- 期刊
The Allegory, and the Deviations from It: Torquato Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered
並列摘要
In Jerusalem Delivered, Tasso describes the siege and liberation of Jerusalem by the first crusaders in 1099. By 1575 the epic is almost finished and in 1581a version of it appears, yet during his life Tasso never acknowledged the finality of any publication of this poem. The main reason is that, contrary to Tasso's desire for moral or religious coherence, there are the strains of eroticism and the celebration of the pagan mind in Jerusalem Delivered. Tasso seems much disturbed by such a fact. He adds to his poem an allegorical explanation; he even rewrites his epic. In this study, I try to read Jerusalem Delivered in both ways, regarding it first as a work of allegorical coherence and moral intention and, secondly, as a work of divergence from and transgression of such coherence and intention.