Dois amigos numa encruzilhada: David Mourão Ferreira e a função da poesia
Two Friends at a Crossroads: David Mourão Ferreira and the Role of Poetry

Summary/Abstract: In this event commemorating April 25, 1974, I recall two young friends who, in 1944, during the Estado Novo regime, debated the role of literature: José Carlos Laranjinha argued that poetry should serve as a means of transforming the world, while David Mourão Ferreira, who would later become one of the greatest Portuguese poets of the 20th century, responded with a poem (whose autograph manuscript is published here), advocating the same mission for the poet. Between 1944 and 1947 (before finding his own “voice”), Mourão-Ferreira hesitated and searched for direction, but ultimately broke away from the neorealist movement to embrace a poetry free of political and social agendas, while maintaining a constant and courageous civic commitment to the defense of freedom.

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