[Cupid in Love and Driven Mad] is a narrative poem written by Lucrezia Marinella and printed by Giovan Battista Combi in Venice, in 1618. It is composed of ten cantos of varying length (between 55 and 91 stanzas). Marinella utilizes eleven-syllable lines organized in octaves connected by rhymes following the scheme ABABABCC (ending, that is, with a couplet). This stanza, called
ottava rima, was Marinella’s favorite poetic structure (she used it in the 1635 epic
Enricoas well as in several religiously themed works such as her 1595 debut,
Colomba sacra[Holy Dove]). It is also the most common configuration of narrative poems in Italian. Both the whole poem and each canto are preceded by an allegorical explanation of characters and events, endowing both with…
1096 words
Citation: Galli Stampino, Maria. "Amore innamorato et impazzato". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 22 October 2020 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=29993, accessed 31 October 2024.]