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The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
Matteo Maria Boiardo (c. 1434–1494)
Bojardo, Matteo Maria (bō-yär’dō). A celebrated Italian poet; born at Scandiano, about 1434; died at Reggio, Dec. 21, 1494. He was of noble origin in Lombardy, and all his life held high and responsible posts in the civil government at Modena and at Reggio. His great fame rests on the romantic epic ‘Orlando in Love,’ which tells of the loves and adventures of Charlemagne’s knight Roland and the fair Angelica. The epic was planned to be completed in three books, but at the author’s death only two books, of 29 and 31 cantos, respectively, were finished; the composition of the third book had reached only the ninth canto. Niccolò degli Agostini wrote a continuation in 33 cantos. In point of imagination and invention Bojardo ranks among the greatest poets. But his versification is far from perfect, and his language lacks grace and purity; because of these and other blemishes the ‘Orlando’ was recast and polished by Francesco Berni, and with eminent success.