Nova Antologia Poetica

by Mario Quintana

Genres: Poetry, Brazil, Classics

218 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

I was born in Alegrete, on the 30th of July 1906. I believe that was the first thing that happened to me. And now they have asked me to speak of myself. Well! I always thought that every confession that wasn’t altered by art is indecent. My life is in my poems, my poems are myself, never have I written a comma that wasn’t a confession. Ah! but what they want are details, rawness, gossip...Here we go! I am 78 years old, but without age. Of ages, there are only two: either you are alive or dead. In the latter case, it is too old, because what was promised to us was eternity. I was born in the rigor of the winter, temperature: 1 degree °C; and still I was premature, which would leave me kind of complexed because I used to think I wasn’t ready. One day I discovered that someone as complete as Winston Churchill was born premature - the same thing happened to Sir Issac Newton! Excusez du peu... I prefer to cite the opinion of others about me. They say I am modest. On the contrary, I am so proud that I think I never reached the height of my writing. Because poetry is insatisfaction, an affliction of self-elevation. A satisfied poet doesn’t satisfy. They say I am timid. Nothing of the sort! I am very quiet, introspective. I don’t know why they subject the introverts to treatment. Only for not being as annoying at the rest?

It is exactly for detesting annoyingness, the lengthiness, that I love synthesis. Another element of poetry is the search for the form (not of the form), the dosage of words. Perhaps what contributes to my safety is the fact that I have been a practitioner of pharmacy for five years. Note that the same happened with Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Alberto de Oliveira, Erico Verissimo - they well know (or knew) what a loving fight with words means.

Reviews

[Gabriel Brum · Rating 3 out of 5]

poemas simples e bons

meus preferidos:

das utopias
inscrição para uma lareira

[Pascale Malinconico · Rating 3 out of 5]

Estou tentando ler um gênero que não sou muito fã que é a poesia e Quintana foi o segundo poeta modernista brasileiro que leio. Confesso que gostei mais do Bandeira (alguns dirão que sou bairrista), mas gosto é gosto. Sempre quis lê-lo e nunca tinha tido oportunidade até agora. Inclusive fiquei mais curiosa ainda depois de conhecer o Espaço Cultural Mario Quintana em Porto Alegre. Enfim, é um livro bonito, com belos poemas que nos põem pra pensar sobre o cotidiano e a vida. É uma ótima porta de entrada para os leitores que querem ter contato com este poeta essencial. "Quando se vê, já são seis horas! Quando de vê, já é sexta-feira! Quando se vê perdemos o amor da nossa vida. Quando se vê passaram 50 anos."

[Roberto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful and easy-to-read, has much of the sweetness that I was expecting, absolutely no aphorisms at all - curiously, the author is known, nowadays, mainly because of them - and just a lot of... crickets, yeah, crickets, everywhere!

My favorite poem of this collection, for sure, is called "Escadas", or "The Stairs", where the author flirts with concrete poetry, delivering a fun digression about the everyday life and the modern fears and anxieties we all feel.

[Vander Alves · Rating 2 out of 5]

Passei a antologia toda com a sensação de que a qualquer momento um poema me tocaria intimamente, mas foi engano, não leria a mesma coletânea de novo.

[Felipe Silva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sou fã de Quintana. A forma como brinca com as palavras é genial.

[Rosa Ramôa · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Com o tempo, você vai percebendo que, para ser feliz, você precisa aprender a gostar de você, a cuidar de você e, principalmente, a gostar de quem também gosta de você".

[Morgan (Turbo) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the first book of poetry that I read in Portuguese completely through. I enjoyed it thoroughly and it gave me more background vocabulary for the language (I've got at least 100-word list stuck in the book). The poems were simple enough with some good lessons but even some of these simple ones I would get serious mistakes in meaning. Thank god for Carolina, my beautiful Brazilian wife, to school me on these mistakes.

One poem in particular comes to mind: "Cinco Fábulas," or Five Fables. Each verse tells the story of a pair animals in heroic couplet. They're simple and they're cute, but reviewing it with Carolina, I had mistaken the meaning on nearly everyone. It was a funny realization that could not be duplicated. I can only say I still have a long road to work on to master Portuguese.

BTW: Here's some words I liked

Volúpia - Voluptious
Baldio - Wasteland
Cismar - think stubbornly; to get a song stuck in your head (or thought for that matter)

[John Winter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Levei meses para ler essa obra, pois não tinha me dado conta de quão boa era. Quando por fim acordei, li mais de 100 poemas em uma tarde apenas.

Destaques do livro:TRÁGICO ACIDENTE DE LEITURA; SEISCENTOS E SESSENTA E SEIS; POEMA PARA JULIANO O APÓSTATA; ESPERANÇA; A TERRA; O AUTORRETRATO; O TEMPO; O OVO SAPIENS; AS COVAS; DA PERFEIÇÃO DA VIDA; entre muitos outros.

Super recomendo a leitura desta obra prima de nossa Literatura. Viva!

[Ju Haghverdian · Rating 4 out of 5]

short/quick poems to light up the day.