VISIT TO SANTAREM
Book related to the visit to the city of Santarém: “Travels in my Homeland” (“Viagens na
Minha Terra”) by Almeida Garret.
Biography: João Baptista da Silva Leitão de Almeida Garrett, (February 4, 1799 – December
9, 1854) was a Portuguese poet, playwright, novelist and politician. He is considered to be
the introducer of the Romanticism in Portugal.
Classification of the book: Historical romance
Main action: The author decides to travel from Lisbon to Santarem by train, with the
intention of experiencing the beautiful landscapes as well as monumental villages of
Portugal. In parallel with the description of the Portuguese landscapes he visits he also
presents to the reader a beautiful love story.
Summary of the book: Travels in My Homeland is a unique work by extraordinary individual.
Actively involved in the savage wars between the Absolutists and the Liberals that raged in
Portugal from 1828 to 1834, Almeida Garrett went on to become Portuguese Foreign
Minister and the principal literary innovator of the Portuguese Romantic movement. First
published in 1846, Travels in My Homeland is a fascinating mixture of fact and fiction. An
account of Garrets journey from Lisbon to the provincial town of Santarem, the narrator also
tells the story of Carlos, a political activist, who cannot chose between two women: the
English Georgiana he loved in exile and Joaninha whom he left behind. The central theme is
the fate of Portugal itself, for which Santarem serves as a microcosm of the country as a
whole - symbol of national pride and of its degradation and corruption. At a time when the
Portuguese literary scene was still dominated by the historical adventure novel, Travels in My
Homeland broke new ground by combining elements from travel literature, the old
sentimental novel and the epistolary genre. In doing so, Almeida Garrett created a national
classic and even today Travels in My Homeland is listed in all major guide books to Portugal.
VISIT TO CONSTANCIA
Book related to the visit to the village of Constância: “The Lusiads” (Os Lusíadas) by Luís de
Camões.
Biography: Luís Vaz de Camões (1524 – 10 June 1580) is considered Portugal's and the
Portuguese language's greatest poet. His mastery of verse has been compared to that of
Shakespeare, Vondel, Homer, Virgil and Dante. He wrote a considerable amount of lyrical
poetry and drama but is best remembered for his epic work Os Lusíadas (The Lusiads). His
recollection of poetry The Parnasum of Luís de Camões was lost in his lifetime. The influence
of his masterpiece Os Lusíadas in Portuguese is so profound that it is called the "language of
Camões".
Classification of the book: Poetry
Main Action: The poem focuses mainly on a fantastical interpretation of the Portuguese
voyages of discovery during the 15th and 16th centuries
Summary of the book: An epic poem, written after the classic Greek epic poems. "The
Lusiads" (which had its first edition published in 1572) is a literary outcome of the
Renaissance and of the period of the Portuguese discovery expeditions of the 16th century.
It is structured according to the canonics (eights in decasyllables bound to the fixed rhyme
scheme ABABABCC, structured in ten chants), a historical image of Portuguese culture,
placing the voyage that Vasco da Gama made to the indis as a central theme. During the
voyage, among the setbacks and the conquests, episodes of Portuguese history are narrated
in flashback, since the early days of Lusitania. Associated to a certain literally mastery only
worthy of a genius poet, the plot is enriched with two parallel stories: The royal voyage of
the Portuguese and a mythological plan, in which the Olympic gods will take their stand
regarding the voyage, some of them conspiring for its success while other conspire for its fail.
Both plans interact precisely in the end, in the episode at the Love Island (Ilha dos Amores) the only one where the story is not bound by historical facts -, working as a prize to the
voyagers and, in its erotic intensity, it's also a fulcrum in Camões's writing.
VISIT TO LISBON
Fernando Pessoa was a Portuguese poet, philosopher
and writer. He was born in Lisbon on the 13th June 1888 and died on the 30th of November
1935.
Fernando Pessoa is considered one of the greatest poets of the Portuguese Language and
Universal Literature, often compared to Luís de Camões. The literary critic Harold Bloom
considered his work a “legacy of the Portuguese language to the world”.
