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http://universitypublishingonline.org/
The Cambridge History of Latin American Literature
Edited by Roberto Gonzalez Echevarra, Enrique Pupo-Walker
Book DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521410359
Online ISBN: 9781139055291
Hardback ISBN: 9780521410359
Chapter
12 - Brazilian poetry from Modernism to the 1990s pp. 247-268
Chapter DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521410359.014
Cambridge University Press
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[ 12 ]
Brazilian poetry from Modernism to the 1990s
Giovanni Pontiero
With the advent of Modernism, intellectual and cultural life in Brazilfound new impetus. The pioneers of the movement launched a pro
gr am me of reform and ren ewa l. Th ey defended artistic freedom and
encouraged innovation. Even sixty years later, the excitement they had
engendered had scarcely abated. Mo de rn is m wa s officially launched in
Februar y 1922 at Sao Paulo 's Te at ro Mun ici pa l with the particip ation of
writers, artists, and musicians. Three separate programmes included
lectures outlining the mov eme nt' s objective s, readings of prose and poetry
reflecting the new aesthetics, and musical recitals. The exhibition of cubistand expressionist works of art displayed in the theatre foyer aroused
hostile reactions before the public even entered the auditorium. Graca
Aranha (1868-1931), an established writer who achieved lasting famewith his best-selling novel Canad (1902) [Canaan], gav e the inaugu ral
lecture entitled " A em oc o esttica na arte moderna". Expressing unequi
vocal support for the radical changes proposed by younger artists
working in various media, Gra^a Aranha's provocative statements
enraged die-hard traditionalists and aroused some skepticism even
amo ngs t the Mod ern ists themselv es. Wi th suitably opulent rhetoric hewelcomed this "Maravi lhosa aurora!" ["Wondrous dawn"] with i ts
"pinturas extravagantes, esculturas absurdas, msica alucinada, poesia
area e desarticulada" {Espirito moderno, 1925) ["ext ravag ant paintings,
absurd sculptures, hallucinated music, vag ue, disarticulated po et ry "] .
The poet Meno tti del Picchia (1892-1989) exp ou nde d modernist ideals.
M ar io de Andrade (1893-1945), the movement's guiding spirit, readextracts from Paulicia desvairada [Hallucinated City] and his scornful
dismissal of bourgeois values provoked heckling and jeering, and when
Ro na ld de C ar va lh o (18931935) recited Os sapos [The Toads], parodying the literary establishment, the outraged audience became hysterical.
The po em had been written by Ma nu el Bandeira ( 1886-19 68), wh o
pledged his support from Rio de Janeiro and, although he was older than
Ml
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most of the movement's pioneers, his verses of Libertinagem (Rio de
Janei ro, 1930) [Deb auc her y] crys talliz ed to perfec tion the mo od and
objectives of Modernism.
Menotti del Picchia announced that Modernism would be militant andunc omp rom isi ng in its wa r against intransigent purists and outda ted
canons of taste. Arcadia and its myths belonged to the past. Modernists
w ould banish Parnassia n and pos t-r oma nti c influences, and create ne wvalues in art and literature attuned to the twentieth century. The editorialof the first issue of Klaxon (Sao Pau lo, M a y 1 5 , 1922) called on all
participants to pursue artistic forms that wou ld be "at ual " ["up-to-date"]
rather than simply " n o v o " ["n ew" ]. This was an age ofjazz, fast cars, the
Charleston, and motion pictures, in short, the era of Klaxon. The new
aesthetics wo ul d capt ure the eup hor ia of the times as indu stria lizat ion andtechnological progress began to transform urban Brazil.
The modernist programme had not been formulated overnight. Iso
lated factors had set the process of change in motion long before
intellectuals and artists started to exchange ideas and clarify their aims.
The poet, playwright, and novelist, Oswald de Andrade (Jos Oswald de
Sousa An dra de; 1890-19 54) had witnessed the impact of Mari nett i 's
Futu rism , laun che d in Eur ope in 1909, and he establ ished con tac t wit h
avant-garde poets in Paris who had abandoned traditional concepts of
poe try in fav our of free verse and internal har mo ny . Upon returning toBrazil in 191 2, he soon beg an to pub lish his o w n experi men ts wi th freeverse, which predictably scandalized Parnassians and Symbolists alikeand aro used their hostility. Some Brazilian Mod ern ist s subsequently
argued that Marinetti's influence had been overstated, but the Italian
poet 's Manifesto tecnico, published in Milan, in May 1912, undoubtedly
provided them with most of their key images and themes - electric light,
ventilators, aeroplanes, workers' rights, engines, factory chimneys, dyna
mos, and me cha nic s - even if they stopped shor t of the Italian poet 's stated
convict ion that mode rn art should emb od y "vio len ce, cruelty and injust ice" (futurist manifesto, published in Le Figaro, February 20, 1909).
Luis de Monta lvor (1891-1947) and Ron ald de Carv alh o (1893-1935)launched a short-lived magazine Orpbeu. The only two numbers to
appear were published in March and June 1915. The main objective of
Orpbeu was to bring the achievements of the European Avant-Garde to
the attention of the Braz ilia n intelligentsia and to pro vid e a pla tfo rm for
young writers and artists wit h new ideas. By 19 17 , the mov eme nt' spioneers, Os wa ld and Ma ri o de And rad e, were actively collabora ting in
their determination to create a more favorable climate for experimentation in every sphere of creat ive art. Poli tical events and social cha nge s at
hom e and abroa d convi nced them that the moment had come to publicize
their aims. Th er e we re enough frustrated write rs and artists living and
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working in Sao Pau lo by 1920 to supp ort their pro gr am me . Th e wor ke rs '
strikes in the city had encouraged other minority groups to voice their
grievances, and the forthcoming celebrations to mark the centennial of
Brazilian Independence (September 1822) seemed an opportune date tolaunch a Mode rni st manifesto.
T he heroic phase of Brazilian Modernismo [Modernism] was aggres
sive and strident. The movement's pioneers stressed the need to penetrate
the spirit of contemporary life rather than simply portray its externals.
They expressed their contempt for earlier literary movements and
resented Europ ean influences, especial ly those import ed from Port ugal
and France. Henceforth , Brazilian artists would export rather than import
ideas. The art they envisaged would be multifaceted and even arbitrary:
"pol imorfo, onipresente, inquieto, comico, irritante, contraditorio, inve-jado, insultado, feliz" (Klaxon) ["polymorphous, omnipresent, restless,
comic, irritable, contradictory, envied, reviled, joyful"] . Writers and
poets would forge a new language that would merge literary and
colloquial forms with the utmost freedom and individuality. Stereotyped
images of Brazil and Brazilians would disappear as artists began to re
assess the cou ntr y's history and tradit ions, its ethnic comp lexi ty, and the
impact of accelerating immigration. Mario de Andrade paid homage to
his beloved Sao Paulo, the nerve cell of Brazi l:
Sao Paulo! comocao de minha vida . . .
(Pauliceia desvairada, "Inspiracao," l.i)
[Sao Paulo! tumult of my life . . .]
Art and artists could only hope to survive by adapting to an inevitable
process of change. The pioneers of Modernism found beauty and
excitement in this new age of machines and technology. Only later would
they begin to question and fear the more negative aspects of progress.
Initially, the provocative slogans of the Modernists were more readily
digested than the aesthetics they we re trying to define. Os wa l d de Andr ad escandalized his critics with a colorful portrait of his pers onal "Fut uris t
poet," while the poet in question, Mario de Andrade, systematically
demo lish ed the poets revered by prev ious gener ation s - Ra im un do
Correia (1859-1911), Alberto de Oliveira (1857-1937), and O la vo Bilac
(1865-1918) - in a series of analytical essays entitled: "Mestres do
pa ss ad o" . On ly the Symbolis ts cou ld cla im to hav e influenced the ne w
poetry. In another explanatory essay, A escrava que ndo e Isaura, M ar i o
de Andrade insisted that Modernist poets were not concerned with
Nature and reality but with their own individual responses to the worldaround them.
T he influence of Marinetti 's Futurism was played down even further.
Any inspiration from Europe, the Modernists argued, had been much
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more diffuse: Verhaeren's Villes tentaculaires, the cubist experiments of
Apollinaire, Max Jacob, Andre Salmon, Blaise Cendrars, and JeanCocteau , the Dadaism of Tzara, Francis Picabia, and Paul Derme. This
eclecticism is apparent in the "poetic polyphony" exploited by Mario deAndrade in the verses of Faulicia desvairada. Echoes of the European
Avant -Garde are also present in Oswald de Andrade's improvised lyrics
and in the zany descriptions of Guilherme de Almeida (1890-1969).
O sw a ld de Andrade invents verbs to create his own whimsical world in" B e n g a l " (in Poesas reunidas [1966]):
O piano fox trotadomingaliza
(lines 6-7)
[The piano fox-trots
Sundayizes]
and Alm eid a creates sonor ous rhythms in his ono mata poe ic "S a mb a" (in
Poesa varia [1947]):
estronda / rebenta / retumba / ribomba
(lines 9-12)
[booming / rolling / roaring / rumbling]
Modernism with its jesting and polemics soon caught the public imagina
tion. The Sao Paulo poets joined forces with visual artists who shared this
desire for reform and renewal: the painters Anita Malfatti, Di Cavalcanti,
Tarsila do Amaral, and John Gr az , the sculpto rs Vt or Brecheret and W .
Haeberg, and the architects Antonio Moya and George Przirembel.
Contacts were also established with artists and writers resident in Rio
de Janeiro wh o shared the move men t's ideals. Th e latter met in book
shops and cafs whe re they avid ly discussed their wo rk , exc ha nged the
latest novelties from Europe, and read their poems to each other. In Rio de
Janeiro, Renato Almeida (1895-1981), Ronald de Carvalho, SergioBua rqu e de Ho la nd a (19021982), and Ma nu el Bandei ra soon bec ame
familiar faces at these lively gatherings. Ronald de Carvalho's Epigramasirnicos e sentimentais (1922) [Ironic and Sentimental Epigrams] also
celebra ted "ha ppin ess and free dom," and Bande ira devised his ow n
bacchanalian pleasures in the poems of Carnaval (1919) [Carnival].
The poets united under the banner of Modernism soon began to define
their own positions. Heated debate led to conflicts and several defections
within their ranks. Os wa ld de And rad e, the most dynamic and outs poke n
of the movement's pioneers, set out his own ideals in Manifesto da poesia
pau-hrasil published in the Correio da Manha on Ma rc h 18 , 1924. He
wan ted a poet ry ca pab le of por tra yin g the real Brazi l, a lyricism in the
flowering, "gi l e candida. C o mo urna crianza" ["agile and innocent. As
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a child" ] and total ly devoi d of artifice; " A Poesia para os poet as. Alegr ia
dos que nao sabem e de sc ob re m" ["Poetry for poets . T he happiness of
those wh o prefer discovering to kn ow in g" ]. Th e modern poet envisaged
by Os wa ld de An dr ad e wou ld shun the past and strive for " A sintese . . . Oequilib rio . . . A inven cao . . . Um a nova pers pec tiv a" ["Synthesis . . .
Equilibrium . . . Invention . . . A new persp ectiv e"], thus ensuring the
utmost individuality. He himself led the way with taut, epigrammatic
poe ms whic h captur ed the national scene, life on the sugar plant ation s,
provi ncia l lan dmar ks, the Brazil ian Car niv al , and the pulsati ng rhyth ms
of urban life. Restless and versatile, Oswald de Andrade's moods
fluctuate bet ween outr ageous satire and quiet lyricism, bet ween collo
quial par ody and Impressionist description :
La fora o luar continuaE o trem divide o Brasil
Como num meridiano.
("Noturno," Poesias reunidas [1945])
[Outside the moonlight persists
And the train divides Brazil
Like a meridian.]
("Nocturne")
He exercised a prof ound influence over his cont empo rar ies . Menot ti
del Picchia, Guilherme de Almeida, Sergio Milliet (1898-1966), Ribeiro
Cou to (1898- 1963), and Ron al d de Ca rv al ho all shared O sw a ld de
Andrade's interest in discovering the spiritual core ofBrazil. They probed
its folklo re and customs and evok ed Braz il's historical landm arks : Ou r o
Preto, Co ng on ha s do Ca mp o, Bahi a, Reci fe, Sahara . Th ey tried to define
the Brazilian character, its mestizo roots and unmistakable colloquial
isms. These traits are embodied in Bandeira's personal "Evocacao do
Recife," in which he defends "a lingua errada do povo / lingua certa do
p o v o " (lines 67-8 ) ["the ung rammati ca l l ang uag e of the peo ple / the
authentic language of the people"].
Brazil and Braz ili ans beco me the burn ing ques tion in the modernis t
manifestos launched by dissident groups. Terra Roxa e outras terras,
published in Sao Paulo in January 1926, pro mis ed a new phase of literary
activity which would entertain as well as instruct with a wide range of
prose and poetry faithful to the so-called "espirito moderno" ["modern
spirit"]. Ronald de Carvalho spoke for all Modernists when he urged:
"Cr i a o teu ritmo e criaras o mu nd o" ["Create y our rhythm and you will
create the wo rl d" ]. In another expl osiv e editorial in the Revista de
Antropofagia, launched in Sao Paulo on M a y 1,192 8, Os wa l d de An dra de
extolled Primitivi sm. Ce nsur ing the vices of wh at passes for a civili zed,
Chris tian s ociety, he argued " O espirito recusa-se a conceber o espirito
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sem co r po" [ "The spirit refuses to conc eive the spirit with ou t its body"] ,
and he defended spo ntaneous instinct as the one cohesi ve fact or in any
assessment o f Brazil 's social, econ omic , and cultural e volut ion. Th e
anthropophagists were out to celebrate life. They rejected the oppressivetheories of Freud and advoc ate d a reality "s em com pl ex os , sem lou cur a,
sem prosti tuicoes " ("Manifesto antrop fago ," Revista de Antropofagia,
i) ["without co mplexe s, withou t madness, withou t prosti tutions"].These sentiments are expressed somewhat more coherently in the last
important mode rnist manifes to of the 1920s, Manifesto do Verde-
amarelismo ou de Escola da Anta (May, 1929). The intellectuals and poetsw h o united under this banner included Menotti del Picchia, CassianoRicardo (1895-1974), Rau l Bopp (1898-1984), Plnio Salga do (189 5-
1975), and Cndido Mota Filho (18971977). Like the anthro pophag ists,they preached a new spirit of nationalism rooted in Brazil's primitive
civilizations; an age dominated by the Tupi Indians and joyfully free of allreligious precepts and philosophical theories; a race notable for its
spontaneity as opposed to arid intellectualism. The Verdeamarelistas
opposed all rhetoric, both verbal and conceptual, and urged creative
artists to be creative without any discussion.
The manifestos had debated every aspect of Brazilian culture. It was
now time for Brazilian artists and poets to assert their individuality with
confidence. The verses of Menotti del Picchia's Repblica dos Estados doBrasil (1928), Rau l Bop p's Cobra Norato (1931), and Cassiano Ricardo's
Borroes de verde e amarelo (1926), all dr ew inspiration from "pri mit ive
telluric forces." They interpreted the myths of Am az on ia , and re-w ork ed
pop ula r legends of Afri can and Indian origi n. Mys te ri ous spirits and
deities are invo ked in these poem s - T an go lo mo ng o, Mula- de-Pa dre, and
Pai-da-Mata, the goddesses Iai and Janaina often in a language as
impenetrable as the strange rituals they describe. Cassiano Ricardo
speaks for all the anth ropo pha gist s when he speaks of an earthly parad ise:
Brasil cheio de gracaBrasil cheio de pssarosBrasil cheio de luz
("Martim Cerer")
[Brazil full of graceBrazil full of birdsBrazil full of light]
This exp lor ati on of primit ive Brazil inevi tably led to ren ewe d interest
in the various customs and traditions throughout different regions. InMin as Gerais in central Brazil, Car los Dr um mo nd de And rad e (1 902 -
1987) launched A Revista in mid 1925 wi th other yo un g poets wh o valuedtheir provincial roots. Dru mm on d' s first bo ok of poe ms, Alguma poesia
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(1930), captu res the atmo sphe re an d pace of pro vin cia l life in "Igreja,"
"Sesta," and "Romaria," poems noteworthy for their colloquialism and
wry observations in keeping with the mineiro temperament. In Rio de
Janeir o, a spiritually exil ed Bande ira por tra yed and interpreted thePernambuco of his childhood in the verses of Libertinagem. Poets and
artists living in the northeast agreed wi th the Pe rna mbu can his torian and
sociologist Gilberto Freyre (19001987) that provincial values would
outlive the materialism of the industrialized cities in the south. The
"cr eat ive so ul " of Braz il wa s firmly entrenc hed in remo te to wn s and
settlements untouched by progress. Provincial life inspired the popular
verses of Asc ens o Ferreira (189 5-19 65), a compro mis e bet ween speech
and song whi ch Bandeira described as "genu ine northeastern rhapsodies
which faithfully reflect the soul, one moment playful, the next nostalgic,of the inhabitants of the sugar pla ntat ions " ("Ap rese ntac ao da poesia
brasileira" in Ensaios literdrios). D ra wi ng on the folk lore of the peo ple , he
conjured up the Brazil ian inter ior wi th its: "mocambos" "mangues"
"moleques" "mulatos" "cajueiros" "mangabas" and "caiporas"
["shacks," "mangr oves ," "blac k urchins," "mulat tos," "cash ew trees,"
"m an ga ba fruits," and " jungl e sprites" ]. In the manner of Bo pp , Ferreira
uses the rhyth ms of Afr o-B raz ili an folk lore to ev oke a wo rl d of secret
rites:
Sertao! - Jatoba!Sertao! - Cabrobo!
- Cabrobo!
- Ouricuri!
- Exu!
- Exu!
("Sertao," Poesias completas [1971])
In a quiet er ve in, Jo aq ui m C ardozo (18971978) also conjured u p the
unmi sta kab le atmosp her e of the northeaster n p rovi nces in Imagens do
nordeste. His lyrical evocations of the old cities of Olinda and Recife
pro be the reg ion' s col onia l past and exp lor e tranquil settings unc han ged
by time and progress.
Southern Brazilia ns, too , had their ow n unmist akabl e wo rl d - the
pampas. The poets associated with the Revista Verde, launched at
Cataguazes in Septe mber 192 7, wer e also an xio us to "abras ilei rar o
Brasi l" ["brazilianize Brazil"] . Gu il he rm o Ces ar (b. 1908), Enriqu e de
Resende (1899-1973), Rosario Fusco (19101977), Francisco Peixoto (b.
