Epic and Lyric (Aspects of Portugal) [Hardcover]

Luis De Camoes (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0856358320 | ISBN-13: 978-0856358326 | Publication Date: October 1990

Luis de Camoes (c.1524-1580), the 'national poet' of Portugal, wrote the first epic poem which, in scope and universality, spoke for a modern world. 'The Lusiad' was the poem of European conquest and its moral misgivings, its human consequences. Camoes himself possesses qualities of the epic hero. He was Galician and Celtic in ancestry, descended from the trovador Perez Camoes. Though orphaned, he was a scholar, lover and soldier who bore deep injuries and long exile for empire and love and travelled the world for his King, returning to poverty, blindness and posthumous apotheosis. He embodies in himself and conveys in his poems the spirit of the age: hectic, ambitious, vulnerable, suspended between a real heaven and a real hell. He was Melville's favourite poet, and he has exerted a strong spell over other English-language writers, including Blake. Camoes was also a great lyric poet, and Keith Bosley has translated a generous selection of the shorter poems to go with his newly-translated extracts from 'The Lusiad.'

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Portugese

Product Details

• Hardcover: 180 pages
• Publisher: Carcanet Pr (October 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0856358320
• ISBN-13: 978-0856358326
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 8.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,471,804 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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