By being raised in South Africa, to where he went at the age of six due to his mother
marriage, he learnt perfectly the English language in which he wrote various poetry and
prose since his adolescence. Of the four works he published during his lifetime, three are in
English. Fernando Pessoa also translated several books from in English to Portuguese as well
as famous Portuguese books into English (mostly by Antonio Botto and Almada Negreiros).
Throughout his life he worked in various commercial firms in Lisbon as a correspondent of
the English and French language. While producing his work in literacy and prose he worked
as an entrepreneur, editor, literary critic, journalist, translator, inventor and advertiser. As a
poet he divided himself into multiple personalities known as heteronyms, being the most
famous Álvaro de Campos, Ricardo Reis and Alberto Caeiro.
Most of his work was written in a small coffee-shop in Chiado, Lisbon.
Álvaro de Campos: widely known by his powerful and wrathful writing style. Campos' works
may be split in three phases: the decadents phase, the futuristic phase and the decadent
(sad) phase. He chose Marinetti and Whitman as masters, showing some similarities with
their works, mainly in the second phase: hymns like "Ode Triunfal" and "Ode Marítima"
praise the power of the rising technology, the strength of the machines, the dark side of the
industrial civilization, and an enigmatic love for the machines. The first phase (marked by the
poem «Opiário» shared some of its pessimism with Pessoa's friend Mário de Sá-Carneiro,
one of his co-workers in Orpheu magazine. In the last phase, Pessoa drops the mask, and
reveals through Campos all the emptiness and nostalgy that grew during his last years of life.
He lived in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England for a time where he studied Ship
Engineering (of which Pessoa wrote a poem about) and later, in 1922, he lived in Newcastle
upon Tyne (currently Newcastle upon Tyne).
I always want to be the thing I feel kinship with...
To feel everything in every way,
To hold all opinions,
To be sincere contradicting oneself every minute...
I am nothing.
I will never be anything.
I cannot wish to be anything.
Bar that, I have in me all the dreams of the world.
Álvaro de Campos, "The Tobacco Shop"
Ricardo Reis: Reis sums up his philosophy of life in his own words, admonishing: 'See life
from a distance. Never question it. There's nothing it can tell you.' Like Caeiro, whom he
admires, Reis defers from questioning life. He is a modern pagan who urges one to seize the
day and accept fate with tranquility. 'Wise is the one who does not seek', he says; and
continues: 'the seeker will find in all things the abyss, and doubt in himself. In this sense Reis
shares essential affinities with Caeiro.
Believing in the Greek gods, yet living in a Christian Europe, Reis feels that his spiritual life is
limited, and true happiness cannot be attained. This, added to his belief in Fate as a driving
force for all that exists, as such disregarding freedom, leads to his epicureanist philosophy,
which entails the avoidance of pain, defending that man should seek tranquility and calm
above all else, avoiding emotional extremes.
Where Caeiro wrote freely and spontaneously, with joviality, of his basic, meaningless
connection to the world, Reis writes in an austere, cerebral manner, with premeditated
rhythm and structure and a particular attention to the correct use of the language, when
approaching his subjects of, as characterized by Richard Zenith, 'the brevity of life, the vanity
of wealth and struggle, the joy of simple pleasures, patience in time of trouble, and
avoidance of extremes'.
In his detached, intellectual approach, he is closer to Fernando Pessoa's constant
rationalization, as such representing the ortonym's wish for measure and sobriety and a
world free of troubles and respite, in stark contrast to Caeiro's spirit and style. As such,
where Caeiro's predominant attitude is that of joviality, his sadness being accepted as
natural ('My sadness,' Caeiro says, 'is a comfort for it is natural and right.'), Reis is marked by
melancholy, saddened by the impermanence of all things.
As long as I feel the fresh breeze in my hair
And see the sun shining strong on the leaves,
I will not ask for more.