1909), and As ca ni o Lo pes (1906-1929 ) used their poetry to port ray the
gaucho's harsh existence and inner solitude. The communities they
describe are alm ost feudal , their lives dom ina ted by the myster ious force s
of Nature, their physical resilience matched by a defiant stoicism. The
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dominant note is one of human solidarity: the aphorisms have all the
solem nity of messianic prophes ies. T he se qualities are present in the early
verses of Au gu st o Me ye r (1903-1970) and T as so da Silveira (1895- 1968),
especially in the latter's Alegoras do bomem novo (1926), whi ch comb inelocal colloq uialis ms wit h archaic Portuguese exp ressions.
The mid 1930s saw a gradual change of mood and expression in
Brazilian poetry. A number of poets began to express dissatisfaction with
the histrionics and rabid nationalism of some of their contemporaries.
Lesser talents were composing free verse under the banner of Modernism
wit hou t any real grasp of the movem ent 's objectives. Th e entire group of
Vesta poets urged a return to a poetry of introspection dealing with
univers al them es. Poe ts like Ta ss o da Silveira, Ad el in o Ma ga lh e s (1887
1969), And rad e Mu ri cy (1895-198 4), and Mu ri lo Ara ujo (1894-1980)voiced their support for the manifesto, but its aims were most effectively
illustrated by poets who were independently moving in the same direc
tion: for example, Bandeira and Drummond de Andrade, who were
disciplined craftsmen f rom the outset. Au gu st o Frede rico Schm idt (19 06 -
1965) spoke for the entire Festa group when he declared:
Nao quero mais o Brasil
Nao quero mais geografa
nem pitoresco.
("Poema," Poesas escolhdas [1946])
[I no longer want Brazil
I no longer want geography
however picturesque.]
Schmidt's spiritual disquiet and brooding meditations about life and
death in the verses of Canto da noite (1934) [Night Song] were to find
more vigorous expression in the poetry of Jorge de Lima (1895-1953),
especially in A tnica inconstil (1938) and in the Surrealist visions of A
poesia em pnico by Mur ilo Mendes (1901-1975), whi ch wa s published inthe same year as Schmidt's verses. Meanwhile women poets like Cecilia
Meireles (1901- 1964) and He nriquet a Lisb oa (1904-1985) expressed the
same existential preoccupations with greater simplicity and restraint.
Re mar ka ble for their control and musicality, Lis boa 's intimate lyrics wer e
the fruit of a rigorous process of reduction to essentials. Sentiment
overr ules sentimentality w he n she confides: " A vida me eng anh ou mas foi
sabia na sua essncia" ("Humildade" in Lrica [1958]) ["Life betrayed me
but was essentially wise"] .
This inner tranquil lity is even more pr ono unc ed in the lyrical verse ofMeireles, whose key collections - Viagem (1939), Vaga msica (1942),
Mar absoluto (1945), and Retrato natural (1949), we re to cons olid ate her
reput atio n as the greatest wo ma n poet in the Portu guese langu age . Lik e
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most of her con tem pora rie s in the imme diat e post mode rni st phase ,
Meireles pays tribute to earlier generations of Portuguese and Brazilian
poets, including all the great names of Parnassianism and Symbolism
w h o m militant Modernists had arbitrarily dismissed. Independent of anyspecific school or program, this prolific and versatile poet composed
verses in traditional meters and in free verse with equal assurance. In his
Ensaios literdrios, Bandeira defined her poetry as "timeless, diaphanous
and crys tal lin e," wi th its distilled emot ion s and subtle inter roga tions . He r
lyricism is comparable with that of Bandeira himself: utter simplicity
combined with depth and an almost unbearable pathos:
Eu canto porque o instante existe
e a minha vida esta completa.
Nao sou alegre nem sou triste:sou poeta.
("Motivo," Obra poetica [1958])
[I sing because the instant exists
and my life is complete .
I am neither happy nor sad:
I am a poet.]
Stark poems of self-analysis are common to all the major Brazilian
poe ts of the 1930s and 1940s. The ex uber an ce and op timis m of the earlyMod er nis ts subsided into quiet reflection occ asi ona lly tinged wi th
hum our . In Ri o Gr an de do Sul, Ma ri o Qu in tana (b. 1906) forged "Urn
poema sem outra angiistia que a sua misteriosa condicao de poema" ["A
poem without any anguish other than its mysterious condition of being a
poe m"] , while Dantas Mota (1913-1974) mourned the decline of rural
settlements in his native Min as Ger ais with lyric poe ms chara cter ized by
saudade and elegiac evo ca tio ns. Th e themes are more varied in urban
poets like Dante M il an o (b. 1899) and Vi nic ius de Mo ra es (1913-1980).
T he latter's "Saudade de Manuel Bandeira" in Foemas, sonetos e baladas
(1946) expresses his debt to Bandeira, "o poeta liicido . . . ascetico . . .
as pe ro " ["the lucid . . . ascetic . . . austere po et "] , wh os e mora l integrity,
erudition, and discipline made him the ideal confidant and mentor for so
many younger poets.
Bandei ra's lasting influence was also ac kno wle dge d by Carlo s Dr um-
mond de Andrade in his "Ode no cinquentenario do poeta brasileiro."
The salient qualities attributed to Bandeira in this poem: "violenta
ternura . . . infinita policia . . . gravidade simples . . . sofrimento seco"
["violent tenderness . . . infinite re fi ne me nt .. . simple sobriety . . . pa rchedsuffering"] set the seeds of Drummond's own perceptive account of
human alienation. Drummond steadily progressed from the whimsical
gaucherie of "Poema de sete faces" and " A bal ada do amo r atraves das
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ed ad es " to the disquieting sentiments of "C on gr es so Internacion al do
M e d o " as the shadows of war and repression started to loom in the late
1930s. A quest for modernity was gradually replaced by a need for
eternity, and the edgy, restless rhythms of his early poetry graduallyyielded to the serene lyricism of Claro enigma (1951).
