Antero de Quental

Main masterpieces:   

• Sonetos de Antero (1861) 
• