Star of life is a book by Manuel Bandeira, author of the first modernist generation. The work was first published in 1965. Is it over there brings together the poetry of a "whole life" of the poet, that is, it contains all the books of poetry ever published by the writer, such as his first book — the gray of the hours — which has traces of Parnassianism and symbolism.
The themes present in the work are varied, such as love, memory, death, everyday, nationalism, between others. Thus, it is composed of the books:
- the gray of the hours (1917)
- Carnival (1919)
- the dissolute rhythm (1924)
- Debauchery (1930)
- Morning Star (1936)
- Lira of the fifties (1940)
- beautiful beautiful (1948)
- Opus 10 (1952)
- afternoon star (1963)
- Mafua do Malungo (1948)
- translated poems (1945)
He also read: Five poems by Manuel Bandeira
Characteristics of the work Star of life
![Cover of the book “Estrela da vida”, published by Nova Fronteira. [1]](/f/333e3e1092fbb7d7d96989b0821f2ec4.jpg)
Star of life, from 1965, is the Manuel Bandeira's complete poetrygathered in one book. This work is therefore composed of all of the author's previous books of poetry. In his first poems, Manuel Bandeira presents
traces of Parnasianism and symbolism, as you can see in the book the gray of the hours, 1917. From the dissolute rhythm, 1924, and Debauchery, from 1930, the marks of modernism are present, such as the use of free verse and irony.The poet's first poems are marked by the melancholy and death theme, in addition to formal rigor, that is, the use of metrification and rhymes in the verses. Then he joins modernism. At this stage, in addition to the free verses, it is possible to identify nationalist and regionalist elements. In his last poems, Bandeira takes up the regular verses, as you can see in the afternoon star, 1963.
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Themes of Star of life
Between the various themes that characterize Bandeira's poetry, it is possible highlight the following:
- disenchantment
- Memory
- Love
- Sadness
- Disease
- Death
- Eroticism
- Daily
- Mysticism
- Social questions
- Nationalism
- Metalanguage
- regionalism
- Tribute
Read too: Poems of the first modernist generation
books of the work Star of life
gray of the hours
the gray of the hours (1917) is a work marked by the formal rigor, that is, it has regular verses, in addition to melancholic content and thematic of love and death, as you can see in the excerpt from poem “Spiritual wedding”, written in Alexandrian verse (12 poetic syllables):
You are not with me in rare moments:
in my mind, love, you live naked
— All naked, prudish and beautiful, in my arms.
[...]
Your voiceless mouth pleads in a gasp.
I hold you tighter and closer, and look on intently
The astral wonder of this shameless nudity...
AND love you how do you love a dead bird.
Carnival
In Carnival (1919), book in which the famous poem “The frogs” is published, the regular verses, which reveal a ironic tone and certain pessimism, also exemplified in the poem “Bacanal”, a parody of the poem “Mocidade e morte”, by the romantic writer Castro Alves (1847-1871), and written with octosyllable verses (eight poetic syllables):
I want to drink! sing nonsense
They're not brutal from drunkenness
That everything overturns and shatters...
Evoe Bacchus!
There if my soul is broken
In the whirlwind of masquerade,
Laughing wildly...
Evoé Momo!
Lace it all up, multicolored,
The streamers of love,
Livid poison snakes...
Evoe Venus!
[…]
the dissolute rhythm
the dissolute rhythm (1924) shows the transition from poet to mmodernism, as it is possible to notice the presence of regular verses, but also of free verses, as in the poem “Meninos Carvoeiros” by social theme:
You charcoal boys
They pass on their way to the city.
— Hey, carvoero!
And they play the animals with a huge pullet.
[...]
— Hey, carvoero!
only these rickety children
go well with these unrestrained donkeys.
The naive dawn seems made for them...
Wee, naive misery!
Adorable coals that you work as if you were playing!
— Hey, carvoero!
[...]
Debauchery
In Debauchery (1930) is the poem “Poética”, which, in a way, metalinguistics, defends the ideals of first generation modernist, and also the famous and ironic “I'm leaving for Pasárgada”. In this book, the free verses, the nationalist regionalist theme and the simplicity, which characterizes the poem “Boyfriends”:
The boy approached the girl and said:
— Antonia, I still haven't got used to your body, to your face.
The girl looked sideways and waited.
— You don't know when we are a child and suddenly we see a caterpillar listed?
The girl remembered:
— We keep looking...
[...]
The boy continued very sweetly:
- Antonia, you look like a streaked caterpillar.
[...]
Read more: João Cabral de Melo Neto – the poet-engineer of modernism in Brazil
Morning Star
Morning Star (1936) brings social theme, elements of the daily and a return to verse symmetry, as in “Withered flowers”, poem written with verses in small round (five syllables poetic):
pale kids
barely blooming
In the morning of life!
sad asylum
What you hang tired
Like withered flowers!
