia Rapita, or "The Rape of the Bucket" (1622), the reference being to a raid of the Modenese upon the people of Bologna in 1325, when a bucket was carried off as a trophy. As in Butler's Hudibras, many of the personal and local allusions in this poem are now very obscure, and are apt to seem somewhat pointless to the general reader, but, in spite of Voltaire's contempt, it cannot be neglected by any systematic student of Italian literature. Other characteristic works of Tassoni are his Pensieri Diversi (1612), in which he treats philosophical, literary, historical and scientific questions with unusual freedom, and his Considerazioni sopra il Petrarcha (1609), a piece of criticism showing great independence of traditional views.

Do you know something we don't?
Submit a correction or make a comment about this profile

Copyright ©2019 Soylent Communications