Poems of Fernando Pessoa

by Fernando Pessoa

Book Overview

Fernando Pessoa is Portugal's most important contemporary poet.

He wrote under several identities, which he called heteronyms: Albet Caeiro, Alvaro de Campos, Ricardo Reis and Bernardo Soares. He wrote fine poetry under his own name as well, and each of his "voices" is completely different in subject, temperament and style. This volume brings back into print the comprehensive collection of his work published by Ecco Press...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0872863425
• ISBN13: 9780872863422
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: City Lights Books
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Four poets as one

Pesssoa is unique as a poet in that he generously scatters himself into the identities of three other people. The four heteronyms dominate his character.He searches for objective truth. Here is an excerpt. have no ambitions and no desires. To be a poet is not my ambition, It's my way of being alone.

Fernando Pessoa

Fernando Pessoa is surely the most important 20th century Portuguese poet. The critic Harold Bloom considers Fernando Pessoa (along with Pablo Neruda) the "most representative" poet of the 20th century. This is a considerable feat if one considers other 20th century poets like: T.S. Eliot, Rilke, Valery, Yeats, Lorca etc. Gabriel Garcia Marquez considers Neruda the "best poet of the 20th century, in any language." I highly admire Neruda, but Pessoa has done more for me, has influenced me much more than has Neruda. Pessoa's invention of several "selves" is a feat of originality without precedent. Perhaps what most characterizes Pessoa is his strangeness. His strangeness is partly explained by his own life: Pessoa has been called "the man who never was." This is accurate: he is one of the most solitary literary geniuses of modern times. This sense of estrangement is all-pervasive in most of his poems. The Noble Laureate Gao Xinjiang recently called Pessoa "the most profound poet of the 20th century." I concur with him. --- Concerning this selection: I suggest the reader buy both the Zenith and Hong translations. It would be best ofcourse if one read his poetry in the original Portuguese. P.S: (Pessoa's complete poems can be found online, in both English, Spanish & Portuguese...)

Genius and Madness from the Portuguese

It's telling of the miserable state and status of the Portuguese -- "a brilliance lacking luster" -- that only an enlightened few are privileged to know (posthumously) that Pessoa ranks among the greatest writers of recent centuries. (Yes.) Become one of the privileged few to enter Pessoa's universe, and make sure it's initially through the translations of Honig and Brown.

Moving

Accessable modern poetry; depressing, surreal, with alot of sach-religious overtones.

fabulous

Do yourselves a favour and read the unforgettable poems of the century's least acknowledged, but greatest, poet.