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Poèmes païens d'Alberto Caeiro et de Ricardo Reis
« Sans rien lire, sans penser à n''en,sans dormir, Sentir la vie couler en moi commeun grand fleuve en son lit, Et là-dehors un grand silence commeun dieu qui sommeille. »Les poèmes d''Alberto Caeiro et de Ricardo Reis sont au cœur de l''œuvre de Fernando Pessoa. Ces deux hétéronymes incarnent l''idéal d''une vie authentiquement «païenne», accordée au réel, refusant le mysticisme. Caeiro est le poète du regard objectif, de l''existence brute des choses : ses vers sont volontairement prosaïques. Reis, épicurien stoïcien, est le poète de l''instant fugitif et du destin inexorable. Cette édition rassemble tous les poèmes païens de Pessoa, dont certains ont été retrouvés plus de cinquante ans après sa mort.
350 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
About the author
Fernando Pessoa
1,260 books6,610 followersFernando António Nogueira Pessoa was a poet and writer.
It is sometimes said that the four greatest Portuguese poets of modern times are Fernando Pessoa. The statement is possible since Pessoa, whose name means ‘person’ in Portuguese, had three alter egos who wrote in styles completely different from his own. In fact Pessoa wrote under dozens of names, but Alberto Caeiro, Ricardo Reis and Álvaro de Campos were – their creator claimed – full-fledged individuals who wrote things that he himself would never or could never write. He dubbed them ‘heteronyms’ rather than pseudonyms, since they were not false names but “other names”, belonging to distinct literary personalities. Not only were their styles different; they thought differently, they had different religious and political views, different aesthetic sensibilities, different social temperaments. And each produced a large body of poetry. Álvaro de Campos and Ricardo Reis also signed dozens of pages of prose.
The critic Harold Bloom referred to him in the book The Western Canon as the most representative poet of the twentieth century, along with Pablo Neruda.
It is sometimes said that the four greatest Portuguese poets of modern times are Fernando Pessoa. The statement is possible since Pessoa, whose name means ‘person’ in Portuguese, had three alter egos who wrote in styles completely different from his own. In fact Pessoa wrote under dozens of names, but Alberto Caeiro, Ricardo Reis and Álvaro de Campos were – their creator claimed – full-fledged individuals who wrote things that he himself would never or could never write. He dubbed them ‘heteronyms’ rather than pseudonyms, since they were not false names but “other names”, belonging to distinct literary personalities. Not only were their styles different; they thought differently, they had different religious and political views, different aesthetic sensibilities, different social temperaments. And each produced a large body of poetry. Álvaro de Campos and Ricardo Reis also signed dozens of pages of prose.
The critic Harold Bloom referred to him in the book The Western Canon as the most representative poet of the twentieth century, along with Pablo Neruda.
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October 25, 2025
J’ai découvert avec plaisir la poésie de Fernando Pessoa et j’ai été fascinée par ses hétéronymes.
Dans ce recueil, on sent vraiment l’influence de la philosophie d’Epicure (au sens antique du terme) avec une recherche de l’ataraxie. J’ai aussi eu l’impression de retrouver les aspirations d’un Nerval envers les dieux païens et leur retour…
Il y a certaines fulgurances poétiques, certaines images qui ont résonné fort en moi et m’ont fait monter les larmes aux yeux.
Dans ce recueil, on sent vraiment l’influence de la philosophie d’Epicure (au sens antique du terme) avec une recherche de l’ataraxie. J’ai aussi eu l’impression de retrouver les aspirations d’un Nerval envers les dieux païens et leur retour…
Il y a certaines fulgurances poétiques, certaines images qui ont résonné fort en moi et m’ont fait monter les larmes aux yeux.
Displaying 1 of 1 review