Mario Higa (Portuguese) lecture: "The Magnetic North and the Southern Gardens in the Poetry of Cesário Verde"

International and Global Studies Colloquium “The Magnetic North and the Southern Gardens in the Poetry of Cesário Verde” by Mario Higa, assistant professor of Portuguese, Middlebury College. Lunch is free for current Middlebury College students/faculty/staff; suggested $5 donation for others; RSVP by 1/12 to rcga@middlebury.edu.

Despite the fact that Cesário Verde (1855-1886) wrote a small number of poems and never published a book during his short lifetime, he is presently one of the most influential poets of Portuguese language. One aspect of his poetry that has been often scrutinized is the dichotomy between urban and rural spaces. I propose to analyze another spatial dichotomy, less considered by critics, namely the South-North opposition. In more specific terms, this dichotomy sets Portugal, a country still primarily agrarian towards the end of the 19th century, against its industrialized neighbors to the North, i.e. England, France and Germany. I will examine how Cesário Verde’s poetry, assuming a Southern standpoint, represents the powerful Northern nations.