What better thing could destiny grant me?
Other than the sensual passing of life in moments
Of ignorance such as this one?
Ricardo Reis
Alberto Caeiro: Alberto Caeiro was Pessoa's first great heteronym; summarized by Pessoa,
writing: He sees things with the eyes only, not with the mind. He does not let any thoughts
arise when he looks at a flower... the only thing a stone tells him is that it has nothing at all
to tell him... this way of looking at a stone may be described as the totally unpoetic way of
looking at it. The stupendous fact about Caeiro is that out of this sentiment, or rather,
absence of sentiment, he makes poetry.
What this means, and what makes Caeiro such an original poet is the way he apprehends
existence. He does not question anything whatsoever; he calmly accepts the world as it is.
The recurrent themes to be found in nearly all of Caeiro's poems are wide-eyed childlike
wonder at the infinite variety of nature, as noted by a critic. He is free of metaphysical
entanglements. Central to his world-view is the idea that in the world around us, all is
surface: things are precisely what they seem, there is no hidden meaning anywhere.
He manages thus to free himself from the anxieties that batter his peers; for Caeiro, things
simply exist and we have no right to credit them with more than that. Our unhappiness, he
tells us, springs from our unwillingness to limit our horizons. As such, Caeiro attains
happiness by not questioning, and by thus avoiding doubts and uncertainties. He
apprehends reality solely through his eyes, through his senses. What he teaches us is that if
we want to be happy we ought to do the same. Octavio Paz called him the innocent poet.
Paz made a shrewd remark on the heteronyms: In each are particles of negation or unreality.
Reis believes in form, Campos in sensation, Pessoa in symbols. Caeiro doesn't believe in
anything. He exists.
Poetry before Caeiro was essentially interpretative; what poets did was to offer an
interpretation of their perceived surroundings; Caeiro does not do this. Instead, he attempts
to communicate his senses, and his feelings, without any interpretation whatsoever.
Caeiro attempts to approach Nature from a qualitatively different mode of apprehension;
that of simply perceiving (an approach akin to phenomenological approaches to philosophy).
Poets before him would make use of intricate metaphors to describe what was before them;
not so Caeiro: his self-appointed task is to bring these objects to the reader's attention, as
directly and simply as possible. Caeiro sought a direct experience of the objects before him.
As such it is not surprising to find that Caeiro has been called an anti-intellectual, antiRomantic, anti-subjectivist, anti-metaphysical...an anti-poet, by critics; Caeiro simply—is. He
is in this sense very unlike his creator Fernando Pessoa: Pessoa was besieged by
metaphysical uncertainties; these were, to a large extent, the cause of his unhappiness; not
so Caeiro: his attitude is anti-metaphysical; he avoided uncertainties by adamantly clinging to
a certainty: his belief that there is no meaning behind things. Things, for him, simply—are.
Caeiro represents a primal vision of reality, of things. He is the pagan incarnate. Indeed
Caeiro was not simply a pagan but paganism itself.
The critic Jane M. Sheets sees the insurgence of Caeiro—who was Pessoa's first major
heteronym—as essential in founding the later poetic personas: By means of this artless yet
affirmative anti-poet, Caeiro, a short-lived but vital member of his coterie, Pessoa acquired
the base of an experienced and universal poetic vision. After Caeiro's tenets had been
established, the avowedly poetic voices of Campos, Reis and Pessoa himself spoke with
greater assurance
I have no ambitions nor desires.
To be a poet is not my ambition,
It's simply my way of being alone.
Alberto Caeiro, "The Keeper of Herds"
VISIT TO AZINHAGA
Book related to the visit to the city of Lisbon: “The gospel according to Jesus Christ” (“O
Evangelho segundo Jesus Cristo”) by José Saramago.
Biography: José de Sousa Saramago, (16 November 1922 – 18 June 2010) was a
Portuguese novelist, poet, playwright, journalist and recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in
Literature. He was born in a small village called Azinhaga. His works, some of which can be
seen as allegories, commonly present subversive perspectives on historic events,
emphasizing the human factor. Harold Bloom has described Saramago as "a permanent part
of the Western canon".