Dr um mo nd 's erudition, his pow er s of self-appraisal and his constant
striving for new inventions and refinements in terms of language and
meaning, and his clear precepts about the craft and function of poetry
soon singled him out as the most accomplished Brazilian poet of modern
times. The enemy of mystification, he warned his fellow poets:
Nao dramatizes, nao invoques,
nao indagues. Nao percas tempo em mentir.
Nao forces o poema a desprender-se do limbo.
Nao colhas no chao o poema que se perdeu.
Nao adules o poema. Aceita-o
como ele aceitara sua forma definitiva e concentrada
no espaco.
("Procura da poesia," Nova reuniao)
[Don't dramatize, don't invoke,
don't probe. Waste no time telling lies.
Don't force the poem to escape from limbo.
Do n' t retrieve the poem lying on the floor.
Don't flatter the poem. Just accept it
as it accepts its final, concentrated form
in space.]
Deep convictions shape the very structure of Dru mmond 's poems.
Nagging uncertainties and relentless interrogations give substance and
sharpness to his observations of the world around him. A poet for other
poets and for ordinary men, Drummond even at his most pessimistic
inspires confidence and transfo rms his very nega tions into someth ing
poetically positive. His influence is perceptible in the work of nearly every
poet ass ociated wi th the Gene rat ion o f 1945, a prod ucti ve crop of
heterogeneous poets who retained their individuality while pursuing
common objectives.
The Gen era tio n of 1945 unan imous ly ack now le dg ed the need to
express the aspirations and concerns of a world much altered by a second
World War: Bueno de Rivera (b. 1911) described the poet of his time:
periscopio raro
nas lagoas turvas
("A volta dos megaterios," Mundo submerso [1944])
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[a rare periscope
in turbid waters]
A similar function is performed by Tiago de Melo (b. 1926) in the role of
poet-catalyst:
Unindo os extremos da vida
e mostrando a verdade
corno urna fruta aberta.
("A fruta aberta," A lenda da rosa [1956])
[Uniting the extremes of life
and showing the truth
like an open fruit.]
T he critical essays of the period stressed the need for discipline andresearch. Fernando Ferreira de Loanda (b. 1924), in collaboration with
Ledo Ivo (b. 1924) and Darcy Damasceno (b. 1922), launched the first
number of the Revista Orpheu (Spring 1947), a journal offering a wide
range of new poems both traditional and exper imenta l and inv ariabl y
characterized by clarity, professionalism, and a vigilant craftsmanship,
which banished any suggestion of facile improvisation. Hermeticism was
rejected by most of these poets in favour of a poetic diction that would
appeal to a wider public, an important factor ifartists and writers were to
identify with the political and social issues of the day. Mauro Mota( 1 9 1 1 -
1984), for example, became much admired for his intimate descriptions of
ordina ry things and people, wh ic h, alth ough highly perso nal, are never
obscure. He transforms an umbrella into "urna grande rosa negra, que se
abre sobre mim na chuva" ["a huge black rose that opens above me in the
rain"] and interprets the bar kin g of a do g as "urn lat ido ancestr al " ["an
ancestral wail"] capable of unleashing "a fome do tempo" ["the hunger of
t ime"] .
This "grave oficio de poeta" ["serious profession of being a poet"] is
upheld by practiced theoreticians like Pricles Eugenio da Silva Ramos (b.1919) and Domingos Carvalho da Silva (b. 1915). The latter opposes any
romantic vision of the poet at work:
Meu verso a minha vida prtica,
salrio e suor do meu rosto
("O Poeta," Poemas escolhidos [1956])
[My verse is my practical life,
my wages and the sweat of my brow.]
Geir Campos (b. 1924), Paulo Mendes Campos (b. 1922), Stella Leonardo s
(b. 1923), and Jos Paulo Moreira da Fonseca (b. 1922) are all conscious
"artesos da palavra" ["artisans of the word"]. They share a preference
fo r adjectives such as " l o g i c o , " "lcido," "sereno," "claro," "essencial"
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[" logical ," "lucid," "serene," "clear," "essential"]. Their common goalis neatly phrased by Moreira da Fonseca:
Quando tudo te parece perdido
escuta a vida.
("Renascimento," Poesias [1949])
[When all seems lost
listen to life.]
Hu ma n malaise is probed wit h a clinical eye. Bue no de Rivera unravels: "a
vida noturna do espirito" ["the nocturnal life of the spirit"], whileMoreira da Fonseca attempts to reconstruct the pieces of his "espelho
quebrado em 68 fragmentos, tentando espelhar um rosto desolado"
["mirror shattered into 68 fragments, trying to mirror a desolate face"] .There are echoes of Drummond's battle with the powers of Good and
Evil ("Poema de purificao") in works such as Mapa azul da infncia by
Marcos Konder Reis (b. 1922), in Caminbos de Belm (1962) by AfonsoFlix de Sousa (b. 1925), and in Canto para as transformaes do homem(1964) by M oa c y r Flix (b. 1926) in wh ic h "to da s as luas so tristes e feremdiariam ente o ho me m e seu ab ra o " ["all the moo ns are sad and daily
wound man and his embrace"]. Ledo Ivo touches upon the central
paradox of man's existence when he wryly observes:
O universo o sonho de Deuse Deus o sonho dos homens.
("O sonho," \]ma lira dos vinte anos [1962])
[The universe is the dream of God
and God is the dream of men.]
The spiritual corrosion of the times often creates a sense of personal
guilt in these poets. Paulo Mendes Campos confides:
. . . meus pais no souberam impedir
Que o sorriso se mudasse em zombariaE um coraao em coisa fria.("Sentimento de Tempo," Poemas [1979])
[. . . my parents were unable to prevent
That my smile should turn to scorn
My ardent heart into something cold.]
In contrast, Darcy Damasceno impartially defines the formidable chal
lenge confronting the poets of his generation:
Entre a loucura e a infnciaPlantar o humano e o trgico
aos pes da eternidade .
("Poema," Poemas [1946])
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[Between madness and infancy
T o plant the human and tragic
At the feet of eternity.]
Joao Cabral de Melo Neto (b. 1920) has been rightly acclaimed as the
most creative and individual poet to have emerged from the Generation of
1945. Wh il e many of his cont emp ora rie s s ho we d signs of returning to
traditional themes and techniques, he experimented further in his pursuit
of mathematical precision. The order and permanence Cabral invokes in
Pedra do sono (1942), and O engenheiro (1945), became the hallmark of
his own poetics:
Procura a ordem
que ves na pedra:
nada se gasta
mas permanece.
