Murilo Mendes was a Brazilian writer belonging to the second phase of modernism in Brazil. He is considered one of the most relevant Brazilian poets of the 20th century.
Biography
Murilo Monteiro Mendes was born in Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, on May 13, 1901.
Son of Onofre Mendes and Eliza de Barros Mendes, Murilo spent his childhood in Minas Gerais. Later, he went to study in Niterói; and in 1920, he moved to Rio de Janeiro.
In the marvelous city he worked as an Archivist at the Ministry of Finance and was an employee of Banco Mercantil.
In Rio, he began his literary career publishing some of his poems in magazines that were linked to the modernist movement: “Green" and "Journal of Anthropophagy”.
In 1930, Murilo published his first book of poetry entitled “poems”. He began to be recognized in the literary world and for this work he received the Graça Aranha award.
In the early 1930s, Murilo converted to Catholicism. Some of his works reflect the religious issue.
Murilo married Maria da Saudade Cortesão. But they never had children. He traveled to several countries in Europe (France, Italy, Belgium, Holland, Portugal and Spain), where he was influenced by the avant-garde currents of Cubism and Surrealism.
He died in Lisbon, on August 13, 1975.
Do you want to go deeper into the topic? Read the articles:
- Modernism in Brazil
- Second Generation Modernist
- Authors of the Second Phase of Modernism in Brazil
- The Language of Modernism
- Poetry of 30
- Surrealism
Construction
Murilo Mendes uses colloquial language and neologisms to compose his texts. He wrote poems, anthologies and some works in prose, of which the following stand out:
- Poems (1930)
- Bumba-meu-poet (1930)
- History of Brazil (1933)
- Time and eternity (1935) – with the collaboration of Jorge Lima
- Poetry in Panic (1937)
- The Visionary (1941)
- The metamorphoses (1944)
- The enigma world (1945)
- Freedom Poetry (1947)
- Contemplation of Ouro Preto (1954)
- Spanish Time (1959)
- The Age of the Saw (1968)
- Convergence (1970)
- Polyhedron (1972)
- Poetic Anthology (1976)
poems
Learn more about the language used by the writer by reading two poems:
man, struggle and eternity
I guess on the planes of consciousness
two archangels fighting with spheres and thoughts
world of planets on fire
vertigo
imbalance of forces,
matter in convulsion burning to define itself.
O soul who does not know all its possibilities,
the world is still too small to fill you.
Shakes the columns of reality,
awakens the rhythms that are sleeping.
The war! Look at the archangels crumbling!
One day death will return my body,
my head will give back my bad thoughts
my eyes will see the light of perfection
and there will be no more time.
Song of Exile
My land has California apple trees
where they sing gaturamos from Venice.
the poets of my land
are blacks who live in amethyst towers,
army sergeants are monists, cubists,
philosophers are Poles selling on installments.
we can't sleep
with the speakers and the mosquitoes.
The sururus in the family have Gioconda as a witness.
I die suffocated
in a foreign land.
our flowers are prettier
our most delicious fruits
but they cost a hundred thousand reis a dozen.
Oh, I wish I could suck a real carambola
and listen to a sure old thrush!
Note: In this poem, Murilo Mendes made a parody of the original "Canção do Exílio" by the poet Gonçalves Dias.
To know the original see the article: Canção do Exílio, by Gonçalves Dias.
Sentences
- “I am a dialectical spirit, I seek the hidden logic between sensuality and Christianity, rationalism and irrationalism.”
- “We are still not used to the world. to be born is too long.”
- “It is necessary to know your own abyss. And always polish the chandelier that clarifies it.”
- “There is just no such thing as can be imagined.”
