Living Poets.
Of living poets the most widely known is Senhor Abilio Guerra Junqueiro (born in 1850), who now, however, rarely publishes any verse. He is a true poet, and Finis Patriae, and, above all, Os Simples (1892, sixth edition, 1913), contain the best poems in the Portuguese language of the last twenty years. In other works his poetry has often suffered from an invasion of rhetoric, but it always displays vigour and courageous patriotism. There are many schools, the Cloud Treaders (Nephelibatas), of whom Snr. Eugenio de Castro is the head; the Parnassians, as Colonel Christovam Ayres, Snr. Antonio Feijó, João Diniz, Joaquim de Araujo, aiming at and sometimes achieving that perfection of form which marked the work of Gonçalves Crespo, João Penha, Antonio Nobre; the pantheistic school of the Renascença, of which the principal poets are Snr. Teixeira de Pascoaes, and Snr. Mario Beirão. Two notable living poets are Snr. Affonso Lopes Vieira and Snr. Antonio Correa d’Oliveira, whose works are always read with eagerness, the latter especially having caught some of the sixteenth-century lyrical vein. The living poets of Portugal are, however, so numerous that it is impossible even to give the names of all of them. A French critic, who names some sixty, says modestly: “On ne peut tout citer.”[39]
Almeida Garrett.
It is preferable to leave them on one side (although an anthology of some merit might easily be formed from their works) and to go back to that strange figure and very real poet of the first half of the nineteenth century, the Visconde de Almeida Garrett (1799-1854). He was master of a peculiar and fascinating style of Portuguese prose, he revived the Portuguese drama, he wrote long romantic poems and exquisitely finished short lyrics, and he collected old Portuguese romances, which, however, he could not refrain from retouching and adorning. It is impossible to over-estimate his services to Portuguese literature, although the works written by him that will be read a hundred years hence will probably fit into a very small volume.
Herculano.
In prose the other great figure of the nineteenth century in Portugal was Alexandre Herculano (1810-77), historian, poet and historical novelist (Historia de Portugal; Lendas e Narrativas; Eurico, etc). His works are of permanent value, and his prose bears the impress of his strong exceptional character. Other historical writers were Pinheiro Chagas (1842-95), Latino Coelho (1825-91), Rebello da Silva (1821-72), and Oliveira Martins (1845-94).
Oliveira Martins.
The latter’s first work was a historical novel, and his work remained romantic throughout, but he had the power of reconstituting historical scenes in their picturesqueness and colour, and making the dry bones live. His most celebrated works are his Historia de Portugal, Portugal Contemporaneo, A Vida de Nun’ Alvares, and the Filhos de João I. He did not, however, confine himself in his historical writings to Portugal, but embraced the histories of Greece, Rome, and Iberian civilisation. When one remembers that he was also an active politician and Minister of Finance in 1892, it is not surprising that he had worn himself out before reaching the age of 50.
Camillo.
The novel in Portugal since the middle of the nineteenth century has embraced the most varied kinds and sometimes attained a high degree of merit. Camillo Castello Branco (1826-1890), most Portuguese of writers in theme and style, wrote over a hundred novels. He was gifted with a temperament that could not fail to make his life restless and unhappy and is reflected in the sentimental tragedies and nervous pessimism and vitriolic satire of his books. By his countrymen his novels, especially Amor de perdição, are still read with enthusiasm; for foreigners they are redeemed by the pure Portuguese of their style and by the occasional insight to be won from them into the Portuguese life of the second half of the nineteenth century. But probably it is necessary to be born a Portuguese in order to do them full justice. For those who wish to learn Portuguese untainted with Gallicisms they are invaluable.