‘Women Here and Now’ at the Brazil-Mozambique Cultural Centre in Maputo
Poetry evening: Between the sea and hell
12:36 CAT | 29 April 2019
Poetry evening: Between the sea and hell
Date and Time: Tuesday, May 28 2019 at 18h00
Entrance: Free
Address: Fundação Fernando Leite Couto, Av. Kim Il Sung no. 961, Maputo
About the event
Inspired by the poetry of Sophia by M. Breyner Andresen (Portugal) and Dante Aligheri (Italy)
This event will be embodied by a dialogue of the literary works of two European poets. Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, celebrating the centenary of her birth and the Italian Dante Aligheri born more than 700 years ago. The poetry will be composed by a recital of Classical Guitar, recital and poetic staging.
About Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen
Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen (November 6, 1919 in Porto – July 2, 2004 in Lisbon) was a Portuguese poet and writer. In 2014, she was unanimously chosen by the Parliament with National Pantheon honours, the second woman to be so honored, after Amália Rodrigues.
Sophia, as she is often referred to in Portugal, was born in Porto to a wealthy aristocratic family. She inherited the surname 'Andresen' from her paternal great grandfather, a Danish merchant. She received a strict Catholic upbringing, and was to remain a fervent believer until the end of her life. After spending her childhood in Porto she moved to Lisbon, where she attended the Universidade de Lisboa. As a student, she was actively involved in Catholic movements. Politically, she defended constitutional monarchy and openly criticized Salazar's dictatorship. In 1946 she married lawyer and politician Francisco Sousa Tavares. They had five children, among whom is journalist and best-selling author Miguel Sousa Tavares. After the Carnation Revolution in 1974, she made a brief incursion into politics as an MP for the Socialist Party (centre-left).
Andresen won acclaim as a storyteller with Contos Exemplares (Exemplary Tales),"Histórias da Terra e do Mar" (Stories of Land and Sea), and a number of children's books – A Menina do Mar (The Sea Girl), O Cavaleiro da Dinamarca (The Danish Knight), A Floresta (The Forest), O Rapaz de Bronze (The Bronze Boy), A Fada Oriana (The Fairy Oriana). She also published several poetry books and anthologies, including: Poesia, Dual, Livro Sexto, Coral, Dia do Mar, No Tempo Dividido, Grades, O Nome das Coisas, As Ilhas, Antologia, Geografia, Navegações, O Búzio de Cós. In 1999 she became the first woman to receive the highest Portuguese award for poetry, the Prémio Camões. She was also awarded the Max Jacob Poetry Prize,in 2001, and the Spanish Prémio Reinha Sofia in 2003.
"Poetry," she explained, "is my understanding of the universe, my way of relating to things, my participation in reality, my encounter with voices and images. This is why the poem speaks not of an ideal life but of a concrete one: the angle of a window, the resonance of streets, cities and rooms, the shadow cast by a wall, a sudden face, the silence, distance and brightness of the stars, the night’s breath, the scent of linden and of oregano." The sea is probably the most central theme in her poetical works. Other recurring themes are Ancient Greece and ideas of freedom and justice. (Source: Wikipedia)
About Dante Aligheri
Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri (Italian: [duˈrante deʎʎ aliˈɡjɛːri]; Latin: Dantes), commonly known by his name of art Dante Alighieri or simply as Dante (Italian: [ˈdante]; English: /ˈdɑːnteɪ/, UK also /ˈdænti, -teɪ/; c. 1265 – 1321), was an Italian poet during the Late Middle Ages. His Divine Comedy, originally called Comedìa (modern Italian: Commedia) and later christened Divina by Giovanni Boccaccio, is widely considered the most important poem of the Middle Ages and the greatest literary work in the Italian language.
In the late Middle Ages, most poetry was written in Latin, making it accessible only to the most educated readers. In De vulgari eloquentia (On Eloquence in the Vernacular), however, Dante defended the use of the vernacular in literature. He would even write in the Tuscan dialect for works such as The New Life (1295) and the Divine Comedy; this highly unorthodox choice set a precedent that important later Italian writers such as Petrarch and Boccaccio would follow.
Dante was instrumental in establishing the literature of Italy, and his depictions of Hell, Purgatory and Heaven provided inspiration for the larger body of Western art. He is cited as an influence on John Milton, Geoffrey Chaucer and Alfred Tennyson, among many others. In addition, the first use of the interlocking three-line rhyme scheme, or the terza rima, is attributed to him. In Italy, he is often referred to as il Sommo Poeta ("the Supreme Poet") and il Poeta; he, Petrarch, and Boccaccio are also called "the three fountains" or "the three crowns". (Source: Wikipedia)
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