The Italian poet Angelo Poliziano (1454-1494), or Politian, wrote works in both Latin and Italian. Although he considered himself a humanist, he advocated free artistic creation, unencumbered by reliance on the great classical writers of antiquity.

Angelo Poliziano was born Angelo Ambrogini on July 14, 1454, at Montepulciano, Tuscany, the son of a lawyer. When he was 10, his father was murdered, and the boy was sent to live with relatives in Florence, at the Studium of which he was educated by humanists. Poliziano's dedication to Lorenzo de' Medici of a partial translation of the Iliad marked the beginning of a lifelong friendship with the Medici ruler, and for some time he headed Lorenzo's chancellery and was tutor to his two sons. When he lost the latter position in 1479, Poliziano abruptly left the Medici villa at Cafaggiolo in May, and after a short stay at the Medici villa in Fiesole he...