Orlando furioso and Ariosto

Perhaps C.S. Lewis characterized Ariosto's Italian epic most succinctly: "In the foreground we have fantastic adventure, in the middle distance daily life, in the background a venerable legend with a core of momentous historical truth" (Griffin 1974, 49.) The Orlando furioso (also, Orlando Enraged) was written by Lodovico Ariosto. Born in 1474 in Reggio Emilia, he was from "an ancient and noble family of Bologna, whose surname originally appears to have been Da Riosto - possibly from Riosto, a small place in the Bolognese territory" (Gardner 1906, 2.) The poet's birth date coincided with or shortly preceded the birth of such Northern Italian figures as Michelangelo (1475-1564), Castiglione (1478-1529), Raphael (1483-1520), and Aretino (1492-1556; Griffin 1974, 17). His lifetime emcompassed the rule of 8 popes, 2 emperors, and 6 kings. The Battles of Lepanto (1499) and Ravenna (1512) provided important materials related to the weapons of war.

Ariosto's work is structured in 46 canti which contain stanzas comprised of eight lines in the ottava rima rhyme scheme. It is a continuation of the Orlando innamorato, written by Matteo Maria Boiardo (1441-1494) and left unfinished upon his death. Before he was hired as a court poet by the Este family, young Lodovico's years were ostensibly passed in the study of the law per the demands of his father, named Count Niccolo da Ariosti—a most accomplished Judge of the Twelve Sages of Ferrara whose office practically made him "the chief official of the city and head of the commune"  (Gardner 1906, 15.) 

Still, Lodovico took full advantage of his father's absence to write his own grand work which was influenced by the marriages of the two Este princesses, Isabella and Beatrice (Gardner 1906, 24.) In crafting the Orlando furioso, Lodovico Ariosto used his demonstrated eloquence in Latin poetry but turned his attention to compose in the Tuscan poetry style before deciding to learn both French and Spanish in order to understand the art and the way with which to better apply himself to it (Gardner 1906, 263.) His erudite nature and intimate knowledge of Romance, Greek, Spanish, and French literature shine throughout this epic poem. 

The Italy of today was unimaginable during Ariosto's time. Instead of sovereign land, historian Robert Griffin (1974) characterizes it as a peninsula which "knew little peace and no real unity," with "petty kingdoms with their foreign rulers and the emerging city-states" of eminent families such as the Medici in Florence, the Sforza in Milan, and the Este in Ferrara (Griffin 1974, 13). 

Ariosto's father moved the family to Ferrara and from then on the poet's life life was "inextricably woven—to use his own word—into the lives of the great Este lords whose whims he served, whose praise he sang, and whose fame he equaled or surpassed in another sphere" (Griffin 1974, 16). The Este family gave governorship of the Garfagnana district in the Apennines to Ariosto which allowed him to escape financial hardship after his father's death and the responsibility over his 19 siblings. They also signaled high confidence in the poet along with his diplomatic and administrative talents by granting him three-year long deadlines and electing him to the Judge of the Twelve Sages post which his father had held forty years prior (Griffin 1974, 23).

One important aspect of the poem as it relates to digital tools and models is entrelacement, in which multiple stories are woven together into one plot through the use of smaller episodes with repeating motifs and themes. This 'interlacing' helps to underscore core themes of the poem– such as love and madness– as this repetition amplifies ideas and helps to grow smaller plot points or details into larger trends (see Brand 1977, Weaver 2003). Daniel Javitch has noted how Ariosto often employs this to play with the audience’s expectations and traditional ideas of tension and continuity in literature (Javitch 1980, 71).

As it relates to the digital humanities, this entrelacement of the poem creates challenges, as it 'flattens' the poem: the repeated themes and storylines appear in the data as granular plot points that, given their high frequency, help to obscure trends, anomalies, and perhaps even meaning over time. These digital models are by no means wrong or incorrect, but paired with Ariosto’s pension for sarcasm and layers of irony, it becomes even more difficult to sort through the noise caused by this entrelacement (see Burgers 2020). As a result, much of the nuance and particularities of Ariosto become lost under certain analytical conditions.