Initiation into Literature by Émile Faguet
page 93 of 168 (55%)
page 93 of 168 (55%)
![]() | ![]() |
|
Bernardes the Lyma was what the Lignon was to D'Urfe in his _Astrea_.
Caminha, a court poet decidedly analogous to the French Saint-Gelais, possessed dexterity and happy phraseology. Eclogues, elegiacs, epitaphs, and epistles were the ordinary occupations of his muse. Alvarez do Oriente has left a great romanesque work, a medley of prose and verse entitled _Portugal Transformed_ (_Lusitania transformanda_), which is extremely picturesque apart from its idylls and lyrical poems. Lobo was highly prolific. He was author of pastoral romances, medleys of verse and prose (_The Strange Shepherd_, _The Spring_, _Disenchantment_), a great epic poem (_The Court at the Village_), in prose conversations on moral and literary questions which have remained classic in Portugal, as well as romances and eclogues. EPIC POETS.--The most notable epic poets were Corte-Real, Manzinho, Pereira de Castro, Francisco de Saa e Menezes, Dona de la Lacerda, and, finally, the great Camoens. Corte-Real, a writer of the highest talent, was author of an epic which we would style a romance in verse, although founded on fact, upon _The Shipwreck of Sepulveda_ and her husband Lianor. The varied and picturesque narrative is often pathetic. It would be more so, to us at least, were it not for the incessant intervention of pagan deities. Francisco de Saa e Menezes sang of the great Albuquerque and of _Malaca Conquered_. He mingled amorous and romantic tales with narratives and descriptions of battles. He possessed the sense of local colour and brilliant imagination; he has been accused of undue negligence with regard to correction. |
|