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Glite Dictionary
Torquato Tasso

Torquato Tasso

1 9.9
An Italian poet of the 1500s who wrote the epic Jerusalem Delivered about the First Crusade
  • proper noun
  • /tɔrˈkwɑːtoʊ ˈtɑːsoʊ/
: Torquato Tasso
  • The epic 'Jerusalem Delivered' was written by Torquato Tasso in the late sixteenth century.

Examples

  • Students of Renaissance literature often study the works of Torquato Tasso.

  • Many literary critics have analyzed the influence of Torquato Tasso on English poetry.

  • Torquato Tasso was an influential poet.

  • What did Torquato Tasso write?

  • Many literary critics have analyzed the influence of Torquato Tasso on English poetry.

  • Students of Renaissance literature often study the works of Torquato Tasso.

  • The epic 'Jerusalem Delivered' was written by Torquato Tasso in the late sixteenth century.

Surface Forms

Torquato Tasso main

Morphology

Torquato + Tasso

This is a personal name composed of two proper nouns that carry no compositional lexical meaning; knowing the constituent name-forms 'Torquato' and 'Tasso' does not enable a learner to infer that the phrase refers to an Italian poet or his dates. Proper names are arbitrary labels requiring world knowledge, so the meaning is unpredictable from the parts for a B1 learner.

Etymology

Torquato Tasso was a famous Italian poet in the 1500s. He wrote the long, heroic poem 'Jerusalem Delivered' about knights and battles, and because that poem is full of strong images his name now brings to mind a great Renaissance epic poet.