You lusíadas, by Luís de Camões, is the most famous book in Portuguese literature and talks about the Portuguese conquests until the arrival of Vasco da Gama in India. So the narrator of the epic demonstrates his love and veneration for the King of Portugal, D. Sebastião, and the Lusitanian people. But it also defends the Christian faith and the expansion of the Portuguese empire.
belonging to classicism Portuguese, the work has an anthropocentric vision, that is, it values reason and human achievements. However, it brings elements of semi-paganism by revering the Greco-Roman culture and, at the same time, the Christian faith. This epic is divided into ten cantos, with decasyllable verses of a narrative and heroic character.
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work summary the Lusiads
You Portuguese sailors are on the high seas and are commanded by the heroic Vasco da Gama. They want to reach India, but first they reach the island of Mozambique. They end up fighting a battle with the Moors. Afterwards, they sail to the island of Mombasa, whose king seems to be a friend.
However, Mercury, in a dream, warns Gama about the plans of the King of Mombasa, who plans a trap against the Portuguese. The hero orders the sailors to set sail and flee. Afterwards, the heroic Portuguese arrived in the Malindi Kingdom, whose king received them cordially.
Vasco da Gama then tells this king the history of the Lusitanian people, he traces the genealogy of Portuguese monarchs and takes the opportunity to “praise the glory of mine”. It talks about the marriage between “Anrique” (Henrique), a count son of a “King of Hungary”, with Teresa, daughter of the “Castillian King” D. Afonso, a couple who won the lands known today as Portugal.
The first Portuguese king had a son, Prince Afonso, who was named after his Spanish grandfather. Later, the young man became king and waged a victorious war against the Moors. Sancho I succeeded his father. Then Afonso II, both glorious kings. However, the next king, Sancho II, is described by the narrator as "meek and careless".
THE dynasty is mentioned by Vasco da Gama, with details and exploits of each reign, like that of the kings D. Dinis, Fernando and Manuel, for example. Finally, he tells of his own adventures until he landed there and received the hospitality of the King of Malindi. After the narrative, Gama continues his journey and reaches the “seas of India”.
However, he still has to face the fury of the sea. And he finally arrives at the dreamed destination: India. There, they are welcomed with a party. However, the narrator reveals that the purpose of the Moors was “to detain the discoverers there / From India as long as they came / From Mecca the ships, that theirs would be destroyed”.
Gama learns of the Moors' intention and leaves for Portugal, taking pepper, walnut, cloves and a route to India. Before reaching the Lusitanian lands, the conquerors stop at an island and are rewarded by the gods with the love of beautiful and seductive nymphs.
Characteristics of the work the Lusiads
the Lusiads it's an epic poem. Therefore, it has the following characteristics:
narrative character;
presence of a hero;
heroic facts;
obstacles to be overcome by the protagonist;
mission to be accomplished by the hero;
mention of gods or mythological beings;
extraordinary events;
praise of tradition (in this case, the Portuguese);
decasyllable verses.
Read too: Epic genre — genre that chronicles noble actions performed by heroes
Structure of the work the Lusiads
the Lusiads é divided into ten corners and features the following epic structure:
proposition or prologue;
invocation to a deity;
dedication;
account of the adventures of Vasco da Gama;
conclusion or epilogue.
Literary style of the work the Lusiads
the epic poem the Lusiads and the main work of Portuguese classicism, period style that has the following characteristics:
anthropocentric view;
semipaganism;
appreciation of the themes of Antiquity;
balance and simplicity;
bucolism;
idealization of love;
idealization of women;
formal rigor.
Analysis of the work the Lusiads
Written in decasyllable verses, the Lusiadspraises the Portuguese nation and shows how this people, represented by their conquering heroes, is courageous and audacious:
Arms and Barons marked
That of the western Lusitana beach
By seas never sailed before
They passed even beyond Taprobane,
In striving dangers and wars
More than human strength promised,
And among remote people they built
New Kingdom, which they so sublimated;
[...]
In this way, the narrator recounts the conquests of the Portuguese kings, who “were expanding / The Faith, the Empire, and the vicious lands / From Africa and Asia were devastating”. However, first, he follows the epic convention and, in Canto I, asks for inspiration or invokes the Tágides, which would be the nymphs of the Tagus River, in Portugal:
Give me now a loud and sublime sound,
A grandiose and current style,
Why from your waters does Phoebus command
May they not envy those of Hippocrene.
