Luís de Camões

Thomas Earle (University of Oxford)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.6.3.00: Portuguese Writing and Culture, 700-present.
Vol. editors: Stuart Green (University of Leeds), Duncan Wheeler (University of Leeds)

Dates

Born 1524
Died 1580
Activity 1544-1580

Places

Born in Portugal
Active in Portugal

Activities

Primary

Poet

Resources

Camões' Works

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Luís de Camões (1524-1580) is the national poet of Portugal and one of the greatest literary figures of sixteenth-century Europe. Intellectual and man of action, he was the first major European writer to spend much of his life outside Europe. His most famous work, the epic

Os Lusíadas

(1572)

(

The Lusiads)

many times translated into English, recounts the first voyage to India of Vasco da Gama (1497-99) in the wider context of the history of Portugal. In this learned, Virgilian epic Camões explores the ambiguities of heroic action and avoids writing a simple eulogy of Portuguese imperial endeavour. As a love poet he was equally successful with the verse forms typical of the late medieval period and with sonnets and longer lyric poems in the new, Renaissance style first brought to…

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2166 words

Citation: Earle, Thomas. "Luís de Camões". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 04 October 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5587, accessed 24 November 2024.]