Poems of Fernando Pessoa [Paperback]

Fernando Pessoa (Author), Edwin Honig (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2001

Fernando Pessoa is Portugal’s most important contemporary poet. He wrote under several identities, which he called heteronyms: Albet Caeiro, Alvaro de Campos, Ricardo Reis, and Bernardo Soares. He wrote fine poetry under his own name as well, and each of his “voices” is completely different in subject, temperament, and style. This volume brings back into print the comprehensive collection of his work published by Ecco Press in 1986.

Editorial Reviews

Review

At The Wheel Of The Chevrolet On The Road To Sintra
Cancioneiro: Audible
Cancioneiro: Autopsychography
Cancioneiro: Cat
Cancioneiro: I Sleep
Cancioneiro: I'm A Runaway
Cancioneiro: I'm
Cancioneiro: It's Raining
Cancioneiro: Lightly
Cancioneiro: Lightly, Listlessly
Cancioneiro: No
Cancioneiro: Some Mysterious
Cancioneiro: To Travel
Cancioneiro: Absurd Hour, Sels.
Cancioneiro: Advice
Cancioneiro: Analysis
Cancioneiro: Beyond God: 1. The Abyss
Cancioneiro: Beyond God: 2. It Passed
Cancioneiro: Beyond God: 3. The Voice Of God
Cancioneiro: Beyond God: 4. The Fall
Cancioneiro: Beyond God: 5. Bodiless Arm Brandishing A Sword
Cancioneiro: Christmas
Cancioneiro: Interval
Cancioneiro: Liberty
Cancioneiro: Loophole
Cancioneiro: Oblique Rain (excerpt)
Cancioneiro: Poem
Cancioneiro: Sickness
Cancioneiro: This
Cancioneiro: We Took The Town After A Heavy Bombing
He Came By, Wanting To Speak With Me On A Downtown Street
I Have A Terrible Cold
I'm Beginning To Know Myself. I Don't Exist
If You Want To Kill Yourself, How Come You Don't Want To Kill Yoursel
If, After I Die, They Want To Write My Biography
Introducing Alvaro De Campos
The Keeper Of Sheep: 1
The Keeper Of Sheep: 14
The Keeper Of Sheep: 15
The Keeper Of Sheep: 16
The Keeper Of Sheep: 2
The Keeper Of Sheep: 21
The Keeper Of Sheep: 27
The Keeper Of Sheep: 28
The Keeper Of Sheep: 30
The Keeper Of Sheep: 31
The Keeper Of Sheep: 35
The Keeper Of Sheep: 36
The Keeper Of Sheep: 43
The Keeper Of Sheep: 44
The Keeper Of Sheep: 46
The Keeper Of Sheep: 47
The Keeper Of Sheep: 48
The Keeper Of Sheep: 49
The Keeper Of Sheep: 6
The Keeper Of Sheep: 8
The Keeper Of Sheep: 9
Lisbon Revisited (1923)
Lisbon Revisited (1926)
Live, You Say, In The Present
Maritime Ode
Master, My Dear Master
Message: First Part: Coat Of Arms: 1. The Fields
Message: First Part: Coat Of Arms: 2. The Castles
Message: First Part: Coat Of Arms: 3. The Shields
Message: First Part: Coat Of Arms: 4. The Crown
Message: First Part: Coat Of Arms: 5. The Crest
Message: Second Part: Portuguese Sea: 1. The Prince
Message: Second Part: Portuguese Sea: 10. Portuguese Sea
Message: Second Part: Portuguese Sea: 11. The Last Ship
Message: Second Part: Portuguese Sea: 12. Prayer
Message: Second Part: Portuguese Sea: 2. Horizon
Message: Second Part: Portuguese Sea: 3. Pillar Standard
Message: Second Part: Portuguese Sea: 4. The Sea Monster
Message: Second Part: Portuguese Sea: 5. Epitaph Of Bartholomeu Dias
Message: Second Part: Portuguese Sea: 6. The Columbuses
Message: Second Part: Portuguese Sea: 7. West
Message: Second Part: Portuguese Sea: 8. Ferdinand Magellan
Message: Second Part: Portuguese Sea: 9. Ascension Of Vasco Da Gama
Message: Third Part: The Hidden One: 1. The Symbols
Message: Third Part: The Hidden One: 2. Prophecies
Message: Third Part: The Hidden One: 3. The Times
Note
Observations
Ode (an Excerpt)
Odes: 1
Odes: 10
Odes: 11
Odes: 12
Odes: 13
Odes: 14
Odes: 15
Odes: 16
Odes: 17
Odes: 2
Odes: 3
Odes: 4
Odes: 5
Odes: 6
Odes: 7
Odes: 8
Odes: 9
Opium Eater
Psyche-type (psychotype)
Salutation To Walt Whitman
The Sleep That Comes Over Me
The Snow Threw A Silent Towel Over Everything
The Startling Reality Of Things
Tobacco Shop
Written In A Book Abandoned On The Trip
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

This edition is the perfect vehicle in which to begin exploring him. -- The San Francisco Chronicle, Geoff Dyer

Language Notes

Text: English
Original Language: Portugese

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: City Lights Publishers (January 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0872863425
• ISBN-13: 978-0872863422
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #148,221 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #14 in Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > Portuguese

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fernando Pessoa, March 3, 2005

By 

Erik M. Cedillo "erikmartin" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Poems of Fernando Pessoa (Paperback)

Fernando Pessoa is surely the most important 20th century Portuguese poet. The critic Harold Bloom considers Fernando Pessoa (along with Pablo Neruda) the "most representative" poet of the 20th century. This is a considerable feat if one considers other 20th century poets like: T.S. Eliot, Rilke, Valery, Yeats, Lorca etc.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez considers Neruda the "best poet of the 20th century, in any language." I highly admire Neruda, but Pessoa has done more for me, has influenced me much more than has Neruda. Pessoa's invention of several "selves" is a feat of originality without precedent.

Perhaps what most characterizes Pessoa is his strangeness. His strangeness is partly explained by his own life: Pessoa has been called "the man who never was." This is accurate: he is one of the most solitary literary geniuses of modern times. This sense of estrangement is all-pervasive in most of his poems.

The Noble Laureate Gao Xinjiang recently called Pessoa "the most profound poet of the 20th century." I concur with him. ---

Concerning this selection: I suggest the reader buy both the Zenith and Hong translations. It would be best ofcourse if one read his poetry in the original Portuguese. P.S: (Pessoa's complete poems can be found online, in both English, Spanish & Portuguese...)

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fabulous, February 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Poems of Fernando Pessoa (Paperback)

Do yourselves a favour and read the unforgettable poems of the century's least acknowledged, but greatest, poet.

7 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Genius and Madness from the Portuguese, April 9, 2003

By 

Stephanie Silva (Urban Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Poems of Fernando Pessoa (Paperback)

It's telling of the miserable state and status of the Portuguese -- "a brilliance lacking luster" -- that only an enlightened few are privileged to know (posthumously) that Pessoa ranks among the greatest writers of recent centuries. (Yes.) Become one of the privileged few to enter Pessoa's universe, and make sure it's initially through the translations of Honig and Brown.