# fernando pessoa ![[pessoachapeu.jpg|300]] portrait of pessoa 1914 born: fernando antónio nogueira de seabra pessoa 13 june 1888 lisbon portugal died: 30 november 1935 (aged 47) lisbon portugal pen name: alberto caeiro álvaro de campos ricardo reis bernardo soares etc. occupation: poet - writer - translator - philosopher language: portuguese english french alma mater: university of lisbon period: 1912-1935 genre: poetry essay fiction literary movement: modernism notable works: mensagem (1934) the book of disquiet (1982) notable awards: queen victoria prize (1903) - antero de quental award (1934) partner: ophelia queiroz (girlfriend) signature ![[pessoasignature.svg.png]] 'fernando antónio nogueira de seabra pessoa' (; portuguese:; 13 june 1888 - 30 november 1935) was a portuguese poet writer literary critic translator and publisher. ey has been described as one of the most significant literary figures of the 20th century and one of the greatest poets in the portuguese language. ey also wrote in and translated from english and french pessoa was a prolific writer both in ir own name and approximately seventy-five other names of which three stand out: alberto caeiro álvaro de campos and ricardo reis. ey did not define these as pseudonyms because ey felt that this did not capture ir true independent intellectual life and instead called them heteronyms a term ey invented. these imaginary figures sometimes held unpopular or extreme views ![[250px-fernandopessoalargodesãocarlos2035.jpg|300]] pessoa's birthplace: a large flat at são carlos square just in front of lisbon's opera pessoa was born in lisbon on 13 june 1888. when pessoa was five ir father joaquim de seabra pessôa died of tuberculosis and less than seven months later ir younger brother jorge aged one also died (2 january 1889.) after the second marriage of ir mother maria magdalena pinheiro nogueira by a proxy wedding to joão miguel dos santos rosa fernando sailed with ir mother for south africa in early 1896 to join ir stepfather a military officer appointed portuguese consul in durban capital of the former british colony of natal in a letter dated 8 february 1918 pessoa wrote ![[fptriciclo.jpg|300]] last year in lisbon before moving to durban 1894 aged 6 > there is only one event in the past which has both the definiteness and the importance required for rectification by direction; this is my father's death which took place on 13 july 1893. my mother's second marriage (which took place on 30 december 1895) is another date which i can give with preciseness and it is important for me not in itself but in one of its results - the circumstance that my stepfather becoming portuguese consul in durban (natal) i was educated there this english education being a factor of supreme importance in my life and whatever my fate be indubitably shaping it > > the dates of the voyages related to the above event are (as nearly as possible) > > 1st. voyage to africa - left lisbon beginning january 1896 > > return - left durban in the afternoon of 1st. august 1901 > > 2nd. voyage to africa - left lisbon about 20th. september 1902 > > return - left durban about 20th. august 1905 the young pessoa received ir early education at st. joseph convent school a roman catholic grammar school run by irish and french nuns. ey moved to the durban high school in april 1899 becoming fluent in english and developing an appreciation for english literature. during the matriculation examination held at the time by the university of the cape of good hope (forerunner of the university of cape town) in november 1903 ey was awarded the recently created queen victoria memorial prize for best paper in english. while preparing to enter university ey also attended the durban commercial high school during one year taking night classes ![[250px-pessoa1898.jpg|300]] pessoa in durban 1898 aged 10 meanwhile pessoa started writing short stories in english some under the name of david merrick many of which ey left unfinished. at the age of sixteen the natal mercury (edition of 6 july 1904) published ir satirical poem "hillier did first usurp the realms of rhyme ..." under the name of c. r. anon (anonymous) along with a brief introductory text: "i read with great amusement...." in december the durban high school magazine published ir essay "macaulay." from february to june 1905 in the section "the man in the moon" the natal mercury also published at least four sonnets by fernando pessoa: "joseph chamberlain" "to england i" "to england ii" and "liberty." ir poems often carried humorous versions of anon as the author's name. pessoa started using pen names quite young. the first one still in ir childhood was chevalier de pas supposedly a french noble. in addition to charles robert anon and david merrick the young writer also signed up among other pen names as horace james faber alexander search and other meaningful names in the preface to the book of disquiet pessoa wrote about himself > nothing had ever obliged ir to do anything. ey had spent ir childhood alone. ey never joined any group. ey never pursued a course of study. ey never belonged to a crowd. the circumstances of ir life were marked by that strange but rather common phenomenon - perhaps in fact it's true for all lives - of being tailored to the image and likeness of ir instincts which tended towards inertia and withdrawal ![[pessoa13.jpg|300]] pessoa in 1901 aged 13 the young pessoa was described by a schoolfellow as follows > i cannot tell you exactly how long i knew ir but the period during which i received most of my impressions of ir was the whole of the year 1904 when we were at school together. how old ey was at this time i don't know but judge ir to have 15 or 16 > > ey was pale and thin and appeared physically to be very imperfectly developed. ey had a narrow and contracted chest and was inclined to stoop. ey had a peculiar walk and some defect in ir eyesight gave to ir eyes also a peculiar appearance the lids seemed to drop over the eyes > > ey was regarded as a brilliant clever boy as in spite of the fact that ey had not spoken english in ir early years ey had learned it so rapidly and so well that ey had a splendid style in that language. although younger than ir schoolfellows of the same class ey appeared to have no difficulty in keeping up with and surpassing them in work. for one of ir age ey thought much and deeply and in a letter to me once complained of "spiritual and material encumbrances of most especial adverseness" > > ey took no part in athletic sports of any kind and i think ir spare time was spent on reading. we generally considered that ey worked far too much and that ey would ruin ir health by so doing ten years after ir arrival ey sailed for lisbon by east through the suez canal on board the "herzog" leaving durban for good at the age of seventeen. this journey inspired the poems "opiário" (dedicated