TASSONI, tA-siro'n6, A LESSANDRO ( 1565 1635). An Italian diplomat, critic, and poet. Ile was born in Modena of an old patrician fam ily. About 1595 he published at Rome a dialogue in defense of Alessandro Magno and Obizzo d'Este, an effort which was dedicated to Cardi nal Alessandro d'Este, and which attracted such favorable notice from that prelate that young Tassoni was taken into the service of Cardinal Ascanio Cotonna (1597). His Considcrazioni sopra le rime del Petrarca (1609) became the occasion of bitter controversy. in 1613 Tassoni entered the service of Duke Charles Emmanuel of Savoy. But his Filippiche contra gli Spagnuoli (1615; reprinted incurred the displeasure of Cardinal Prince Filiberto of Savoy, and Tas soni withdrew into private life (1622). After wards he became secretary to Cardinal Ludovisi, and then councilor and chamberlain at the Court of Duke Francis 1. of Modena (1632). The work by which the poet achieved his greatest fame was La seechia rapita ("The Stolen Bucket," written 1614; printed in Paris 1622; edited by Carducci 1861, etc.). This is a
mock heroic poem in twelve cantos, founded upon an actual incident of the Modenese wars. Precursor of Boileau's Lntrin (1673) and Pope's Rape of the Lock (1712). it is perhaps the first example of modern humor. Not its entertaining mixture of wit and seriousness alone. but the Tuscan purity of its language and the perfec tion of its versified form, have made it an Italian classic. A selection of Tassoni's letters was pub lished by Gamba (Venice. 1E127), and Casini edited his Rime (Bologna, 1880). Consult: D'Ancona and Bacci, Jlanuale della letteratura italiana (Florence, 1893) ; Muratori, Vita di Alessandro Tassoni (Slodenese edition of the Recchia, 1744) ; and Bacci, Le considerazioni sal Petrarca di Alessandro Tassoni (Florence, 1887).