Cesário Verde

Masterpiece: 

• O Livro de Cesário Verde (posthumous edition in 1871) 

Historical period in literature: 
Modern literature, period from Romanticism to Symbolism

The Poetry in Cesário Verde

Theme

1 - The dichotomy city/field

• the city as urban and social place where the poet wanders, allowing him to collect detailed impressions of places, environments, characters. In his poems appear different social types typical of urban space - people in the workplace (pavers, blacksmiths, laborers, bakers, the ironing) and others (the bourgeois woman, cold, aristocratic, luxurious, drunkards, prostitutes). The city of Vesário Verde is a "living city" in activity, stage of progress and also of social injustice. 

• the field as space to overcome limitations and humiliation; evasion space, a symbol of health and life

  2 - Social issues

• antagonism rich/poor, hard working conditions, suffering (disease, poverty, humiliation) that the weak are condemned.

Language and style

Cesário uses a "realistic" vocabulary composed of short sentences. The use of the adjective and adverb are a constant in his speech. This way the poet gets a faithful reproduction of reality interspersing with poetic figurations that transfigure the reality.

Consulted sources:  

Portal da Literatura Portuguesa
infopédia_CesárioVerde 
lithis