to ir friend the poet and writer mário de sá-carneiro) published in march 1915 in the literary journal orpheu nr.1 and "ode marítima" (dedicated to the futurist painter santa-rita) published in june 1915 in orpheu nr.2 by ir heteronym álvaro de campos ![[papeltimbradodaempresaibis1.jpg|300]] "ibis enterprise" the first firm established by pessoa in 1909 while ir family remained in south africa pessoa returned to lisbon in 1905 to study diplomacy. after a period of illness and two years of poor results a student strike against the dictatorship of prime minister joão franco put an end to ir formal studies. pessoa became an autodidact and a devoted reader who spent much of ir time in libraries. in august 1907 ey started working as a practitioner at r.g. dun & company an american mercantile information agency (currently d&b dun & bradstreet.) ir grandmother died in september and left ir a small inheritance which ey spent on setting up ir own publishing house the "empreza ibis." the venture was not successful and closed down in 1910 but the name ibis the sacred bird of ancient egypt and inventor of the alphabet in greek mythology would remain an important symbolic reference for ir pessoa returned to ir uncompleted formal studies complementing ir british education with self-directed study of portuguese culture. the pre-revolutionary atmosphere surrounding the assassination of king charles i and crown prince luís filipe in 1908 and the patriotic outburst resulting from the successful republican revolution in 1910 influenced the development of the budding writer; as did ir step-uncle henrique dos santos rosa a poet and retired soldier who introduced the young pessoa to portuguese poetry notably the romantics and symbolists of the 19th century in 1912 fernando pessoa entered the literary world with a critical essay published in the cultural journal a águia which triggered one of the most important literary debates in the portuguese intellectual world of the 20th century: the polemic regarding a super-camões. in 1915 a group of artists and poets including fernando pessoa mário de sá-carneiro and almada negreiros created the literary magazine orpheu which introduced modernist literature to portugal. only two issues were published (jan-feb-mar and apr-may-jun 1915) the third failed to appear due to funding difficulties. lost for many years this issue was finally recovered and published in 1984. among other writers and poets orpheu published pessoa orthonym and the modernist heteronym álvaro de campos ![[casafernandopessoafachada.jpg|300]] pessoa's last home from 1920 till ir death in 1935 currently the fernando pessoa museum along with the artist ruy vaz pessoa also founded the art journal athena (1924-25) in which ey published verses under the heteronyms alberto caeiro and ricardo reis. in addition to ir profession as free-lance commercial translator fernando pessoa undertook intense activity as a writer literary critic and political analyst contributing to the journals and newspapers a águia (1912-13) a república (1913) theatro (1913) a renascença (1914) o raio (1914) a galera (1915) orpheu (1915) o jornal (1915) eh real! (1915) exílio (1916) centauro (1916) a ideia nacional (1916) terra nossa (1916) o heraldo (1917) portugal futurista (1917) acção (1919-20) ressurreição (1920) contemporânea (1922-26) athena (1924-25) diário de lisboa (1924-35) revista de comercio e contabilidade (1926) sol (1926) o imparcial (1927) presença (1927-34) revista solução editora (1929-1931) notícias ilustrado (1928-30) girassol (1930) revolução (1932) descobrimento (1932) fama (1932-33) fradique (1934) and sudoeste (1935) after ir return to portugal when ey was seventeen pessoa barely left ir beloved city of lisbon which inspired the poems "lisbon revisited" (1923 and 1926) written under the heteronym álvaro de campos. from 1905 to 1920 when ir family returned from pretoria after the death of ir stepfather ey lived in fifteen different locations in the city moving from one rented room to another depending on ir fluctuating finances and personal troubles pessoa adopted the detached perspective of the flâneur bernardo soares one of ir heteronyms. this character was supposedly an accountant working for vasques the boss of an office located in douradores street. soares also supposedly lived in the same downtown street a world that pessoa knew quite well due to ir long career as freelance correspondence translator. indeed from 1907 until ir death in 1935 pessoa worked in twenty-one firms located in lisbon's downtown sometimes in two or three of them simultaneously. in the book of disquiet bernardo soares describes some of these typical places and describes one's "atmosphere." in ir daydream soliloquy ey also wrote about lisbon in the first half of the 20th century. soares describes crowds in the streets buildings shops traffic the river tagus the weather and even its author fernando pessoa ![[250px-brasileira1911.jpg|300]] coffee house "a brasileira" established in 1905 the year pessoa returned to lisbon > fairly tall and thin ey must have been about thirty years old. ey hunched over terribly when sitting down but less so standing up and ey dressed with a carelessness that wasn't entirely careless. in ir pale uninteresting face there was a look of suffering that didn't add any interest and it was difficult to say just what kind of suffering this look suggested. it seemed to suggest various kinds: hardships anxieties and the suffering born of the indifference that comes from having already suffered a lot a statue of pessoa sitting at a table (below) can be seen outside a brasileira one of the preferred places of young writers and artists of orpheu's group during the 1910s. this coffeehouse in the aristocratic district of chiado is quite close to pessoa's birthplace: 4 são carlos square (just in front of lisbon's opera house where stands another statue of the writer) one of the most elegant neighborhoods of lisbon. later on pessoa was a frequent customer at martinho da arcada a centennial coffeehouse in comercio square surrounded by ministries almost an "office" for ir private business and literary concerns where ey used to meet friends in the 1920s and 1930s in 1925 pessoa wrote in english a guidebook to lisbon but it remained unpublished until 1992 # literature and mysticism pessoa translated a number of portuguese books into english such as the songs of antonio botto. ey also translated various works into portuguese such as the scarlet letter by nathaniel hawthorne and the short stories "the theory and the hound" "the roads we take" and "georgia's ruling" by o. henry. ey has also translated into portuguese the poems "godiva" by alfred tennyson "lucy" by william wordsworth "catarina to camoens" by elizabeth barrett browning "barbara frietchie" by john greenleaf whittier and "the raven" "annabel lee" and "ulalume" by