Luís de Camões (1524-1580) was a Portuguese poet and soldier, considered the greatest writer of the Classicism period. Furthermore, he is appointed as one of the greatest representatives of world literature.
Author of the epic poem “The Lusiads”, He showed great sensitivity to writing about human dramas, whether love or existential. Little is known about his life, so the place and years of birth and death are still uncertain.
Camões Biography
Son of Simão Vaz and Ana de Sá, Luís Vaz de Camões was born in Lisbon around 1524. He probably had a good solid education, in which he learned about history, languages and literature.
Studies indicate that he was undisciplined and that he supposedly went to Coimbra to study. However, there are no records that he was a student at the University.
As a young man, he became interested in literature starting his literary career as a lyric poet at the court of Dom João III. Many historians say that during this period Camões had a very bohemian life. At the time, he also went through a heartbreak, at which point he decided to become a soldier.
Thus, he joined the Portuguese Crown Army in 1547 and, in the same year, embarked as a soldier for Africa. It was there that Camões lost his right eye.
In 1552, he returned to Lisbon and continued his bohemian and promiscuous life. The following year, he leaves for the Indies, where he participates in several military expeditions.
Studies show that he was arrested both in Portugal and in the East. It was during one of his arrests that he wrote his best-known work: The Lusiads.
When he returned to Portugal, he decided to publish his work. At the time, he received a small amount of money from King Dom Sebastião. Often misunderstood by society, Camões complained about the little recognition he had in life. It was only after his death that his work became the focus of attention.
Today, he is considered one of the greatest writers in the Portuguese language and also one of the greatest representatives of world literature. His name is known throughout the world and is used in many squares, avenues, streets and institutions.
Camões death
Camões died on June 10, 1580 in Lisbon, probably a victim of plague. At the end of his life, he went through major financial problems dying poor and unhappy, as he did not get the recognition he deserved.
Portugal Day is celebrated on June 10 in commemoration of his death date.
Camões features and works
Camões wrote poetry, epics and plays. That's how he became a multiple poet, sophisticated and at the same time popular.
Certainly he had great poetic ability, in which he knew how to explore with great creativity the most different forms of composition.
He was one of the greatest poets of the Renaissance, but he sometimes drew inspiration from folk songs or ballads by writing poetry reminiscent of various medieval songs.
Verses from him reveal that he studied the classics of antiquity and the Italian humanists.
His most outstanding works are:
- El-Rei Seleuco (1545), play;
- Philodemus (1556), comedy of morality;
- Os Lusíadas (1572), great epic poem;
- Hosts (1587), comedy written in auto form;
- Rimas (1595), a collection of his lyrical work;
Os Lusíadas: the great work of Luís de Camões
The epic poetry “The Lusiads”, published in 1572, celebrates Portugal's maritime and warrior feats. Overseas conquests, travels through unknown seas, the discovery of new lands, encounters with different peoples and customs stand out.
Taking the trip of Vasco da Gama to the Indies, Camões made the navigator a kind of symbol of the Portuguese community. He extolled the glory of new achievements and the feats of Portuguese navigators.
This allowed us to compare the feats of the Portuguese with the feats of the legendary heroes of Homer's poems (Odyssey and Iliad) and Virgil (Aeneid).
Camões used the classic models to sing the events of his time, which, unlike the old ones, were real and not fictitious. Camões makes some mythological entities participate in the action.
Thus, Venus played the role of protector of the Portuguese. She defends them from the god Bacchus who wants to destroy Vasco da Gama's fleet.
At the end of the poem, the navigators are taken to the Ilha dos Amores, where they are rewarded for their efforts by seductive nymphs.
Curiosity
Camões was shipwrecked off the coast of Vietnam and legend has it that he swam to save the manuscript from The Lusiads in hand.
Camões Poetry
Most of Camões' lyrical poetry is composed of sonnets and redondilhas (strophes with lines of five or seven syllables). Check out some examples below:
Example I
Love is fire that burns without being seen;
It's a wound that hurts, and you don't feel it;
It's a discontented contentment,
It's pain that freaks out without hurting.
It is not wanting more than wanting;
It's lonely walking among us;
It is never being content with content;
It is caring that one gains from losing oneself;
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?
Example II
Green are the fields,
Lemon color:
so are the eyes
From my heart.
field, that you stretch out
With beautiful greenery;
sheep, that in her
your pasture you have,
of herbs you keep
Which brings the summer,
And me from the memories
From my heart.
cattle that you graze
gladly,
your groceries
You will not understand;
what you eat
It's not herbs, no:
it's graces of the eyes
From my heart.
Example III
Who says that Love is false or deceitful,
Slight, ungrateful, vain unknown,
Without fail, you will have deserved it.
Let him be cruel or strict.
Love is gentle, it is sweet, and it is godly.
Whoever says otherwise is not believed;
Whether blind and passionate had,
And to men, and even to the Gods, hateful.
If evils make Love in me they are seen;
In me showing all its rigor,
I wanted to show the world as much as I could.
But all your angers are of Love;
All your ills are a good,
That I for all other good would not change.
Camões Phrases
- “The weak king makes the strong people weak.”
- “Oh the love... that is born I don't know where, comes I don't know how, and it hurts I don't know why.”
- “Impossible things, better forgetting them than wishing for them.”
- “There will never be a new year if you continue to copy the mistakes of the old years.”
- “Times change, wills change, being changes, trust changes; Everyone is made up of change, always taking on new qualities.”
Read too:
- Classicism
- Characteristics of Classicism
- The Language of Classicism
