Portugal's greatest
poet, Luis
de Camões (c.1524-1580),wrote near-perfect
sonnets
and
canzones, but is best remembered for Os
Lusíadas
(sons of Lusas, i.e. Portugal). an epic of national
identity. Amorous, quarrelsome and unsuccessful
in any wordly sense, Camões lost an eye in Morocco,
served in India
and was deported from China, struggling back in 1570 to
Lisbon, infirm and penniless. But throughout misfortune
he worked on the manuscript that was to bring a meagre royal
pension and the unreserved love of his countryman. Partly
modeled on Virgil
and Ariosto,
and glorifying the events in Vasca
da Gama's voyages and Portugal's history, Os
Lusíadas provided a vigorous and realistic
narrative by someone who knew the countries
at first
hand.
Os
Lusíadas is a a national epic in ten octava rima cantos. Vasco
da Gama's expedition to India forms its principal subject,
but the heroes are the Portuguese
people. Events real (da
Gama's voyages),
historical (founding of the Portuguese kingdom, battle of
Aljubarrota, death of Inès de Castro) and legendary
(Twelve of England, Island of Love, Lusitanian prophecies)
are interwoven, and the poem also uses classical mythology
and Christian allusion. But the poem is made unforgettable
by the grandeur of conception, the patriotism, the quotable
lines, the erudition, and the author's own reflections on
an eventful
life.
