John Taaffe Jr. (1787 or 1788-1862)
Daniele Svezia (University of Florence)
John Taaffe Jr. was a secondary yet notable figure within the Pisan circle surrounding The Liberal. Born into a prominent Irish Catholic family from Smarmore, he showed early interest in literature and poetry. His life was shaped by a turbulent relationship with Belinda Edwards Colebrooke, which led to his disownment and permanent exile from Ireland. After travelling extensively across Europe and the Mediterranean, he settled in Italy – first in Genoa, then in Pisa – where he secretly married Catherine Fitzgerald, who died in 1819 after the birth of their second child.
In Pisa, Taaffe was a familiar presence among the Liberal group, though his personality and conservative politics occasionally raised doubts (Cline 1952: 16-22). After the Masi Affair in 1822, he moved to Florence (Cline 1952: 68). The work for which he is chiefly remembered, Comment on the Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri (1822), originated as a linguistic exercise but developed into a critical project that framed Dante within a broader European cultural tradition (Stock 2010: 141). Published in Pisa, the commentary was appreciated by both Byron and Shelley for its detailed annotations (Cline 1952: 33) and its transnational scope (Shelley 1914: 877).
Works cited
Cline, Clarence Lee. Byron, Shelley and Their Pisan Circle, Cambridge (MA), Harvard University Press, 1952.
Shelley, Percy Bysshe. The Letters of Percy Bysshe Shelley: Containing Material Never Before Collected, edited by Roger Ingpen, vol. 2, new ed., London, G. Bell and Sons, 1914
Stock, Paul. The Shelley-Byron Circle and the Idea of Europe, London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.
Ultimo aggiornamento
22.01.2026