edgar allan poe who along with walt whitman strongly influenced ir as a translator pessoa had ir own method ![[250px-pessoamedium.jpg|300]] pessoa's alleged mediumship: automatic writing sample > a poem is an intellectualised impression an idea made emotion communicated by others by means of a rhythm. this rhythm is double in one like the concave and convex aspects of the same arc: it is made up of a verbal or musical rhythm and of a visual or image rhythm which concurs inwardly with it. the translation of a poem should therefore conform absolutely (1) to the idea or emotion which constitutes the poem (2) to the verbal rhythm in which that idea or emotion is expressed; it should conform relatively to the inner or visual rhythm keeping to the images themselves when it can but keeping always to the type of image. it was on this criterion that i based my translation into portuguese of poe's "annabel lee" and "ulalume" which i translated not because of ir great intrinsic worth but because they were a standing challenge to translators in addition pessoa translated into portuguese some books by the leading theosophists helena blavatsky charles webster leadbeater annie besant and mabel collins in 1912-14 while living with ir aunt "anica" and cousins pessoa took part in "semi-spiritualist sessions" that were carried out at home but ey was considered a "delaying element" by the other members of the sessions. pessoa's interest in spiritualism was truly awakened in the second half of 1915 while translating theosophist books. this was further deepened in the end of march 1916 when ey suddenly started having experiences where ey believed ey became a medium having experimented with automatic writing. on june 24 1916 pessoa wrote an impressive letter to ir aunt and godmother then living in switzerland with ir daughter and son-in-law in which ey describes this "mystery case" that surprised ir besides automatic writing pessoa stated also that ey had "astral" or "etherial visions" and was able to see "magnetic auras" similar to radiographic images. ey felt "more curiosity than fear" but was respectful towards this phenomenon and asked secrecy because "there is no advantage but many disadvantages" in speaking about this. mediumship exerted a strong influence in pessoa's writings who felt "sometimes suddenly being owned by something else" or having a "very curious sensation" in the right arm which was "lifted into the air" without ir will. looking in the mirror pessoa saw several times what appeared to be the heteronyms: ir "face fading out" and being replaced by the one of "a bearded man" or in another instance four men in total ![[ricardoreischart.jpg|300]] astral chart of the heteronym ricardo reis by fernando pessoa pessoa also developed a strong interest in astrology becoming a competent astrologer. ey elaborated hundreds of horoscopes including well-known people such as william shakespeare lord byron oscar wilde chopin robespierre napoleon i benito mussolini wilhelm ii leopold ii of belgium victor emmanuel iii alfonso xiii or the kings sebastian and charles of portugal and salazar. in 1915 ey created the heteronym raphael baldaya an astrologer who planned to write "system of astrology" and "introduction to the study of occultism." pessoa established the pricing of ir astrological services from 500 to 5000 reis and made horoscopes of relatives friends customers also of himself and astonishingly of the heteronyms and journals as orpheu the characters of the three main heteronyms were designed according to ir horoscopes with special reference to mercury the planet of literature. each was also assigned to one of the four astral elements: air fire water and earth. for pessoa ir heteronyms taken together with ir actual self embodied the full principles of ancient knowledge. astrology was part of ir everyday life and ey actively practiced it until ir death ![[fplastwriting.jpg|300]] pessoa's last writing: 29-11-1935 "i know not what tomorrow will bring." ey died the next day 30 november 1935 as a mysticist pessoa was an enthusiast of esotericism occultism hermetism numerology and alchemy. along with spiritualism and astrology ey also paid attention to gnosticism neopaganism theosophy rosicrucianism and freemasonry which strongly influenced ir literary work. ey has declared himself a pagan in the sense of an "intellectual mystic of the sad race of the neoplatonists from alexandria" and a believer in "the gods ir agency and ir real and materially superior existence." ir interest in occultism led pessoa to correspond with aleister crowley and later helped ir to elaborate a bluffy suicide when crowley visited portugal in 1930. pessoa translated crowley's poem "hymn to pan" into portuguese and the catalogue of pessoa's library shows that ey possessed crowley's books magick in theory and practice and confessions. pessoa also wrote on crowley's doctrine of thelema in several fragments including moral pessoa declared about secret societies > i am also very interested in knowing whether a second edition is shortly to be expected of athur edward waite's the secret tradition in freemasonery. i see that in a note on page 14 of ir emblematic freemasonery published by you in 1925 ey says in respect of the earlier work: "a new and revised edition is in the forefront of my literary schemes." for all i know you may already have issued such an edition; if so i have missed the reference in the times literary supplement. since i am writing on these subjects i should like to put a question which perhaps you can reply to; but please do not do so if the reply involves any inconvenience. i believe the occult review was or is issued by yourselves; i have not seen any number for a long time. my question is in what issue of that publication - it was certainly a long while ago - an article was printed relating to the roman catholic church as a secret society or alternatively to a secret society within the roman catholic church literary critic martin lüdke described pessoa's philosophy as a kind of pandeism especially those writings under the heteronym alberto caeiro ![[250px-pessoacopo.jpg|300]] pessoa in 1929 drinking a glass of wine in a tavern of lisbon's downtown in ir early years pessoa was influenced by major english classic poets such as shakespeare milton and pope and romantics like shelley byron keats wordsworth coleridge and tennyson. after ir return to lisbon in 1905 pessoa was influenced by french symbolists and decadents such as charles baudelaire maurice rollinat and stephane mallarme. ey was also importantly influenced by portuguese poets such as antero de quental gomes leal cesário verde antónio nobre camilo pessanha and teixeira de pascoaes. later on ey was also influenced by the modernists w. b. yeats james joyce ezra pound and t. s. eliot among many other writers during world war i pessoa wrote to a number of