Love is a fire that burns without being seen
Love is a fire that burns without being seen;
It's a wound that hurts, and you don't feel it;
It is discontented contentment;
It's pain that freaks out without hurting
It is not wanting more than wanting;
It's a lonely walk among us;
It is never content and content;
It is a care that gains from getting lost;
It's wanting to be trapped by will;
It is to serve the winner, the winner;
Have someone kill us, loyalty.
But how can your favor
In human hearts friendship,
If so contrary to itself is the same love?
Luís Vaz de Camões, in "Sonetos"
The poem you have just read is by Luís Vaz de Camões, the greatest name in Portuguese Literature and one of the most read and appreciated writers in World Literature. Luís Vaz de Camões, in addition to being an adept poet, was also an excellent verser. By the way, do you know what versification is?
Versification consists of a technique: the technique of making or studying verses. In it, the poetic rhythm, characterized by repetition, is studied. Not every great poet is a great verser, just as not every great verser can be considered a great poet. Poetry is a gift, one is born a poet; but to be a great verser, one must study this interesting art.
Little is known about Camões' life, but his work makes it clear that he was one of the greatest figures in Portuguese Literature
In versification, there are well-defined criteria that can be combined in a variety of ways. Are they:
fixed number of syllables;
distribution of strong (or stressed) and weak (or unstressed) syllables;
caesura;
rime;
alliteration;
chaining;
parallelism;
Great Brazilian poets, such as Carlos Drummond de Andrade and Mario Quintana, were not dedicated to the study of metrics, therefore, they cannot be considered good versifiers. However, this fact does not diminish the genius of these two great names in Literature. Olavo Bilac, another great name in national letters, was an enthusiast of versification, having dedicated many of his poems to description of the technique: however, he is not seen as a poet who arouses great emotions, due to the technicality of his writing.
Did you see? THE poetry it is art and inspiration, and versification is study and technique!
By Luana Castro
Graduated in Letters