[...]
pale girls
no mother's love,
pale girls
Uniformed,
who will pluck you
these sad garments
where the charity
Shrouded you!
[...]
in the evening
you remember me
“Oh sad girls! —
My hopes!
my hopes
— Tired girls,
pale children
To whom no one says:
— Angels, disband...
Lira of the fifties
Already in Lira of the fifties (1940), Manuel Bandeira dialogues with tradition and memory, as if rescuing his personal history and the history of his country, without forgetting the influences cultural external. In this work, poems with symmetrical verses coexist with free verses, and the daily it is interspersed with memories, as illustrated in the poem “Song of the wind and my life”:
The wind swept the leaves,
The wind swept the fruits,
The wind swept the flowers...
And my life was
increasingly full
Fruits, flowers, leaves.
[...]
The wind swept the months
And sweep your smiles...
The wind swept everything!
And my life was
increasingly full
Of everything.
beautiful beautiful
beautiful beautiful (1948) uses symmetrical verses and free verses, and deals with regional themes, in addition to themes such as the Christmas and love, among others. do too tributes, as in “Poem just for Jaime Ovalle”:
When I woke up today, it was still dark
(Although the morning was already late).
It rained.
it rained a sad rain of resignation
As a contrast and comfort to the stormy heat of the night.
So I got up,
I drank the coffee I made myself,
Then I lay down again, lit a cigarette and kept thinking...
— Humbly thinking about life and the women I loved.
Opus 10
In Opus 10 (1952), book with poems composed in symmetrical and free verses, it is possible to verify regional themes, in addition to references to death, everyday life and elements of catholic tradition, as in the poem “Prayer for Airmen”:
[...]
Saint Clara, clear up.
move away
All risk.
for the love of S. Francisco,
your master, our father,
Santa Clara, all risk
Dispel.
Santa Clara, clear.
afternoon star
In afternoon star (1963), regular verses coexist with free verses. The book has a melancholy tone farewell, interspersed with memories, as shown in the poem “Song for my death”, written in hexasyllable verses (six poetic syllables):
well that son of the north,
I am neither brave nor strong.
But as life I loved
I want to love you, oh death,
— My death, grief
That I won't choose you.
[...]
I know it's a big hassle
die but i will die
— When you're served —
no longer miss
This stepmother's life,
Which, however, I loved.
He also read: Mário Quintana – poet who approached life with simplicity and humor
Mafua do Malungo
Mafua do Malungo (1948) also uses symmetrical and free verses. It has poems that honor, for example, the French writer Paul Verlaine (1844-1896) or the Brazilian Vinicius de Moraes (1913-1980), in addition to mock political personalities and make a "Self-portrait", composed of octosyllable verses:
provincial who never knew
Choose a tie well;
Pernambuco who is disgusted
The Pernambuco knife;
[...]
Architect loser musician
Failed (swallowed one day
a piano but the keyboard
was left out); without family,
Religion or philosophy;
Barely having the restlessness of mind
That comes from the supernatural,
And in terms of profession
a professional physicist.
translated poems
Finally, in translated poems (1945), Flag translates poems by writers such as Rainer Maria Rilker (1875-1926), Rubén Darío (1867-1916), Paul Verlaine, among others, such as Paul Éluard (1895-1952), author of “In his place”:
radius of Sun between two clear diamonds
And the moon to merge in the obstinate wheat fields
An immovable woman took place on earth
In the heat it lights up slowly
Deeply like a sprout and like a fruit
In it the night blooms the morning matures.
Manuel Bandeira
Manuel Bandeira was born inApril 19, 1886, in Recife, and Died inOctober 13, 1968, in Rio de Janeiro. He studied Architecture at the Polytechnic School of São Paulo, but due to health problems caused by the tuberculosis, did not complete the course. He lived in Switzerland from June 1913 to October 1914, where he was interned in the sanatorium of Clavadel, seeking to cure himself of the disease.
Years later, participated in theBrazilian modernist movement. He was federal inspector of education, as well as professor of Hispano-American Literatures at the Faculty of Philosophy of the current Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). On August 29, 1940, was elected to the Brazilian Academy of Letters.
As part of Brazilian modernism, the writer produced works marked byformal freedom, in addition to the theme nationalist and regionalist, focused on elements of the daily, without giving up a stripped and ironic language. Thus, although, at the beginning of his career as a poet, he received influences from Parnassianism and simbolism, Bandeira was one of the main authors of first generation modernist. To learn more about the life and work of this important poet, read: Manuel Bandeira.
Image credit
[1] Ediouro Publications (reproduction)
by Warley Souza
Literature teacher
