Editing Nicolas Poussin (section)

===Poetry and allegory===
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File:Nicolas Poussin 075.jpg|''Renaud et Armide'', 1635, [[Pushkin Museum]]
File:Nicolas Poussin - Et in Arcadia ego (deuxième version).jpg|''[[Et in Arcadia ego (Poussin)|Et in Arcadia ego]] (The Shepherds of Arcadia)'', second version, late 1630s, [[Louvre]]
File:The dance to the music of time c. 1640.jpg|''[[A Dance to the Music of Time (painting)|A Dance to the Music of Time]]'', 1640, [[Wallace Collection]], London
</gallery>
Besides classical literature and myth, he drew often from works of the romantic and heroic literature of his own time, usually subjects decided in advance with his patrons. He painted scenes from the epic poem ''[[Jerusalem Delivered]]'' by [[Torquato Tasso]] (1544–1595), published in 1581, and one of the most popular books in Poussin's lifetime. His painting ''Renaud and Armide'' illustrated the death of the Christian knight Renaud at the hands of the magician Armide; who, when she saw his face, saw her hatred turn to love. Another poem by Tasso with a similar theme inspired ''Tancred and Hermiene''; a woman finds a wounded knight on the road, breaks down in tears, then finds the strength through love to heal him.{{sfn|Rosenberg|Temperini|1994|pp=94–100}}

Allegories of death are common in Poussin's work. One of the best-known examples is ''[[Et in Arcadia ego (Poussin)|Et in Arcadia ego]]'', a subject he painted in about 1630 and again in the late 1630s. Idealized shepherds examine a tomb inscribed with the title phrase, "Even in [[Arcadia (paradise)|Arcadia]] I exist", reminding that death was ever-present.<ref name="Temperini pp. 101">{{harvnb|Rosenberg|Temperini|1994|pp=101–102}}</ref>

A fertile source for Poussin was Cardinal Giulio Rospigliosi, who wrote moralistic theatrical pieces which were staged at the [[Palazzo Barberini]], for his early patron. One of his most famous works, [[A Dance to the Music of Time (painting)|''A Dance to the Music of Time'']], was inspired by another Rospigliosi piece. According to his early biographers Bellori and Felibien, the four figures in the dance represent the stages of life: Poverty leads to Work, Work to Riches, and Riches to Luxury; then, following Christian doctrine, luxury leads back to poverty, and the cycle begins again. The three women and one man who dance represent the different stages and are distinguished by their different clothing and headdresses, ranging from plain to jeweled. In the sky over the dancing figures, the chariot of Apollo passes, accompanied by the Goddess Aurora and the Hours, a symbol of passing time.<ref name="Temperini pp. 101"/>