⚡️Don't miss the new blog post 🥁 by Lorena Lopes (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro) dedicated to blind poets, from Homere to Camões!
🧐https://agrelita.hypotheses.org/3909
#OsLusiadas #WilliamBlake #Portugal #Greece #AcademicChatter

Luís de Camões - c.1524 - 1580 - Considered the greatest poet in Portuguese history, the statue of Camões is located in Praça de Luís de Camões, in the Chiado near the heart of historic Lisbon, and was erected in 1867. His best known work, The Lusiads (Os Lusíadas), is an epic poem in the tradition of Homer and Virgil and is considered the greatest work of Portuguese literature in classicism and Portugal's national epic.

It depicts Vasco da Gama's voyage to India and includes exaggerated depictions of da Gama's crew encountering indigenous cultures and fantastic phenomenon along the way. Its heroic themes include da Gama triumphing over the gods of Ancient Greece who are attempting to prevent the crew from reaching their destination and thus achieving greatness in the name of the Portuguese people, who are depicted as the inheritors of Earth's riches and destined to rule over all its dominions.

Camões himself did travel to both India and Macau - where he experienced mixed financial and political success - before returning to Lisbon where Os Lusíadas was finally published in 1572. His tomb now resides in Jerónimos Monastery in Belém - one of the nation's greatest honors - though it is highly unlikely that the entombed remains are actually his.

#camões #chiado #lisbon #oslusíadas #epic #poetry #portugal #literature