The poet has Wordsworth's power of giving vivid relief to things vague and grey and indefinite, the slow motion of clouds heavy with rain (" And with what motion moved the clouds"), or night's immeasurable silence: "Que solidão! que noite! que silencio ! Do luar sobre as arestas dos rochedos. N'um murmurio de sombras e de medos." (What solitude, what silence of the night! Marános is, in the phrase of Francisco de Mello, a quiet poem-" poema quieto." Throughout the poem the reader is reminded of the way in which, in Wordsworth's Prelude, some beautiful word-image or thought continually occurs to belie any feeling of weariness. In several beautiful passages (as in Sempre and As Sombras) the poet sings his home and the valley of the Tamega and the mountains of Traz-os-Montes : 66 Ó valle das saudades, onde a terra the mist-white river, "Rio Tamega Tudo mudado em branco nevoeiro," and the bronze-hued soil of Traz-os-Montes, "A terra Sombria, em bronzea côr de Traz-os-Montes." The beauties of the poem are many and undeniable, but it is a pity that the author has allowed it to trail inordinately. Not only does this prolixity frighten away readers, to their own loss, but the effect is often inartistic, causing his Muse to crawl with broken wing. Were he to correct this failing, Teixeira de Pascoaes might easily claim the first place among the living poets of Portugal, and a high place among the living poets of the world, for he has in him the true spirit of poetry, which disdains little ingenuities and rhymed clevernesses. An expression in Marános-" estupidez divina e intelligente, a divine, intelligent stupidity"—may be applied to his poetry as it may be applied to the poetry of Wordsworth and of Virgil, and could not possibly be applied to the poetry of Byron or of Gautier. Portugal has many other singers now living,1 and indeed the lovely provinces of Portugal should unfailingly beget many true poets. A University education and the influence of the capital too often, however, direct poetic talent into the muddy channel of foreign imitations. Here, too, Teixeira de Pascoaes sets an excellent example, for he is thoroughly Portuguese and regional, wrapped in the life of Traz-os-Montes, Content to breathe his native air 1 Especially Antonio Duarte Gomes Leal, born at Lisbon in 1848, author of Claridades do Sul (Lisboa, 1875; second edition, 1901), O AntiChristo (Lisboa, 1884), O Fim d'um Mundo, etc., who now stands with Guerra Junqueiro at the head of the older living poets of Portugal. INDEX TO QUOTATIONS ADORAE montanhas (Gil Vicente) A formosura d'esta fresca serra (Camões) A noite é fria e escura (Eugenio de Castro) Aquella triste e leda madrugada (Camões) - Aqui sim, o inverno é inverno (Thomaz Ribeiro) Bailemos agora por Deus, ay velidas (Joham Zorro) Cerra a serpente os ouvidos (Sá de Miranda) Deixa me ver este ceo (Sá de Miranda) Del rosal vengo, mi madre (Gil Vicente) Digades filha, minha filha velida (Pero Meogo) Dizia la fremosinha (Affonso Sanches) Donde vindes filha, branca e colorida? (Gil Vicente) Eis a noite com nuvens s'escurece (Camões) Em nome de Deus que he fonte e padre damor (Infante Pedro) Eres portuguez? (Almeida-Garrett) Espertos regatinhos fugiam rindo (Eça de Queiroz) Filho, toma esfforço no meu coraçom Homem d'um só parecer (Sá de Miranda) Hun tal home sey eu, ó bem talhada (King Diniz) Inda hoje vemos que em França (Sá de Miranda) - Já a vista pouco a pouco se desterra (Camões) Jardim da Europa á beira-mar plantado (Thomaz Ribeiro) Los mis tristes ojos (Sá de Miranda) Madre, chegou meu amig' oj' aqui (Stevam Fernandes) Muitos tambem do vulgo vil sem nome (Camões) Na enxerga fria tremem azas (Guerra Junqueiro) No piar velado e curto dos passaros (Eça de Queiroz) Nom chegou, madr', o meu amigo (King Diniz) Ó cavalleiros de Deus (Gil Vicente) 158 xi O nosso Deus é nossa creatura (Teixeira de Pascoaes) Ó rio Leça (Francisco de Sá de Menezes) Os mais dos dias bem cedo (King Duarte) Os moços de boa lynhagem (King Duarte) - - Ou então seria outra existencia (Eça de Queiroz) - Parou a ventania (Guerra Junqueiro) Pela relva (Eugenio de Castro) Por estes campos sem fim (Sá de Miranda) Por isso quero fazer (Gil Vicente) Poys nossas madres vam a Sam Simom (Pero Gomes Barroso) Quando as almas são novas (Eugenio de Castro) |