The political poetry of Fernando Pessoa

Abstract

Fernando Pessoa, best known for his lyrical poetry and introspective prose, was also, among other things, a permanent political thinker and essayist. This facet of the writer is closely linked with his production of political poetry, which is relatively rare in the set of his poetic work and traditionally viewed by scholars and critics with some condescension. This paper presents an overview of this "minor" poetry, mainly satirical, produced since the late adolescence until the death of the author, relating it to the Portuguese sociopolitical context of his time and comparing it with the positions expressed by Pessoa in theoretical texts on politically-inspired literature.