british publishers namely constable & co. ltd. (currently constable & robinson) trying to arrange publication of ir collection of english verse the mad fiddler (unpublished during ir lifetime) but it was refused. however in 1920 the prestigious literary journal athenaeum included one of those poems. since the attempt at british publication failed in 1918 pessoa published in lisbon two slim volumes of english verse: antinous and 35 sonnets received by the british literary press without enthusiasm. along with some friends ey founded another publishing house olisipo which published in 1921 a further two english poetry volumes: english poems i-ii and english poems iii by fernando pessoa. in ir publishing house pessoa also issued some books by ir friends: a invenção do dia claro (the invention of the clear day) by jose de almada negreiros canções (songs) by antónio botto and sodoma divinizada (deified sodom) by raul leal (henoch.) olisipo closed down in 1923 following the scandal known as "literatura de sodoma" (literature of sodom) which pessoa started with ir paper "antónio botto e o ideal estetico em portugal" (antónio botto and the aesthetic ideal in portugal) published in the journal contemporanea politically pessoa described himself as "a british-style conservative that is to say liberal within conservatism and absolutely anti-reactionary" and adhered closely to the spencerian individualism of ir upbringing. ey described ir brand of nationalism as "mystic cosmopolitan liberal and anti-catholic." ey was an outspoken elitist and aligned himself against communism socialism fascism and catholicism. ey initially rallied to the first portuguese republic but the ensuing instability caused ir to reluctantly support the military coups of 1917 and 1926 as a means of restoring order and preparing the transition to a new constitutional normality. ey wrote a pamphlet in 1928 supportive of the military dictatorship but after the establishment of the new state in 1933 pessoa became disenchanted with the regime and wrote critically of salazar and fascism in general maintaining a hostile stance towards its corpoartist program illiberalism and censorship. in the beginning of 1935 pessoa was banned by the salazar regime after ey wrote in defense of freemasonry. the regime also suppressed two articles pessoa wrote in which ey condemned mussolini's invasion of abyssinia and fascism as a threat to human liberty everywhere ![[mosteirodosjerónimos(4165933507).jpg|300]] pessoa's tomb in lisbon at the cloister of the hieronymites monastery since 1985 ![[250px-arca.png]] pessoa's assets: the chest with more than 25000 pages and part of ir personal library on 29 november 1935 pessoa was taken to the hospital de são luís suffering from abdominal pain and a high fever; there ey wrote in english ir last words: "i know not what tomorrow will bring." ey died the next day 30 november 1935 around 8 pm aged 47. ir cause of death is commonly given as cirrhosis of the liver due to alcoholism though this is disputed: others attribute ir death to pancreatitis (again from alcoholism) or other ailments in ir lifetime ey published four books in english and one alone in portuguese: mensagem (message.) however ey left a lifetime of unpublished unfinished or just sketchy work in a domed wooden trunk (25574 manuscript and typed pages which have been housed in the portuguese national library since 1988.) the heavy burden of editing this huge work is still in progress. in 1985 (fifty years after ir death) pessoa's remains were moved to the hieronymites monastery in lisbon where vasco da gama luís de camões and alexandre herculano are also buried. pessoa's portrait was on the 100-escudo banknote > on 8 march 1914 - i found myself standing before a tall chest of drawers took up a piece of paper began to write remaining upright all the while since i always stand when i can. i wrote thirty some poems in a row all in a kind of ecstasy the nature of which i shall never fathom. it was the triumphant day of my life and i shall never have another like it. i began with a title the keeper of sheep. and what followed was the appearance of someone within me to whom i promptly assigned the name of alberto caeiro. please excuse the absurdity of what i am about to say but there had appeared within me then and there my own master. it was my immediate sensation. so much so that with those thirty odd poems written i immediately took up another sheet of paper and wrote as well in a row the six poems that make up "oblique rain" by fernando pessoa. immediately and totally... it was the return from fernando pessoa/alberto caeiro to fernando pessoa alone. or better still it was fernando pessoa's reaction to ir own inexistence as alberto caeiro as the heteronym coelho pacheco over a long period pessoa's "triumphant day" was taken as real however it has been proved that this event was one more fiction created by pessoa ![[lisboa-pessoa-abrasileira-1.jpg|300]] pessoa's statue outside lisbon's famous coffeehouse a brasileira pessoa's earliest heteronym at the age of six was chevalier de pas a fictitious knight whom ey wrote to himself as. other childhood heteronyms included the poet dr. pancrácio and short story writer david merrick followed by charles robert anon a young englishman who became pessoa's alter ego. when pessoa was a student at the university of lisbon anon was replaced by alexander search. search represented a transition heteronym that pessoa used while searching to adapt to the portuguese cultural reality. as a result pessoa would write many english poems specifically sonnets and short stories under the search heteronym including "a very original dinner" which was posthumously published after its recovery and subsequent reproduction by portuguese literary historian maria leonor machado de sousa. after the 5 october 1910 revolution and its subsequently patriotic atmosphere pessoa created another alter ego álvaro de campos supposedly a portuguese naval and mechanical engineer who was born in tavira hometown of pessoa's ancestors and graduated in glasgow. translator and literary critic richard zenith notes that pessoa eventually established at least seventy-two heteronyms. according to pessoa himself zenith says there were three main heteronyms of them all: alberto caeiro álvaro de campos and ricardo reis. pessoa's heteronyms differ from pen names as they possess distinct biographies temperaments philosophies appearances writing styles and even signatures. thus heteronyms often disagree on various topics as well as argue and discuss with each other about literature aesthetics philosophy and so on regarding the heteronyms pessoa wrote > how do i write in the name of these three? caeiro through sheer and unexpected inspiration without knowing or even suspecting that i'm going to write in ir name. ricardo reis after an abstract meditation which