Awarded the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature, more than two million copies of Saramago's
books have been sold in Portugal alone and his work has been translated into 25 languages.
He founded the National Front for the Defence of Culture (Lisbon, 1992) with FreitasMagalhães and others. A proponent of libertarian communism, Saramago came into conflict
with some groups, such as the Catholic Church. Saramago was an atheist who defended love
as an instrument to improve the human condition.
The Casa dos Bicos (Portuguese for House of the Spikes) is a historical house in the city of
Lisbon, in Portugal. The house, built in the early 16th century in the Alfama neighbourhood,
has a curious façade of Renaissance and Manueline influence. It has survived the disastrous
1755 Lisbon Earthquake that destroyed much of the city. Today it is the José Saramago
Foundation in which you can find the Saramago’s private library.
Classification of the book: Historical novels
Main Action: This book re-imagines the life of Jesus Christ, using the events depicted in the
canonical gospels as a scaffold on which to build its story. It more or less follows the
chronology of the life of Jesus Christ. However, much greater emphasis is spent on the earlier
part of Jesus' life than in the canonical gospels.
Summary of the book: This novel tells the tale of Jesus, son of Joseph, from the time of
his birth, up to his death. It follows most of what the Bible says Jesus' life was, with a
few major changes. I'll assume that readers of this review are familiar with the
Biblical account of the life of Jesus, so I'll just point out the changes that are crucial to
this alternate account.
First of all, Saramago's Gospel fills in the "missing" years of Jesus' life. In the Bible,
there is an account of the life of Jesus from his birth up to when he was 12-years old.
Then nothing else is reported until when he is 30 and is baptized by John at the Jordan
River. In this novel, however, this is not the case. There are plenty of accounts of
Jesus' life in between. His father Joseph dies when he is 13, and he leaves his house to
fend for himself for several years, spending time as a shepherd with a character
named Pastor, who is later revealed to be the Devil.
Saramago rearranges several Biblical episodes in this book. For example, the Bible
states that Jesus spent a considerable period of time alone after being baptized, and
the Devil proceeds to tempt him. In Gospel, however, the temptation occurs while
Jesus is a shepherd with the Pastor. The Bible also states that Jesus spent 40 days with
God, learning of his purpose here on Earth. The novel sees this as an episode on the
Sea of Galilee, when a mist envelops the boat that Jesus was occupying, and God and
Jesus, together with the Devil, had a conversation.
Perhaps the most controversial aspect of this novel is the fact that Jesus is portrayed to
have carried on a relationship with Mary Magdalene. Yes, folks, Jesus is not a virgin
in this novel. He has a partner. And given what I know about religion and its
supporters, I don't think that sits well with the conservative folk.
But seriously, is the Biblical narrative realistic? Reading this book has made me
reflect on my own religious upbringing, and it has lent support on my current beliefs,
which is one of irreligion. Is it really realistic for a regular human being to be free of
natural human desires, including sex and alcohol? I find this book a more realistic
account of a man who, having existed 2000 years previous, happened to have big
dreams for himself.
Another aspect of Gospel raised is that of faith. Religion teaches us that God is
Almighty, and that it is a virtue for one to give one's life to God, whether by being a
martyr or by devoting one's time and effort for the works of God. However, has it ever
occured to anyone of us that God is perhaps the most selfish being that humans have
ever conceived of? God is restless, God is never pleased, God needs sacrifices, God
needs lambs that are not injured or diseased. God needs martyrs, God needs people
who will be decapitated, beheaded, burnt alive, tarred and feathered, and so on. There
is an episode in the novel where Jesus asks God about the future, and God responds
that there will be wars (pertaining to the Crusades), in which there would be plenty of
people who will die just so that God can be appeased. From a skeptic's point of view,
that is a very selfish supernatural being, requiring the deaths of plenty of individuals
just for his own selfIn reading The Gospel According to Jesus Christ, it might sound like Saramago is
preaching to the choir: after all, I already identify as an atheist. But I challenge all the
believers out there to pick this book up and see an alternative account. My experience
with religion in the past was such that believers were discouraged to read material that
might compromise one's faith. But in my point of view, unless one challenges one's
faith, then one doesn't know whether one's faith is strong or weak. Read this book and
see if you still believe in the mythological account of the Bible. The way I see it,
there's more points in which one needs to suspend one's disbelief in the Biblical
account than in Saramago's.
