In a word, he hopes to produce something midway between the strict heroic epic, which had failed in Trissino's _Italia Liberata_ through dullness, and the genuine romantic epic, which in Ariosto's masterpiece diverged too widely from the rules of classical pure taste.

This new species, combining the attractions of romance with the simplicity of epic poetry, was the gift which Tasso at the age of eighteen sought to present in his _Rinaldo_ to Italy.

The _Rinaldo_ fulfilled fairly well the conditions propounded by its author.
It had a single hero and a single subject-- Canto i felici affanni, e i primi ardori, Che giovinetto ancor soffri Rinaldo, E come il trasse in perigliosi errori Desir di gloria ed amoroso caldo.
The perilous achievements and the passion of Rinaldo in his youth form the theme of a poem which is systematically evolved from the first meeting of the son of Amon with Clarice to their marriage under the auspices of Malagigi.

There are interesting episodes like those of young Florindo and Olinda, unhappy Clizia and abandoned Floriana.

Rinaldo's combat with Orlando in the Christian camp furnishes an anagnorisis; while the plot is brought to its conclusion by the peripeteia of Clarice's jealousy and the accidents which restore her to her lover's arms.