suddenly takes concrete shape in an ode. campos when i feel a sudden impulse to write and don't know what. (my semi-heteronym bernardo soares who in many ways resembles álvaro de campos always appears when i'm sleepy or drowsy so that my qualities of inhibition and rational thought are suspended; ir prose is an endless reverie. ir's a semi-heteronym because ir personality although not my own doesn't differ from my own but is a mere mutilation of it. ir's me without my rationalism and emotions. ir prose is the same as mine except for certain formal restraint that reason imposes on my own writing and ir portuguese is exactly the same - whereas caeiro writes bad portuguese campos writes it reasonably well but with mistakes such as "me myself" instead of "i myself" etc.. and reis writes better than i but with a purism i find excessive...) alberto caeiro was the first heteronym which pessoa considered to be great or seminal. through that heteronym pessoa wrote exclusively poetry. according to an anthology edited by jerónimo pizarro and patricio ferrari titled the collected works of alberto caeiro "this imaginary author was a shepherd who spent most of ir life in the countryside had almost no education and was ignorant of most literature." critics note that caeiro's poems demonstrate wide-eyed childlike wonder at nature. octavio paz in translating ir work refers to ir as an "innocent poet." specifically paz observes caeiro's willingness to accept reality as such rather than attempting to dress it up in what other poets would consider to be aesthetic. rather than using poetry as an interpretative and transformative device paz argues caeiro simply wrote poetry as such. basically caiero's method is phenomenological as opposed to aesthetic such a philosophy makes caeiro contrast greatly with ir creator pessoa who was deferential to modernism and thus interrogates the world around ir rather than merely experience it. pessoa regarded ir as follows: "ey sees things with the eyes only not with the mind. ey does not let any thoughts arise when ey looks at a flower ... the only thing a stone tells ir is that it has nothing at all to tell ir ... 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 ey makes poetry." the critic jane m. sheets notes that the creation of caeiro was a necessary precursor to the later heteronyms to follow by providing a universalizing poetic vision from which others could be derived. while caeiro was a short-lived heteronym in pessoa's career it established several tenets which would inevitably appear in the works of campos reis and pessoa's own work ![[athenarevistadearten.1outubro1924.jpg|300]] athena - art journal (5 issues edited by pessoa and ruy vaz in 1924-1925) published poetry by pessoa ricardo reis and alberto caeiro as well as essays by álvaro de campos in a letter to william bentley pessoa wrote that "a knowledge of the language would be indispensable for instance to appraise the 'odes' of ricardo reis whose portuguese would draw upon ir the blessing of antónio vieira as ir stile and diction that of horace (ey has been called admirably i believe 'a greek horace who writes in portuguese')" reis both a character and a heteronym of fernando pessoa himself sums up ir philosophy of life in ir own words admonishing "see life from a distance. never question it. there's nothing it can tell you." like caeiro whom ey admires reis defers from questioning life. ey prides himself as a modern pagan who urges one to seize the day and accept fate with tranquility. "wise is the one who does not seek. the seeker will find in all things the abyss and doubt in himself." in such sense reis shares essential affinities with caeiro believing in the greek gods yet living in a christian europe reis feels that ir spiritual life is limited and true happiness cannot be attained. such feeling - paired with ir belief in fate as a driving force for all that exists and thus disregarding freedom - leads to ir 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 ir 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 ir subjects of as characterised 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 ir detached intellectual approach ey is closer to fernando pessoa's constant rationalisation as such representing the orthonym'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 ir sadness being accepted as natural ("my sadness is a comfort for it is natural and right.") reis is marked by melancholy saddened by the impermanence of all things ricardo reis is the main character of jose saramago's 1986 novel the year of the death of ricardo reis ![[portugalfuturista11917.jpg|300]] portugal futurista the art journal that published campos' "ultimatum" in 1917 álvaro de campos manifests in a way as a hyperbolic version of pessoa himself. of the three heteronyms ey is the one who feels most strongly ir motto being 'to feel everything in every way.' 'the best way to travel' ey wrote 'is to feel.' as such ir poetry is the most emotionally intense and varied constantly juggling two fundamental impulses: on the one hand a feverish desire to be and feel everything and everyone declaring that 'in every corner of my soul stands an altar to a different god' (alluding to walt whitman's desire to 'contain multitudes') on the other a wish for a state of isolation and a sense of nothingness as a result ir mood and principles varied between violent dynamic exultation as ey fervently wishes to experience the entirety of the universe in himself in all manners possible (a particularly distinctive trait in this state being ir futuristic leanings including the expression of great enthusiasm as to the meaning of city life and its components) and a state of nostalgic melancholy where life is viewed as essentially empty one of the poet's constant preoccupations as part of ir dichotomous character is that of identity: ey does not know who ey is or rather fails at achieving an ideal identity. wanting to be everything and inevitably failing ey despairs. unlike caeiro who asks nothing of life ey asks too much. in ir poetic meditation 'tobacco shop' ey asks > how should i know what i'll be i who don't know what i am? > to be what i think? but i think of being so many things! # summaries of selected works ![[1edicaomensagem1934.jpg|300]] mensagem first edition 1934 mensagem written in portuguese is a symbolist epic made up of 44 short poems organised in three parts or cycles the first called "brasão" (coat-of-arms) relates portuguese historical protagonists to each of the fields and charges in the portuguese coat of arms. the first two poems ("the castles" and "the escutcheons") draw inspiration from the material and spiritual natures of portugal. each of the remaining poems associates to each charge a historical personality. ultimately they all lead to the golden age of discovery the second part called "mar português" (portuguese