Pessoa, Fernando

(1888-1935)

   Portugal's most celebrated and talented modern poet and one of Europe's greatest 20th-century poets, whose works are now translated into many languages. Pessoa was born in Portugal but was raised and educated in South Africa, and for a period, English became almost his first language. He returned to Portugal at age 12, and wrote poetry from an early age. He wrote poetry and essays both in English and in Portuguese under various names. Beyond that unusual practice, Pessoa created different personalities with names such as Alberto Caeiro, Ricardo Reis, Álvaro de Campos, and Bernardo Soares, his heteronyms. He became one of Europe's greatest modernist poets, although he did not publish much of his poetry in book form during his lifetime. His book Mensagem (Message), published in 1934 in Lisbon and receiving a government prize, appeared only a year before his premature death at age 47. Although he had published poems in scattered, ephemeral periodicals in Portugal, much of his writings remained unpublished, stored in a family trunk.