Torquato Tasso (March 11, 1544 - April 25, 1595) was an Italianpoet of the 16th century, best known for his poem La Gerusalemme liberata ("Jerusalem Delivered"; 1575), in which he describes the imaginary combats between Christians and Muslims at the end of the First Crusade, during the siege of Jerusalem.
In the mid-1570s, Tasso began to suffer from what is now believed to be schizophrenia. Legends describe him wandering the streets of Rome half mad, convinced that he was being persecuted. At times he was imprisoned for his own safety. Though he was never fully cured, he was able to function and resumed his writing.
In 1594, Pope Clement VIII called Tasso to Rome so that he could be crowned poet laureate. Tasso died in 1595, before the honor could be officially conferred on him.
Goethe wrote a play named Torquato Tasso, which documents the artist's struggle.
Tasso's father was a poet by predilection and a professional courtier.
Bernardo Tasso read cantos of his Amadigi to the duchess and her ladies, or discussed the merits of Homer and Virgil, Trissino and Ariosto, with the duke's librarians and secretaries.
The truth seems to be that Tasso, after the beginning of 1575, became the victim of a mental malady, which, without amounting to actual insanity, rendered him fantastical and insupportable, a misery to himself and a cause of anxiety to his patrons.
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