Poetry
Poemas
Not translated into English
Murilo Mendes · 1930
Synopsis
The poet's first book, the collection is arranged in six series, from “O jogador de diabolô” to “Poemas sem tempo,” by way of “Máquina de sofrer” and “O mundo inimigo.” It opens with a “Canção do exílio” that mocks the one by Gonçalves Dias: the native land has Californian apple trees, its poets live in amethyst towers, its philosophers sell on credit, and the speaker dies there “suffocated.” The book then mingles folklore, modernity and irony with a spiritual quest.
Context
The collection appeared in 1930, paid for by the poet's father, and dated its earliest texts to 1925. It was awarded a prize as soon as it appeared and was praised by the leader of São Paulo modernism. Murilo Vidotto's thesis, at the University of Brasília, reads in it a critique of the cosmopolitan dissonance of Brazilian society, and a more universal outlook than the nationalism of the modernists of 1922; spirituality is already emerging in it, before the poet's conversion.
Who it is for
Short poems, with no difficulty of language, but which constantly play with Brazilian, school or religious references.
Prizes and reception
Winner of the Graça Aranha Foundation prize, hailed by Mário de Andrade as the most important book of the year.