("Pequena ode mineral," Poemas reunidos [1945])
[Pursue the order
you observe in the stone:
nothing is lost
yet it endures.]
In Psicologia da composiqao (1947), he compares the composing of
poetry to "deli rio, transe, tu mul to " ["delirium, trance and tum ult "]. Afierce struggle wit h wo rd s and conce pts is inevitable - "te nta ndo / salvar
da morte os monstros / germinados em seu tinteiro" ["trying / to rescue
from death the monsters / germin ated in his in kw el l" ] - before the po et
ultimately achieves stark simplicity. Powerful emotions are rigorously
controlled. Complex issues are conveyed by means of essentialized,
sharply defined images: stone, sun, tree, desert. Cabral's poetic diction is
uncompromisingly austere:
O engenheiro sonha coisas claras:
o engenheiro pensa o mundo justo,
mundo que nenhum veu encobre.
("O engenheiro")
[The engineer dreams oftransparent things:
the engineer believes the wor ld to be sound,
a world no veil conceals.]
Subseq uent bo ok s of poetr y betray a deepe ning conc ern wit h the harsh
social conditions in his native Pernambuco. The drama of the Brazilian
interior or sertdo and the plight of the sertanejos stricken by dro ugh t and
famine is narrated without emphasis or contrivance in poems like
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"Paisagem do capibaribe" and "Congresso no poligono das secas," and,
most memorably of all, in "Morte e vida severina" (1956), a dramaticpoem based on a traditional nativity play. His later poems reveal even
greater concentration and precision. In Urna faca so lmina (1955) the keyimages "urna baia enterrada no cor po . . . um re lg io pu lsando em sua
gaiola . . . urna faca intima . . . lmina c ru el " ["a bulle t buri ed in the b od y. . . a wa tc h pul sat ing in its cage . . . an intima te knife . . . cruel bl ade" ]
constitute the living mechanism which gives Cabrai de M e l o Neto ' spoetry its muscular agility. Like Drummond before him, Cabrai openedup exciting new paths for others to fol low. Cab ral 's poetry madeconsi dera ble impa ct thr oug hou t the 1960s and 1970s, and his influenceextended beyond Brazil to Portugal and Spain. His innovations would be
respected even by the Concrete poets who were generally critical, if notentirely hostile, in their appraisal of the Generation of 1945.
Con cre te poetry w as launch ed in Sao Pau lo in 1952 wh en DcioPignatari (b. 1927), Augusto de Campos (b. 1931), and Haroldo de
Campos (b. 1929) published the first issue of Noigandres with some
startling innovations - non-figurative poems with geometric features. The
enigmatic title Noigandres had been culled from the Prov enc al trou ba
dour Arnaut Daniel and used by Pound in his Cantos. The Concrete poets
w ould replace conventional "discursive" syntax with ideograms. Subjec
tive expr essio n wo ul d be com e objecti ve and aim for the imme diatecommunication achieved by newspaper headlines or strip cartoons. The
Concrete poem would be released from a strictly literary context and
bec ome integrated w ith other art forms - music, pain ting, architec ture,
and the graphic arts in general.
By 1955? Concretismo [Concretismi had gained momentum. Noi
gandres 2 appeared and Concrete poets read and displayed their spatial
poems at a music festival held at Sao Paulo's Teatro de Arena. The
mov em en t's pioneers had also established close links wit h expe rime nta l
artists and poets in Europe, such as Eugen Gomringer in Germany, whoseConstellations har mon ize d wit h the aesthetics of the Conc reti sts.
The fol lowing year, the first national exhibition of Concrete Art wasorganized at the Museu de Arte Moderna in Sao Paulo. Ronaldo Azeredo
(b. 1937), Ferreira Gul lar (b. 1930), and Wl ad em ir Di as Pino (b. 1927)displ ayed their poems alongside the wo rk of avan t-ga rde painters and
sculptors. Noigandres 3 was published to coincide with the exhibition. Its
success encouraged the promoters to transfer the exhibition to Rio de
Janeiro, where it was well attended and enthusiastical ly revie wed in the
literary supplement of the ]ornai do Brasil. The supplement also published the poems ofJos Lino Grunewald (b. 1931), Reinaldo Jardim (b.
1926), and the veteran poet Pedro Xisto (b. 1901), as examples of the latestgraphic techniques.
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ra terra terrat erra ter
rate rra terrater ra ter
raterr a ter
raterra ter
261
Noigandres 3 put Concrete poetry into perspective. Influences could be
traced back to the early experiments of the Brazilian symbolist poet
Jo aquim de Sousa And ra de (18331902), to the moderni st inventions of
Oswald de Andrade, and more recently to the sparse verses ofJoao Cabralde Melo Neto. The main influences from abroad were Mallarme's Un
coup de des, Apollinaire's Calligrammes, Pound's Cantos, the minimalist
techniques of e. e. cummings, and Joyce's word montages. Carrying these
experiments further, the Concrete poets explored the artistic potential of
"words in space," either in isolation or in association, either in black and
white or in colour. With the publication of Noigandres 4 in 1958,
Concrete poets began to diversify their techniques by composing "code-
poems," "semiotic poems," or "poems without words." Augusto de
Campos experimented with ideograms and "popcretas," which departedfrom any conv enti onal use of synt ax; Ha ro ld o de Ca mp os oblitera ted the
frontiers between prose and poetry and broadened the function of
semantics. The printed word became something mobile and magnetic,
subject to unexpected vibrations and sudden metamorphoses. Poems
were constructed like mantras or phonic talismans, and important links
were established with the musical experiments of composers like Boulez,
Stockhausen, Berio, and Ponge.
By 1959, the poets ass ociated wit h Noigandres could justly claim to be
at the forefront of an international movement. That same year, their workwas shown and debated at a Concrete exhibition in Stuttgart, organized
by Max Bense, while in Munich the arts journal Nota devoted a special
issue to the Brazilian Avant-Garde. The following year the mo vemen t's
achie vement s were publici zed even further afield wit h a large-scale
exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in T o k y o .
