Giambattista Marino

Giambattista Marino, Marino also spelled Marini (b. Oct. 18,
1569, Naples—d. March 25, 1625, Naples), Italian poet,
founder of the school of Marinism (later Secentismo), which
dominated 17th-century Italian poetry. Marino’s own work,
praised throughout Europe, far surpassed that of his
imitators, who carried his complicated word play and
elaborate conceits and metaphors to such extremes that
Marinism became a pejorative term. His work was translated
all over Europe.
Marino trained for the law
because of parental pressure but refused to practice his
profession. His life after 1590 consisted of wild living,
wandering between Italian and French courts, frequent money
problems, brushes with the law, and immense success with the
poetry that he managed to get published despite censorship.
Much of his early work was circulated, with great acclaim,
in manuscript and published later in his life. In 1596 he
wrote La sampogna (“The Syrinx”), a series of sensual idylls
using mythological and pastoral subjects, but he was unable
to publish it until 1620.
After serving for a while
as secretary to a Neapolitan prince, Marino was arrested in
1598 and 1600 for immorality, each time obtaining release
through powerful admirers. He went to Rome and attached
himself to Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini, a nephew of the
Pope. Together they visited several Italian cities. Marino
tried to publish some of his voluptuous poems in Parma but
was halted by the Inquisition. Finally he was able to
publish his early poetry as Le rime (1602; “The Rhymes”) and
under the title La lira, 2 vol. (1608 and 1614; “The Lyre”).
At Torino (Turin) from 1608
to 1615 he enjoyed the patronage of the duke of Savoy but
was resented for his satirical poems against a rival poet,
Gaspare Murtola (La Murtoleide, 1619; “The Murtoliad”).
Murtola had him imprisoned for this offense and others; and,
though his friends secured his release, Marino left Torino
for Paris in 1615, where he stayed until 1623 under the
patronage of Marie de Médicis and Louis XIII.
Before leaving Paris Marino
published his most important work, a labour of 20 years,
Adone (1623; definitive ed. by R. Balsamo-Crivelli, 1922;
Adonis [selections]). Adone, an enormous poem (45,000
lines), relates, with many digressions, the love story of
Venus and Adonis and shows the best and worst of Marino’s
style. The best is found in brilliant passages, written in a
masterly style; the worst, in excessive conceits and
metaphors, word play, and hyperbole. On returning to Italy
in 1623, Marino encountered new difficulties with
censorship, but he stayed in Naples until his death.
Other works for which
Marino is remembered are La galeria (1620; “The Gallery”),
an attempt to recreate works of art poetically, and La
strage degli innocenti (1632; The Slaughter of the
Innocents). His correspondence was published as Lettere
(“Letters”) in 1627.