In addition, the narrator dedicates his verses to D. sebastião (1554-1578), King of Portugal. In some moments of the work, he also addresses the monarch as his interlocutor. To make the Portuguese saga even more sublime, it shows that the Portuguese are protected by the gods of olympus, in clear reference to Greco-Latin culture, as these words of Jupiter show:
—“Eternal dwellers of the shining,
Stellar Pole and clear Seat:
If of the great value of the strong people
You don't lose your mind of Luso,
You must have known clearly
As is the case of the great Fados, a certain intent
May humans forget for her
Of Assyrians, Persians, Greeks and Romans.
[...]
So, in the prologue, the narrator introduces the hero of the epic, i.e. Vasco da Gama (1469-1524):
Vasco da Gama, the strong Captain,
That so many companies are offered,
With a proud and haughty heart,
Whom Fortune always favors,
Wait, if you stop here, you see no reason,
How uninhabited the land seems to you.
Onward to pass determined,
But it didn't happen to him as he cared.
O Captain and the Lusitanians are invincible Christians and they wage war against the Moors, who try to deceive the Portuguese. The fleet finds lands where the heroes live adventures and dangers, until finally reaching India, which has been the objective since the beginning. O storyteller of the work is an observer, that is, he is not omniscient, as he needs the help of the gods to narrate:
Now you, Calliope, teach me
What the illustrious Gama told the King;
Inspires immortal song and divine voice
In this mortal chest, which loves you so much.
Assi the clear inventor of Medicine,
From whom did Orpheus give birth, O beautiful Lady,
Never by Daphne, Clície or Leucotoe,
Deny you due love, as it sounds.
The narrative that Vasco da Gama makes to the King of Malindi aims to show the greatness of Portugal. It is a country historically ruled by brave Christian conquerors. In this way, the nationality is in the spotlight, and, with Gama's narrative, the Portuguese people are made to be proud of their origins:
“You judge now, King, whether there was in the world
People who committed such paths?
Do you believe that both Aeneas and the Facund
Ulysses across the world spread out?
Dared any to see the deep sea,
No matter how many verses were written of him,
From what I saw, through effort and art,
And what shall I see, the eighth part?
[...]
In the epilogue, the conquerors return to Portugal, and the narrator ends the work with praise for the Portuguese king:
Or making that, more than Medusa's,
The sight of you has the Atlantean mount,
Or breaking through the fields of Ampelusa
The walls of Morocco and Trudante,
My already esteemed and leda Musa
I hope that all over the world of you sings,
So that Alexander may be seen in you,
Without the joy of Achilles being jealous.
the Lusiads, therefore, it's a historical narrative, since the characters of the work are part of the history of Portugal. But it also presents fictitious elements, mythological beings and a great idealization of the Portuguese Crown and the Lusitanian people. As in any epic, the heroes must overcome obstacles - in this case, the dangers of the sea and the attack of the Moors. All to fulfill the great mission: to find a way to India and, thus, expand the territories and the faith of the Portuguese monarch.
importance of the Lusiads
With the Lusiads, Camões enhances the Portuguese nation through an epic, a type of text considered superior in its time. THE work, therefore, has a nationalist and historical relevance, in addition to giving value and protagonism to the Portuguese language. Thus, it becomes not only a literary symbol, but also a political one.
the Lusiads it was for centuries and it is to this day revisited by writers and intellectuals around the world. This made the work survive to the present day and prove its classic and, therefore, universal character, when dealing with themes such as love and nationalism. In this way, he became the greatest symbol of Portuguese literature.
Read too: Five poems of Portuguese literature
historical context of the Lusiads
THE Camões' work was produced in the context of the Rebirth, a period between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries, which marked the end of the Middle Ages, of feudalism and the predominantly theocentric character of European culture. Thus, there was a revaluation of ancient Greek and Roman culture.
Therefore, the western world was faced with a new philosophical, artistic and political vision, inspired by the values of classical antiquity. Furthermore, Portugal, with its caravels, began to conquer new lands from the end of the 15th century. Thus, in the sixteenth century, this country showed itself to be an economically prosperous nation.
Luís de Camões
Luis Vaz de Camõesborn in the year 1524 or 1525, in the Portuguese city of Lisbon. However, little is known about the writer's life. He was the nephew of Friar D. Bento de Camões, chancellor of the University of Coimbra, where, possibly, the poet studied Philosophy and Literature.
He fought as a soldier in Ceuta, where he lost his right eye.. He lived in Goa, India, from 1553, where he would have started the writing of his book the Lusiads. He was also the chief provider for the dead and absent in Macau. he published the Lusiads in 1572, with relative success. However, he died poor on June 10, 1580, in Lisbon.
image credits
[1] astarik / shuttertock
By Warley Souza
Literature teacher
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/literatura/os-lusiadas-de-luis-de-camoes.htm
