In what concerns poetry, one of the names that automatically pops into our minds as portuguese people is definitely Fernando Pessoa.
He lived between the XIX and XX centuries, born on the 13th June 1888 in Lisbon and deceased on the 30th November 1935 at the nation’s capital at 47 years old.
Not only was he considered one of the best portuguese authors at the time, but he was also considered the “reborn Whitman” by Harold Bloom since his first poems were written in English. The reason why he felt more comfortable with the English language at the beginning of his career is because of the nine years he spent in Durban when he was a child, a British colony in South Africa. In fact, only one of his books, “Mensagens” was first published in portuguese, all the rest had been written in English by Pessoa.
The main themes Pessoa wrote about were his loneliness, his distresses, the monotony of everyday life, and most importantly reflection about his “deep self”. These themes among others were the subject of at least 25 thousand unpublished texts that were found in a wooden chest where the author kept his literary works.
Fernando Pessoa didn’t leave any offspring but he gave life to many people through his writing. In fact this author developed and named the concept of “heteronym”. Pessoa created 70 or more heteronyms, some of them had a very specific writing style while the others translated or criticized other texts. This heteronym dynamic lead the critics to confusion as some of them would consider the poet a genius, others saw signs of schizophrenia, but all agreed that his talent was unique.
The most important heteronyms developed by Pessoa were: Ricardo Reis, Alberto Caeiro and Álvaro de Campos, these three used to dialogue with each other and even with Fernando Pessoa, who actually considered Caeiro his master.
From the remarkable literary works, the treatment of the most profound themes, the endless imagination and the interaction between heteronyms and the orthonym like no other, all of these things imbed Pessoa’s legacy in the world of letters and that mark will never fade.
Written by Beatriz Braz
“To know nothing about yourself is to live. To know yourself badly is to think.” ― Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet
Fernando Pessoa was indeed one of the greatest portuguese poets and he still has a great importance in the portuguese culture. And, despite the fact he was a strange man he was one of the most brilliant minds of his time, because only the craziest can bring innovation!