Torquato Tasso: Jerusalem Delivered
06/03/2019
Jerusalem Delivered (Italian: Gerusalemme Liberata) by Torquato Tasso is an epic poem published in 1581, recounting a almost completely fictionalised version of the first crusade. One of the few quasi-historical characters is the knight Tancredi, who corresponds to the Italo-Norman crusader Tancred, Prince of Galilee.
The work enjoyed immediate and lasting success, in part because of its contemporary resonances at a time of conflict between Western European powers and the Ottoman Empire. It has frequently provided a subject for the visual arts and literary adaptations.
Jerusalem Delivered at online book stores
Amazon | Bookshop.org | Hive.co.uk
Free online texts
English translations
Gutenberg: Jerusalem Delivered, translated by Edward Fairfax (c.1635). Multiple formats.
Internet Archive: Jerusalem Delivered, translated by Edward Fairfax. National Alumni edition. Multiple formats.
Internet Archive: Jerusalem Delivered, translated by J. H. Wiffen. Multiple formats.
Internet Archive: Jerusalem Delivered, translated by John Hoole. Multiple formats.
University of Adelaide (Internet Archive): Jerusalem Delivered, translated by Edward Fairfax. Multiple formats.
Italian texts
Internet Archive: Gerusalemme Liberata. Multiple formats.
Wikisource: Gerusalemme Liberata. HTML and other formats.
Other Resources
Gutenberg: Stories from the Italian Poets: with Lives of the Writers, Volume II, by Leigh Hunt. Multiple formats.
Librivox: Jerusalem Delivered, translated by Edward Fairfax. Public domain audiobook.
Wikipedia: Torquato Tasso - Jerusalem Delivered
The Great Conversation: Further reading at Tom's Learning Notes
Homer: The Odyssey
Matteo Maria Boiardo: Orlando Innamorato- influenced Tasso's epic style.
Ariosto: Orlando Furioso
Edmund Spenser: The Faerie Queene - borrows elements of Tasso's poem.
Harold Bloom's Western Canon: Jerusalem Delivered is listed.
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