=============================================================
As Tágides são as ninfas (figuras da mitologia grega que habitam no rio que desagua em Lisboa) a
quem Camões pede inspiração para compor; o canto I é composto por teorias que anunciam o que irá
abordar durante a sua obra a sua obra, Os Lusíadas.
As tágides são compostas por três partes: A preposição (1ª, 2ª e 3ª estrofes) abordando as conquistas
dos navegadores e as histórias dos portugueses; A Invocação (4ª e 5ª estrofes)argumenta sobre as
ninfas que serviram de inspiração para o poeta; finalmente A Dedicatória para o rei Dom Sebastião
onde era depositado a fé para a continuação das conquistas portuguesas e propagação da religião
católica.
CANTO I
"1- Assunto do Poema
As armas e os barões assinalados,
Que da ocidental praia Lusitana,
Por mares nunca de antes navegados,
Passaram ainda além da Taprobana,
Em perigos e guerras esforçados,
Mais do que prometia a força humana,
E entre gente remota edificaram
Novo Reino, que tanto sublimaram;"
Camões fala do inicio das navegações patrocinadas pelos barões para começar o crescimento
esplendoroso de Portugal que guerreava na África antes da escravidão.
"2- E também as memórias gloriosas
Daqueles Reis, que foram dilatando
A Fé, o Império, e as terras viciosas
De África e de Ásia andaram devastando;
E aqueles, que por obras valorosas
Se vão da lei da morte libertando;
Cantando espalharei por toda parte,
Se a tanto me ajudar o engenho e arte."
Fala da historia lusitana das conquistas das colônias africanas e algumas na Ásia mostrando o grande
poder dos portugues que valorizavam os seus grandes Reis. Grandes guerreiros morrem nas batalhas.
"3 - Cessem do sábio Grego e do Troiano
As navegações grandes que fizeram;
Cale-se de Alexandre e de Trajano
A fama das vitórias que tiveram;
Que eu canto o peito ilustre Lusitano,
A quem Neptuno e Marte obedeceram:
Cesse tudo o que a Musa antígua canta,
Que outro valor mais alto se alevanta.
Invocação às Ninfas do Tejo"
Como os grandes conquistadores da antiguidade os lusitanos também repetiram a proeza com ajuda
dos deuses netuno e Marte; e antes das viagens às ninfas do Tejo(rio que corta Portugal) se levantam
para grandioso ato português.
"4 - E vós, Tágides minhas, pois criado
Tendes em mim um novo engenho ardente,
Se sempre em verso humilde celebrado
Foi de mim vosso rio alegremente,
Dai-me agora um som alto e sublimado,
Um estilo grandíloquo e corrente,
Porque de vossas águas, Febo ordene
Que não tenham inveja às de Hipoerene."
Camões faz uma declaração as tágides que são as ninfas do rio Tejo mostrando o grande valor delas a
Portugal. Camões gostava de utilizar seres mitológicos para fazer suas epopeias.
"5 - Dai-me uma fúria grande e sonorosa,
E não de agreste avena ou frauta ruda,
Mas de tuba canora e belicosa,
Que o peito acende e a cor ao gesto muda;
Dai-me igual canto aos feitos da famosa
Gente vossa, que a Marte tanto ajuda;
Que se espalhe e se cante no universo,
Se tão sublime preço cabe em verso."