A new anthology of poetry and criticism, Invenqao (1962-1968), edited
by Decio Pignatari, and his Teoria da poesia concreta (1956) published in
collab oration with Augus to and Ha rol do de Ca mp os , outlined the
movement's role in changing contemporary attitudes to poetry. Theword-object had been stripped to bare essentials. Enigmas had been
replaced by verbal cho reo gra phy, and word s, wh ol e or fragment ed, wer e
now seen as germ-syllables exploding and expanding on the blank page as
they progressed toward concreteness. The permutations on these basic
principles seemed infinite. They ranged from Decio Pignatari 's meta-
poema or "p oe m about a po em ," constructed from the wo rd "T er ra ":
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araterra ter
raraterra te
rraraterra t
erraraterrat er ra ra t e rra
to Jos Lino Grunewald's digital poem " C i n c o " :
i
22
333
4444c i n c o
Th e mov em ent 's critics depl ored the absence of any emo tional textur ein these experiments but there are clear undertones o f prur ienc e and satire
respectively in the fol lowing "mini-poems" by Dcio Pignatari:
abrir as portas
abrir as pernas
cobrir as corpos
[to open doors
to open legs
to cover bodies]
= a patria a familia
( com televiso )amplificada
= [the fatherland is the family
( with television )amplified]
Predictably, divisions and defections soon occurred within the ranks of
Con cre tis m and, by the 1960s, critics wer e already discussing Post-
Concrete aesthetics. New theories about the nature and function of poetry
were aired and new manifestos launched. The most radical of these was
Poesia Praxis [Praxis Poetry] launched by Mario Chamie (b. 1933) in
Lavra Lavra (1962). The Praxist poet would replace the palavra-coisa[word-object] of Concretism with the pal avr-energia [word-energy], the
ma xi mu m action expressed with a mini mum o f wo rd s. Cha mie argued
that concretist theories had become too turgid. An excess of technical
jargon scarcely helped to promote communication. By contrast, the Praxis
poet would create poems capable of being aesthetically and semantically
transformed, even manipul ated, wi th the reader's participatio n.
Poesia Praxis rejected all cano ns and dog ma s and found in spiration in
some fact or emotion without recourse to conventional themes. The new
poetry would probe words, explore potential meanings and contradic-
262
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tions, and invite the reader to share the experience. Chamie's factual
obser vatio ns in the foll owi ng poe m are deliberately dev oid of any
emotion:
dependo do fichrio
do ponto de meu nibus
do contrato
dependo da poupanca
do meu imposto
de minha taxa
do nome no cadastro
("Dependncia," Lavra Lavra [1962])
[I depend on the filing cabinet
on my bus stop
on my contract
I depend on my savings
on my taxes
on my rates
on the name in the register]
The tone adopte d here is disarmi ngly neutral but the poet s w ho
mustered under the banner of Poesia Praxis developed Chamie's mani
festo with striking individuality. Poesia Praxis wa s carr ied a stage furtherby Alvaro de Sa (b. 1935) and Moacy Cirne (b. 1943) who developed their
o wn variant: Poema Processo [Poem-Process] - a process influenced by
recent deve lopments in electronics and compu ter s and intended to sanitize
Concretism. Alvaro de Sa introduced the novel idea of codifying the
existing alphabet by replacing each letter with a geometrical symbol (e.g.,
" a " = a triangle; " b " = a rect angle sur rounded by a circ le, etc. ). Poets like
Antonio Carlos Cabrai, Armando Freitas Filho, Camargo Meyer (b.
1941), Car los Rodrig ues Brando (b. 1940), Clo dom ir Monte iro (b. 1939),
Jos de Oli ve ira Fa lcon (b. 1940), La ur o Juk, and Ma ur o Ga ma (b. 1938)are all "word designers" in the Chamie mould, but they strike a wide
variety of moo ds . The re is drama and horror in the "Bal ad a da cord a
bamba" by Arnaldo Saraiva, in which he contemplates the onslaught of
time and man's capacity for self-destruction. The reader's thoughts flap
and flutter in harmony with the movement of the bat itself in "Amorcega-
c o " by Cl odo mir Mont ei ro, while Yv on ne Gianetti Fonseca beats out the
robust rhythms of indigen ous ceremon ies in "N at ur ez a morta ou
tropico."
Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo soon became the Meccas for the BrazilianAvant -Garde . Both cities offered suitable outlets for exhibiting and
publishing the latest innovations. In more remote centres, smaller groups
of avant-garde poets were obliged to work in greater isolation with
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considerably less publicity. Nonetheless, interesting experiments in art
and literature cont inued to emerge from the var iou s regions of Brazil,
both north and south. Minas Gerais produced its own Avant-Garde with
the publication of Revista Tendencia (1957-1962), edited by the criticFabio Lu ca s. As the title of the journal makes clear, this enterpr ise set
trends rather than establishing a specific movement or school. Like Mario
Chamie 's Praxis poetry, the Tendencia manifesto also rejected dogmas
while inviting dialog ue. Con tac ts wer e made wi th Sao Paul o's C oncretis ts
and Post-Co ncre tis ts and an ex cha nge pr ogr am of lectures and seminars
set up. Competitions were organized to attract new talent and prize
winners had their entries published in the literary supplement of the
Estado de Minas.
T he poets Affonso Avila (b. 1928) and Affonso Romano de Sant 'Anna(b . 1937) bec ame the domin an t forces in this gr oup . Avila 's Cartas do solo
(1961) and Erases feitas (1963), examined alongside the parodic testimo
nies of Romano de Sant'Anna, illustrate the salient qualities of their
inventive structures and linear precision. Seriousness goes hand in hand
with self-parody in the work of these poets. Torn between selfand society,
Romano de Sant'Anna has to conciliate both roles:
Eu
moderno poeta, e brasileiro
com a pena e pele ressequidas ao sol dos tropicos,quando penso em escrever poemas
- aterram-me sempre os terrais problemas.
("Rainer Maria Rilke e eu")
[i
modern poet, and Brazilian
with my suffering and skin parched by the sun of the tropics,
when I think of writing poems
I am always terrified by terrestrial problems.]
He is a poet not only fearful of existence, but uncertain about the validity
of literature itself. In "E la bo ra nd o as pe rd as " the poet is shak en by the
thought that "a literatu ra tal vez nao seja mai s que um a flnada fl or"
["perhaps literature is nothing but a withered f lower"] .