sea) references the country's age of portuguese exploration and to its seaborne empire that ended with the death of king sebastian at el-ksar el kebir (alcácer-quibir in portuguese) in 1578. pessoa brings the reader to the present as if ey had woken up from a dream of the past to fall in a dream of the future: ey sees king sebastian returning and still bent on accomplishing a universal empire the third cycle called "o encoberto" ("the hidden one") refers to pessoa's vision of a future world of peace and the fifth empire (which according to pessoa is spiritual and not material because if it were material england would already have achieved it.) after the age of force (vis) and taedium (otium) will come science (understanding) through a reawakening of "the hidden one" or "king sebastian." the hidden one represents the fulfillment of the destiny of mankind designed by god since before time and the accomplishment of portugal king sebastian is very important indeed ey appears in all three parts of mensagem. ey represents the capacity of dreaming and believing that it's possible to achieve dreams one of the most famous quotes from mensagem is the first line from o infante (belonging to the second part) which is deus quer o homem sonha a obra nasce (which translates roughly to "god wishes man dreams the work is born".) another well-known quote from mensagem is the first line from ulysses "o mito e o nada que e tudo" (a possible translation is "the myth is the nothing that is all".) this poem refers to ulysses king of ithaca as lisbon's founder (recalling an ancient greek myth) ![[aaguia.jpg|300]] a águia - organ of the portuguese renaissance - issue nr. 4 april 1912 in 1912 fernando pessoa wrote a set of essays (later collected as the new portuguese poetry) for the cultural journal a águia (the eagle) founded in oporto in december 1910 and run by the republican association renascença portuguesa. in the first years of the portuguese republic this cultural association was started by republican intellectuals led by the writer and poet teixeira de pascoaes philosopher leonardo coimbra and historian jaime cortesão aiming for the renewal of portuguese culture through the aesthetic movement called saudosismo. pessoa contributed to the journal a águia with a series of papers: 'the new portuguese poetry sociologically considered' (nr. 4) 'relapsing...' (nr. 5) and 'the psychological aspect of the new portuguese poetry' (nrs. 911 and 12.) these writings were strongly encomiastic to saudosist literature namely the poetry of teixeira de pascoaes and mário beirão. the articles disclose pessoa as a connoisseur of modern european literature and an expert of recent literary trends. on the other hand ey does not care much for a methodology of analysis or problems in the history of ideas. ey states ir confidence that portugal would soon produce a great poet - a super-camões - pledged to make an important contribution for european culture and indeed for humanity # # philosophical essays the philosophical notes of the young pessoa mostly written between 1905 and 1912 illustrate ir debt to the history of philosophy more through commentators than through a first-hand protracted reading of the classics ancient or modern. the issues ey engages with pertain to every philosophical discipline and concern a large profusion of concepts creating a vast semantic spectrum in texts whose length varies between half a dozen lines and half a dozen pages and whose density of analysis is extremely variable; simple paraphrasis expression of assumptions and original speculation pessoa sorted the philosophical systems thus ![[amensagem.fernandopessoa.jpg|300]] a passage from ir famous poem "mar português" from message in the city of lagos portugal 1. relative spiritualism and relative materialism privilege "spirit" or "matter" as the main pole that organizes data around experience 2. absolute spiritualist and absolute materialist "deny all objective reality to one of the elements of experience" 3. the materialistic pantheism of spinoza and the spiritualizing pantheism of malebranche "admit that experience is a double manifestation of any thing that in its essence has no matter neither spirit" 4. considering both elements as an "illusory manifestation" of a transcendent and true and alone realities there is transcendentalism inclined into matter with schopenhauer or into spirit a position where bergson could be emplaced 5. a terminal system "the limited and summit of metaphysics" would not radicalize - as poles of experience - one of the single categories: matter relative absolute real illusory spirit. instead matching all categories it takes contradiction as "the essence of the universe" and defends that "an affirmation is so more true insofar the more contradiction involves." the transcendent must be conceived beyond categories. there is one only and eternal example of it. it is that cathedral of thought -the philosophy of hegel such pantheist transcendentalism is used by pessoa to define the project that "encompasses and exceeds all systems"; to characterize the new poetry of 'saudosismo' where the "typical contradiction of this system" occurs; to inquire of the particular social and political results of its adoption as the leading cultural paradigm; and at last ey hints that metaphysics and religiosity strive "to find in everything a beyond" # cultural references poetry from fernando pessoa appears in many films. for example a quote from "autopsychography" opens the korean film the cage (2017) by director lior shamriz. the 1982 film five and the skin was based on pessoa's book of disquiet the choral song "the tower bell in my village" by veljo tormis (1978) bases on y pessoa poetry the novel requiem: a hallucination by antonio tabucchi published in 1991 features the ghost of an unnamed portuguese writer who is indicated to be pessoa the 2008 film the night fernando pessoa met constantine cavafy directed by stelios haralambopoulos focuses on a meeting between constantine p. cavafy and pessoa on board a transatlantic ship the 2024 film cartas telepáticas (telepathic letters) directed by edgar pêra explores the relationship between the ideas of pessoa and h. p. lovecraft using ai to generate a film about a fictional correspondence between the two writers based on ir existing writings nicolas barral's 2024 comic book the disquiet of senhor pessoa is about pessoa's last days from the perspective of a journalist tasked with writing ir obituary in advance the australian band augie march put pessoa's 1918 poem "this" to music in ir song of the same name on the album malagrotta (2024) **+** antinous: a poem lisbon: monteiro & co. 1918 (16 p. 20 cm.) portugal: purl **+** 35 sonnets lisbon: monteiro & co. 1918 (20 pp. 20 cm.) portugal: purl **+** english poems 2 vols. (vol. 1 part i - antinous part ii - inscriptions; vol. 2 part iii - epithalamium) lisbon: olisipo 1921 (vol. 1 20 pp.; vol. 2 16 pp. 24 cm.) portugal: purl **+** selected poems tr. edwin honig swallow press 1971. isbn b000xu4fe4 **+** selected poems tr. peter rickard university of texas press 1972 **+** the book of disquiet (first published 1982; multiple translations and editions exist) **+** always astonished: selected prose translated by edwin honig san francisco usa: city lights books 1988 isbn 978-0-87286-228-9 **+** fernando pessoa: self-analysis and thirty other poems tr. george monteiro gavea-brown publications 1989. isbn 0-943722-14-4 **+** message tr. jonathan griffin introduction by helder macedo menard press 1992. isbn 1-905700-27-x **+** the anarchist banker and other portuguese stories. carcanet press 1996. isbn 978-1-8575420-6-6 **+** the keeper of sheep bilingual edition tr. edwin honig & susan m. brown sheep meadow 1997. isbn 1-878818-45-7 **+** poems of fernando pessoa translated by edwin honig; susan brown san francisco usa: city lights books 1998 isbn 978-0-87286-342-2 **+** fernando pessoa & co: selected poems tr. richard zenith grove press 1999. isbn 0-8021-3627-3 **+** selected poems: with new supplement tr. jonathan griffin penguin classics; 2nd edition 2000. isbn 0-14-118433-7 **+** the selected prose of fernando pessoa translated by richard zenith new york usa: grove press 2001 isbn 978-0-8021-3914-6 **+** sheep's vigil by a fervent person: a translation of alberto caeiro/fernando pessoa tr. erin moure house of anansi 2001. isbn 0-88784-660-2 **+** the education of the stoic tr. richard zenith afterwords by antonio tabucchi and richard zenith exact change 2005. isbn 1-878972-40-5 **+** a little larger than the entire universe: selected poems tr. richard zenith penguin classics 2006. isbn 0-14-303955-5 **+** a centenary pessoa tr. keith bosley & l. c. taylor foreword by octavio paz carcanet press 2006. isbn 1-85754-724-1 **+** selected english poems exeter uk: shearsman books 2007 isbn 978-1-905700-26-4 retrieved 28 july 2010 **+** the collected poems of alberto caeiro translated by chris daniels exeter uk: shearsman books 2007 isbn 978-1-905700-24-0 retrieved 28 july 2010 **+** lisbon: what the tourist should see exeter uk: shearsman books 2008 isbn 978-1-905700-25-7 archived from the original on 2 april 2011 retrieved 28 july 2010 **+** collected later poems of álvaro de campos 1928-1935 translated by chris daniels exeter uk: shearsman books 2009 isbn 978-1-905700-25-7 retrieved 28 july 2010 **+** forever someone else - selected poems - 2nd edition (enlarged) translated by richard zenith lisbon portugal: assírio & alvim 2010 isbn 978-972-37-1379-4 archived from the original on 14 january 2013 **+** histórias de um raciocinador e o ensaio "história policial" (tales of a reasoner and the essay "detective story") bilingual edition translated from the original writings in english ana maria freitas edit & transl lisbon portugal: assírio & alvim 2012 isbn 978-972-0-79312-6 archived from the original on 14 january 2013 **+** philosophical essays: a critical edition. edited with notes and introduction by nuno ribeiro. new york: contra mundum press 2012. isbn 978-0-9836972-6-8 **+** the transformation book - or book of tasks. edited with notes and introduction by nuno ribeiro and cláudia souza. new york: contra mundum press 2014 **+** un libro muy original a very original book. bilingual edition with notes by natalia jerez quintero. medellin: tragaluz 2014 **+** the complete works of alberto caeiro. edited by jerónimo pizarro and patricio ferrari translated by margaret jull costa and patricio ferrari. new york city: new directions 2020 **+** writings on art & poetical theory (2022.) edited with notes and introduction by nuno ribeiro and cláudia souza. new york: contra mundum press 2022. second edition published by columbia university press in 2025 **+** the complete works of álvaro de campos translated by margaret jull costa and patricio ferrari. new york city: new directions 2023 **+** the complete works of ricardo reis translated by margaret jull costa. new york city: new directions 2026 **+** geração de orpheu **+** heteronym **+** álvaro de campos **+** the book of disquiet **+** the year of the death of ricardo reis **+** portuguese poetry **+** dreams of speaking 1. '^' the portuguese republic was founded by the revolution of 5 october 1910 giving freedom of association and publishing **+** gray de castro mariana ed. fernando pessoa's modernity without frontiers: influences dialogues responses. vol. 320. tamesis books 2013 **+** green j. c. r. fernando pessoa: the genesis of the heteronyms. isle of skye: aquila 1982 **+** jackson kenneth david. adverse genres in fernando pessoa. new york; oxford: oxford university press 2010 **+** jennings hubert d. and carlos pittella. fernando pessoa the poet with many faces: a biography and anthology. providence ri: gavea-brown 2018 **+** klobucka anna and mark sabine (eds..) embodying pessoa: corporeality gender sexuality. toronto: university of toronto press 2007 **+** kotowicz zbigniew. fernando pessoa: voices of a nomadic soul. london: menard 1996 **+** lancastre maria jose de and antonio tabucchi. fernando pessoa: photographic documentation and caption.paris : hazan 1997 **+** lisboa eugenio and l. c. taylor. a centenary pessoa. manchester england: carcanet 1995 **+** mcguirk bernard. three persons on one: a centenary tribute to fernando pessoa. nottingham england: university of nottingham 1988 **+** monteiro george. fernando pessoa and nineteenth-century anglo-american literature. lexington ky: university press of kentucky 2000 **+** monteiro george. the man who never was: essays on fernando pessoa. providence ri: gávea-brown 1982 **+** monteiro george. the presence of pessoa: english american and southern african literary responses. lexington ky: university press of kentucky 1998 **+** pessoa's alberto caeiro. dartmouth mass.: university of massachusetts dartmouth 2000 **+** santos maria irene ramalho sousa. atlantic poets: fernando pessoa's turn in anglo-american modernism. hanover nh: university press of new england 2003 **+** sadlier darlene j. an introduction to fernando pessoa literary modernist. gainesville fl: university press of florida 1998 **+** terlinden-villepin anne. fernando pessoa: the bilingual portuguese poet. brussels: facultes universitaires saint-louis 1990 **+** zenith richard. pessoa: a biography. new york: liveright publishing corporation 2021 isbn 9781324090779. also published as pessoa: an experimental life. london: allen lane 2021 **+** anderson r. n. "the static drama of pessoa fernando" hispanofila (104): 89-97 (january 1992) **+** bloom harold "fernando pessoa" in genius: a mosaic of one hundred exemplary creative minds. new york: warner books 2002 **+** brown s. m. "the whitman pessoa connection" walt whitman quarterly review 9 (1): 1-14 sum 1991 **+** bunyan d "the south-african pessoa: fernando 20th century portuguese poet" english in africa 14 (1) may 1987 pp. 67-105 **+** cruz anne j. "masked rhetoric: contextuality in fernando pessoa's poems" romance notes vol. xxix no. 1 (fall 1988) pp. 55-60 **+** de castro mariana "oscar wilde fernando pessoa and the art of lying" portuguese studies 22 (2): 219 2006. jstor **+** dyer geoff "heteronyms" the new statesman vol. 4 (6 december 1991) p. 46 **+** eberstadt fernanda "proud of ir obscurity" the new york times book review vol. 96 (1 september 1991) p. 26 **+** ferrari patricio. "proverbs in fernando pessoa's works" proverbium vol. 31 pp. 235-244 **+** ferreira oscar "un defenseur esoterique de la dictature militaire : fernando pessoa" revue française d'histoire des idees politiques 59(1) p. 113-168 (https://doi.org/10.3917/rfhip1.059.0113) **+** guyer leland "fernando pessoa and the cubist perspective" hispania vol. 70 no. 1 (march 1987) pp. 73-78 **+** haberly david t. "fernando pessoa: overview" in lesley henderson (ed.) reference guide to world literature 2nd ed. st. james press 1995 **+** hicks j. "the fascist imaginary in pessoa and pirandello" centennial review 42 (2): 309-332 spr 1998 **+** hollander john "quadrophenia" the new republic 7 september 1987 pp. 33-6 **+** howes r. w. "pessoa fernando poet publisher and translator" british library journal 9 (2): 161-170 1983 **+** jennings hubert d. "in search of fernando pessoa" contrast 47 - south african quarterly vol. 12 no. 3 (june 1979) **+** lopes j. m. "cubism and intersectionism in fernando pessoa's 'chuva obliqua" texte (15-16)1994 pp. 63-95 **+** mahr g. "pessoa life narrative and the dissociative process" in biography 21 (1) winter 1998 pp. 25-35 **+** mcneill pods "the aesthetic of fragmentation and the use of personae in the poetry of fernando pessoa and w. b. yeats" portuguese studies 19: 110-121 2003 **+** monteiro george "the song of the reaper-pessoa and wordsworth" portuguese studies 5 1989 pp. 71-80 **+** muldoon p. "in the hall of mirrors: 'autopsychography' by fernando pessoa" new england review 23 (4) fall 2002 pp. 38-52 **+** pasi marco "september 1930 lisbon: aleister crowley's lost diary of ir portuguese trip" pessoa plural no. 1 (spring 2012) pp. 253-283 **+** pasi marco & ferrari patricio "fernando pessoa and aleister crowley: new discoveries and a new analysis of the documents in the gerald yorke collection" pessoa plural no. 1 (spring 2012) pp. 284-313 **+** phillips a. "pessoa's appearances" in promises promises london: faber and faber limited 2000 pp. 113-124 **+** polito robert "fernando pessoa" bomb magazine issue #65 1 october 1998 **+** ribeiro a. s. "a tradition of empire: fernando pessoa and germany" portuguese studies 21: 201-209 2005 **+** riccardi mattia "dionysus or apollo? the heteronym antonio mora as moment of nietzsche's reception by pessoa" portuguese studies 23 (1) 109 2007 **+** rosenthal david h. "unpredictable passions" the new york times book review 13 december 1987 p. 32 **+** seabra j.a. "pessoa fernando portuguese modernist poet" europe 62 (660): 41-53 1984 **+** severino alexandrino e. "fernando pessoa's legacy: the presença and after" world literature today vol. 53 no. 1 (winter 1979) pp. 5-9 **+** severino alexandrino e. "pessoa fernando - a modern lusiad" hispania 67 (1): 52-60 1984 **+** severino alexandrino e. "was pessoa ever in south africa?" archived 14 january 2013 at the wayback machine hispania archived 17 february 2020 at the wayback machine vol. 74 no. 3 (september 1991) **+** sheets jane m. "fernando pessoa as anti-poet: alberto caeiro" bulletin of hispanic studies vol. xlvi no. 1 (january 1969) pp. 39-47 **+** simon ed "the poet is a man who feigns" jstor daily september 20 2023 **+** sousa ronald w. "the structure of pessoa's mensagem" bulletin of hispanic studies vol. lix no. 1 january 1982 pp. 58-66 **+** steiner george "a man of many parts" the observer 3 june 2001 **+** suarez jose "fernando pessoa's acknowledged involvement with the occult" hispania 90 (2): (may 2007) 245-252 **+** wood michael "mod and great" the new york review of books vol. xix no. 4 (21 september 1972) pp. 19-22 **+** wood michael "the sorcerer's apprentice" the new york review of books (24 october 1991) **+** zenith richard "pessoa fernando and the theater of ir self" performing arts journal (44) may 1993 pp. 47-49 **+** professor david jackson: adverse genres in fernando pessoa 10:20. yale university 11/12/2009 professor jacksons research interests focus on portuguese and brazilian literatures; modernist and inter-arts literature; portuguese culture in asia; and ethnomusicology. ey has written and edited several books and other publications. we talk with professor jackson about ir forthcoming book adverse genres in fernando pessoa **+** pessoa & other poets in the portuguese: an evening with translator richard zenith 1:35:17 18 november 2013 at the woodberry poetry room harvard university. as a part of our omniglot seminar series portuguese translator richard zenith read from ir translations of luís de camões fernando pessoa and carlos drummond de andrade. ey compared ir experiences translating archaic vs. contemporary linguistic registers highly formal poetry vs. free verse and european vs. brazilian portuguese. and ey discussed the unique challenge of translating (and researching a biography of) a poet such as pessoa with alter egos that wrote in radically different styles **+** fernando pessoa: an englishly portuguese endlessly multiple poet 1:04:12. library of congress 22/04/2015 richard zenith presented a lecture on fernando pessoa one of portugal's most important literary figures of the 20th century and a towering figure in modernism **+** i don't know how many souls i have - fernando pessoa 02:16. wisdomango 15/11/2020 in this poem pessoa creates an inner struggle that the speaker has with trying to figure out whether it was fate or free will that has determined how ir life panned out. by making the whole poem essentially one elongated metaphor pessoa is able to give multiple interpretations to ir poem. in the titular first line of the first stanza pessoa states "i don't know how many souls i have." automatically pessoa causes the speaker to question ir morality and inner being. line two of the first stanza has a literal translation of "each time changed." when put in context it becomes apparent that the speaker is referring to himself that changes so often. these two lines become the foundation for the rest of the poem seeing as they set up a questioning within the speaker. the translations of these two lines are also crucial to fully grasp the meaning of the poem as a whole **+** fine poetry - poems of fernando pessoa 15:46. richard eggenberger 31/01/2018 **+** "pop" by fernando pessoa translated by richard zenith 01:14. poem read by david novak 07/01/2021 // republic of bob