GUARINI, MARINO, CHIABRERA, TASSONI.
Dearth of Great Men--Guarini a Link between Tasso and the
Seventeenth Century--His Biography--The _Pastor Fido_--Qualities of
Guarini as Poet--Marino the Dictator of Letters--His Riotous Youth
at Naples--Life at Rome, Turin, Paris--Publishes the _Adone_--The
Epic of Voluptuousness--Character and Action of Adonis--Marino's
Hypocrisy--Sentimental Sweetness--Brutal Violence--Violation of
Artistic Taste--Great Powers of the Poet--Structure of the
_Adone_--Musical Fluency--Marinism--Marino's Patriotic
Verses--Contrast between Chiabrera and Marino--An Aspirant after
Pindar--Chiabrera's Biography--His Court Life--Efforts of Poets in
the Seventeenth Century to attain to Novelty--Chiabrera's
Failure--Tassoni's Life--His Thirst to Innovate--Origin of the
_Secchia Rapita_--Mock-Heroic Poetiy--The Plot of this Poem--Its
Peculiar Humor--Irony and Satire--Novelty of the Species--Lyrical
Interbreathings--Sustained Contrast of Parody and Pathos--The Poet
Testi