Th e Revista Tendencia expanded under two new headings: Vereda
[Path] and Ptyx [the symb oli c con ch or shell]. Tech nic al ly , these are
further variations of the same formulae. The visual-spatial patterns of
Liberio Ne ve s (b. 1935) can be readily identified wit h Post -C onc ret ism
while the "min ima lis t" c ompos itio ns of Dirc eu Xa vie r (b. ?) are reminis
cent of the Japanese hai ku:
as dores que o mundo da
sao faceis de se sentir
264
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dificeis de se contar.
("Fragmento")
[the sorrows the world gives
are easy to feel
difficult to narrate.]
Cryptic and self-deprecating, these poets address themselves to the central
task of struggling with words and meaning. Jos Paulo Goncalves da
Costa (b. ?) sums up the cauti on and skeptic ism of his con tem por ari es:
sei pouco de filosofia
sei nada de religio.
sei l se sou poeta!
conheco sim, palavras
profundas, vigorosas, violentas
- capazes de morte e amor
num so instante.
basta-me possui-las
diz-las no preciso,
tao pouco que se acredite.
("As palavras")
[I know little about philosophy.
I know nothing about religion.
Who knows if I'm a poet!
Yes, I know words
deep, vigorous, violent
- capable of death and love
in a single instant.
I need only possess them
no need to say them,
for they are scarcely believed.]
Alongside various groups and movements, individual poets came to the
fore without any clear affiliations or commitments. They were not
indifferent to the theories and reforms of the Avant-Garde but chose to
remain independent and eclectic. Lind olfBell (b. 1938) took poetry to the
streets, to stadiums, factories, student unions, and working-men's clubs in
the form ofCatequese poetica [Poetic cate chis m]. He printed poems on T-
shirts which he defined as corpoemas [body poems], designed poster-
poems, and engraved poems on large stones. This was poetry for the
peopl e whic h he displ ayed anyw her e and eve rywher e like graffiti. FerreiraGullar who wa s instrumental in prop aga tin g Concr eti sm and Post-
Concretism, dissociated himself from both groups in the early 1960s and
turned to popular poetry. The May ak ov sk y credo that "There is no
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revol utiona ry art wit hou t revol ution ary for m" had made a deep impres
sion on Brazilian writers and poets and convinced them of the need for
greater political involvement. In "Coisas da terra" Gullar boldly asserts:
" T o d a s as coisas de que falo sao de carne" ["All the things of which Ispeak are made of flesh"]. His interest in social issues becom es much more
accen tuated in subsequent collect ions until the poe m becomes "u ma
ban dei ra" ["a ban ner "]. Th e verses ofPoema sujo (1977) also reveal his
deep attachment to his provincial roots. The mercurial Walmir Ayala (b.
1933) represents another common phenomenon in the 1960s and 1970s,
namely, the re-emergence of a talented and versatile poet whose later
work reflects the influence of successive pos tmoder nis t trends . From the
late 1950s, Ayala also made a valuable contribution as critic, essayist, and
anthologist.Some of the most interesting poets in the 1970s and 1980s have been
described as "poetas novos moda antiga" ["new poets in the old style"] .
The description would suit Paulo Bonfim (b. 1926) from Sao Paulo and
tw o influential poets from Rio Grande do Sul, Carlos Nejar (b. 1939) and
Armindo Trevisan (b. 1933). Nejar's Odyssean poems have a timeless
quality. His native pampas create a symbolic arena for trenchant human
dramas. His gaucho antiheroes, exploited and forsaken, exemplify "a
condi^o de nao ser homem" ["the condition of not being human"]. The
gauchos and the land they inhabit are indistinguishable in a transfiguredlandscape where love, human and divine, becomes "a mais alta constela-
c a o " ["the highest constellation"]. Trevisan, too, moves with the same
ease from intimate regional scenes to the universal symbols of contempor
ary culture, as in his deeply moving "Acalan to para Mari lyn Monroe."
From the 1940s there has been an upsurge in the number of women
writing poetry. Notable for their individuality and assured technique are
Renata Pallottini (b. 1931), Olga Savary (b. 1933), Hilda Hilst (b. 1930),
Ilka Brunhilde Laurito (b. 1925), Idelma Ribeiro de Faria (b. 1924), Lupe
Cotr im Garaude (b. 1933), Adlia Prado (b. 1936), and Marly de Oliveira(b. 1935). Pallottini's admirable sonnets combine subtlety and power.
Her e is a poe t wh o can justly cla im " T en ho um ritmo frtil a latejar-me
as tmporas" ["I have a fertile rhythm throbbing in my temples"]. The
sponta neous wa rmt h and intimacy in these wo me n poets is never al low ed
to degenerate into tasteless effusions. The qualities they themselves value
are discipline and restraint. Lupe Cotrim Garaude speaks for all these
women when she describes herself as being:
. . . solitaria e precisa
nas coisas irresoluveis
- desnudada em nitidez
("Clara manh")
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Brazilian poetry from Modernism to the 1990s
267
[. . . alone and precise
amidst irresolvable things
- stripped down to clarity]
They shun any sentimentality or fatuous confidences and, as Marly deOliveira reminds us, "u ma f era " ["a wi ld beas t"] lurks benea th this cal m
exterior. She sums up the common pursuit of all the women poets of her
generation in two short lines:
Poesia e caminho, unica vertigem
alem do amor, da anunciacao
("Invocacao de Orpheu")
[Poetry is a path, the only vertigo
beyond love or annunciation]
T o conclude, it is important to note the wider contributions made by
nearly all the poets in this survey to Brazilian culture in general. Like the
precu rsors of Mo de rn is m, they have exce lled as poets , critics, essayists,
transl ators, and drama tists . Th ey hav e pro pag ate d the values of Braz ilian
art and literature as lecturers, journalists, and diplomats throughout
Euro pe and No rt h Am er ic a. Ma ny of their poe ms have been set to music
by com pos ers of both cl assical and pop ula r mus ic. M os t of all, they hav e
set standar ds of literary excellence wh ic h pro vide sound gui dan ce for
those who will succeed them. The battles of the Generation of 1922 werenot fought in vain. The artistic integrity and freedom to experiment they
achieved have lost none of their mo ment um .
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