Poetry as a Healing balm

Torquato Tasso (11 March 1544 – 25 April 1595)

Stories From The Italian Poets
by
Leigh Hunt

Torquato Tasso monument in Sorrento, Italy

Queste selve oggi raggionar d' Amore
S' undranno in nuova guisa ; e ben parassi,
Che la mia Dieta sia qui presente
In se medesma, e non ne' suio ministri.
Spirero nobil sensi a rozzi petti ;
Raddolciro nelle lor lingue il suono :
Perche, ovunque i' mi sia, io sono Amore
Ne' pastori non men che negli eroi ;
E la disagguaglianza de' soggetti,
Come a me piace, agguaglio : e questa e pure
Suprema gloria, e gran miracol mio,
Render simili alle piu dotti cetre
Le rustiche sampogne."

After new fashion shall these woods to-day
Hear my love discoursed ; and it shall well be seen
That my divinity is present here
In its own person, not its ministers.
I will inbreathe my fancies in rude hearts ;
I will refine and render dulcet sweet
Their tongues ; because, wherever I may be
Whether rustic or heroic men,
There am I Love ; and inequality,
As it may please me, do I equalize ;
And 'tis my crowning glory and great miracle
To make the rural pipe as eloquent
Even as the sublest harp.