Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen

Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen (6 November 1919 – 2 July 2004) was a Portuguese poet and writer. Considered one of the most important Portuguese poets of the 20th century, she published fourteen poetry books between 1944 and 1997, covering themes such as the natural world, the search for justice, Ancient Greece and the importance of poetry. As a novelist, she published several children's books, which she wrote for her own children, mainly in the 1950s and 1960s. She also wrote essays and theatre plays.

Andresen was actively involved in social causes and politics. An opponent of the Estado Novo regime and the Portuguese Colonial War, she was a founder of the National Commission for Support of Political Prisoners. Following the Carnation Revolution, she was a deputy for the Socialist Party in the Constituent Assembly of Portugal, between 1975 and 1976, which created the current Portuguese Constitution.

Andresen was the first Portuguese woman to be awarded the Camões Prize, in 1999. She died in 2004, at the age of 84. Her remains have been entombed in the National Pantheon since 2014.

Life and career Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen was born on 6 November 1919 in Porto, Portugal. She was the daughter of Maria Amélia de Mello Breyner and João Henrique Andresen. She had Danish ancestry on her father's side, notably her paternal great-grandfather, Jan Andresen, who had traveled alone to Porto as a boy and never left the region. In 1895, Sophia's grandfather bought Quinta do Campo Alegre, now known as the Porto Botanical Garden, where he raised his family. As stated by Sophia in a 1993 interview, the house and grounds were "a fabulous territory with a large and rich family served by a large household staff." and denouncing Prime minister Salazar's regime and its followers. The song called "Cantata da Paz", became famous as an intervention song of the Progressive Catholics: "We see, hear and read. We cannot ignore!"

In 1946, she married journalist, politician and lawyer Francisco Sousa Tavares and became mother of five children: Isabel, Maria, a university literature professor, Miguel, a journalist and writer, Sofia and Xavier, a painter and ceramist. Her children motivated her to write children's books.

In 1964, Andresen received the Grand Prize of Poetry by the Portuguese Society of Writers for her book Livro Sexto. Following the Carnation Revolution, she was elected to the Constituent Assembly in 1975 by the Porto circle on a Socialist Party list, while her husband joined the Social Democratic Party.

Andersen 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 (Camões Prize). She was also awarded the Max Jacob Poetry Prize, in 2001, and the Spanish Prémio Reina Sofia in 2003.

Besides her work as a writer, she translated Dante and Shakespeare into Portuguese.

Later years

Andresen died at the age of 84 on 2 July 2004 in Lisbon, Initially, her body was buried in Carnide Cemetery, but on 20 February 2014 the Assembly of the Republic unanimously decided to honor the poet by entombing her remains in the Portuguese National Pantheon. The relocation ceremony took place on 2 July 2014.

Writing style From her childhood and youth, she emphasized the importance of houses, and memories that had a great impact on her work, describing and recalling the houses and the objects inside them. She explained this as follows: "I have a lot of visual memory and I always remember houses, room by room, furniture by furniture, and I remember many houses that have disappeared from my life... I try to 'represent', I mean, 'bring back the things I liked,' and that's what goes with houses: I want their memory not to drift, not to be lost." Andresen also believed that poetry had a fundamental transformative value. Her writing corresponded to specific cycles, with the culmination of the activity at night: "I cannot write in the morning... I need that special concentration that is being created at night." According to Dulce Maria Quintela, Andresen's life and memories are an inspiration because she "speaks of herself through her poetry".

Early writings

Andresen began her love of poetry as a child when, at the age of three, she was taught "A Nau Catrineta" by her nanny Laura. Based on Luísa Pessoa's observations, Andresen focuses on themes such as: childhood and youth, which she uses as a reference space ("The Garden and the House", Poetry, 1944; "House", Geography, 1967; "White House", Poetry, 1944; "Lost Garden", Poetry, Garden and the Night, Poetry, 1944).

Later work Contact with nature also profoundly marked her work. For the author, this contact became an example of freedom, beauty, perfection and mystery and is widely found in her work, whether by the allusions to the land (trees, birds, moonlight) or by her references to the sea (beach, shells, waves).

The Sea is one of the key concepts in Andresen's literary creations: "From the Shore / Where It All Started Intact on the First Day of Me." The literary effect of the sea's inspiration can be seen in several poems, such as "Men by the Sea" or "Women by the Sea." The author comments on this inspiration as follows:"These poems have to do with the Granja mornings, the beach mornings. And also with a painting by Picasso. There is a painting by Picasso called "Women by the Sea." No one will say that Picasso's painting and Lorca's poetry have had a tremendous influence on my poetry, especially in the time of the Choral ... And one of Picasso's influences on me was that I moved the images."The sea is used to express the obsession with it, its beauty, its serenity and its myths. The sea appears here as a symbol of the dynamics of life. Everything comes from it and everything returns to it. It is the space of life, transformation and death.

The city is another motif often repeated in Andresen's work. The city is viewed as negative space. It represents the cold, artificial, hostile and dehumanized world, the opposite of nature and security.

Another frequently stressed topic in Andresen's work is time: the divided and the absolute that oppose each other. The first is the time of loneliness, fear and lies, while absolute time is eternal, unites life and is the time of moral values. According to Eduardo do Prado Coelho,

The pursuit of justice, balance, harmony and the demand for morality Awareness of the time we live Nature and the Sea - euphoric and referential spaces for any human being The theme of the house Love Life as opposed to death Childhood memory Values of classical antiquity, Hellenic naturalism Idealism and individualism at the psychological level The poet as shepherd of the absolute Christian humanism Belief in Messianic and Sebastianist Values Separation

Regarding Andresen's language style, the most evident marks are:

The opinion of her work shared by some of the most important Portuguese literary critics is the same: the author's talent is unanimously appreciated. Eduardo Lourenço says that Andresen has a wisdom "deeper than just knowing", that its intimate knowledge is immense and its reflection, however deep, is exposed in an original simplicity.

Legacy In the Lisbon Oceanarium, since 2005, some of Andresen's poems with a strong connection to the sea have been placed for permanent reading in the rest areas, allowing visitors to absorb the boldness of her writing while immersed in a deep sea environment.

"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 a 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.

Her poetry has been translated into English by Ruth Fainlight, Richard Zenith and most recently by Colin Rorrison with Margaret Jull Costa, as well as into many other world languages.

A documentary short film about Andresen was produced in 1969. It was the first completed film by director João César Monteiro (then using the name João César Santos).