Pessoa, Fernando (pĕs`wä), 1888–1935, Portuguese poet, b. Lisbon. Reflecting the influence of both the classical tradition and French symbolism, his poetry moves from saudosismo, or nostalgia for a mythic past, to an increasing concern with consciousness and sensation. He is famous for having written under 73 different names. Four of these (his own, Alberto Caeiro, Ricardo Reis, and Álvaro de Campos) are well known. Each of these personas has his own putative biography, physical characteristics, relationship to the others, poetic voice, and outlook, and in part reflects Pessoa's disbelief in the idea of an integrated personality. Among Pessoa's collections, which include poems in English, are Sonnets (1918), English Poems (1922), and Mensagem (1934).

Bibliography

See selected poems tr. by J. Griffin, E. Honig, and P. Rickard (each 1971), and by J. Greene and C. de Azevedo Mafra (1986); selected prose tr. by E. Honig (1971) and A. MacAdam (1991); A Centenary Pessoa (1995), an anthology ed. by E. Lisboa and L. C. Taylor; collections of critical essays ed. by G. Monteiro (1982) and B. McGuirk (1988).

Pessoa, Fernando (António Nogueira)

(born June 13, 1888, Lisbon, Port.—died Nov. 30, 1935, Lisbon) Portuguese poet. While living in South Africa, where his stepfather was Portugal's consul, Pessoa became fluent in English. On returning to Lisbon he worked as a translator while contributing to avant-garde reviews, especially Orpheu (1915), the organ of Brazilian-Portuguese Modernismo, of which he became a leading aesthetician. Only after his death did the rich dream world of his poetry, peopled with fictional alter egos called “heteronyms,” become well known. His important works include Poetry of Fernando Pessoa (1942), Poetry of Álvaro de Campos (1944), Poems of Alberto Caeiro (1946), Odes of Ricardo Reis (1946), and The Book of Disquiet (1982).