Portuguese Poetry

The First Portuguese Poetry

The first record of Portuguese poetry was in the 12^th century. This poetry was originated in Galicia, Spain. This Spanish still shares some cultural identities with Portuguese culture. Much like the poetry in the Iberian Peninsula and the rest of Europe, Galician-Portuguese poets wrote and sang for the love for a woman. These poems often ended up being an insult to her personality since she had hurt the pride of her lover. This area of Spain also produced a certain kind of song called “cantigas de amigo” (meaning songs of a friend). These songs always referred to a woman speaking about the singer’s friend that was away in a war or otherwise. The songs often discuss how lonely the woman feels. Epic poetry was also created in this area, as was common in Romantic medieval regions. Even kings, like Dinis I, wrote cantigas de amigo.

Yet other poems of this era went in an entirely different direction. They often alluded to eroticism or spoke of the confession of a lovers’ union. Frequently, this would occur in the poem through a conversation with the woman’s mother.

The Rise of Portuguese Poetry

Poetry took off during the rise of the Renaissance. This was due to the heavy influence Italy and the Portuguese Discoveries provided. It is thought that this is the time when poets entered a new age of literature. In 1481, Sá de Miranda introduced the sonnet. This ended up being a very popular poetic style for national poets. His poems usually portrayed opposition to the changes in social values.

Bernardim Ribeiro was also a famous poet of the time who sang about love and fate but was better known for his prose work. Menina a Moça. António Ferreira (1528–1569) wrote poetry in classical forms and displayed the same aversion to the changes in society. Yet he did this with the intention of educating others.

This was also the era of the famous singer and writer Gonçalo Anes (1500–1566). Anes (also known as Bandarra) wrote songs that are thought to be the beginning of sebastianism (a main theme of Portuguese culture).

Epic Poetry

The increase in poetry gave birth to epic poetry. Luís de Camões (1525-1580) is thought to be the greatest of both lyric and epic Portuguese poetry. His poems speak of time, the sadness of the world, injustice, and the complexity of love. He wrote Os Lusíadas (The Lusiads), which is thought to be the most vital poem in Portuguese literature. This poem dealt with man and the divine, the importance of the Discoveries to the evolution of the world, the history of Portugal, and Portugal’s social and ideological problems. After this national pride era, the era of Spanish domination continued to see epic poetry. These later epic poems are thought to be a resistance to foreign domination.