Camões pede em nome do povo português( tipo um eu - lírico) proteção das ninfas do Tejo e pede
força para superar os perigos que vem pelo mar(indução da igreja em falar que no mar é onde
acabava o mundo e seres monstruosos existiam ali) e com grande satisfação as ninfas eles espalharão
o grande feito com referência as ninfas.
http://oslusiadascoopec.blogspot.pt/2009/07/as-tagides.html
English
ARMS and the Heroes, who from Lisbon’s shore,
Thro’ seas 2 where sail was never spread before,
Beyond where Ceylon lifts her spicy breast,
And waves her woods above the wat’ry waste,
With prowess more than human forc’d their way
To the fair kingdoms of the rising day:
What wars they wag’d, what seas, what dangers pass’d,
What glorious empire crown’d their toils at last,
Vent’rous I sing, on soaring pinions borne,
And all my country’s wars 1 the song adorn;
What kings, what heroes of my native land
Thunder’d on Asia’s and on Afric’s strand:
Illustrious shades, who levell’d in the dust
The idol-temples and the shrines of lust:
And where, erewhile, foul demons were rever’d,
To Holy Faith unnumber’d altars rear’d: 2
Illustrious names, with deathless laurels crown’d,
While time rolls on in every clime renown’d!
Let Fame with wonder name the Greek 3 no more,
What lands he saw, what toils at sea he bore;
Nor more the Trojan’s wand’ring 4 voyage boast,
What storms he brav’d on many a perilous coast:
No more let Rome exult in Trajan’s name,
Nor Eastern conquests Ammon’s 5 pride proclaim;
A nobler hero’s deeds demand my lays
Than e’er adorn’d the song of ancient days,
Illustrious GAMA, whom the waves obey’d,
And whose dread sword the fate of empire sway’d.
And you, fair nymphs of Tagus, parent stream,
If e’er your meadows were my pastoral theme,
While you have listen’d, and by moonshine seen
My footsteps wander o’er your banks of green,
O come auspicious, and the song inspire
With all the boldness of your hero’s fire:
Deep and majestic let the numbers flow,
And, rapt to heaven, with ardent fury glow,
Unlike the verse that speaks the lover’s grief,
When heaving sighs afford their soft relief,
And humble reeds bewail the shepherd’s pain;
But like the warlike trumpet be the strain
To rouse the hero’s ire, and far around,
With equal rage, your warriors’ deeds resound.
And thou, O born the pledge of happier days,
To guard our freedom and our glories raise,
Given to the world to spread Religion’s sway,
And pour o’er many a land the mental day,
Thy future honours on thy shield behold,
The cross and victor’s wreath emboss’d in gold:
At thy commanding frown we trust to see,
The Turk and Arab bend the suppliant knee:
Beneath the morn, 1 dread king, thine empire lies,
When midnight veils thy Lusitanian 2 skies;
O que leeu a Susan:
As long as I feel the fresh breeze in my hair
And see the sun shining strong on the leaves,
I will not ask for more.
What better thing could destiny grant me?
Other than the sensual passing of life moments
Of ignorance such as this one?
By RICARDO REIS (heterónimo de PESSOA)
O que leeu a Giselle:
I always want to be the thing I feel kinship with…
To feel everything in every way,
To hold all opinions,
To be sincere contradicting oneself every minute…
I am nothing,
I will never be anything.
I cannot wish to be anything.
Bar that, I have in me all dreams of the world.
By ÁLVARO DE CAMPOS (heterónimo de PESSOA)
O que li eu (em português)e Giselle (em inglês) na praia:
Portuguese Sea (from PESSOA, himself)
Oh salt – Laden sea, how much of your salt
Is tears of Portugal!
To cross you, how many mothers wept,
How many sons in vain prayed!
How many brides-to-be- brides remained,
So you were ours, oh Sea!
Was it worth? Everything is worth,
If the soul is not small.
Whoever wants to go beyond (cape) Bojador,
Has to go beyond pain.
To sea gave God peril and the abyss
But in it He also mirrored heaven.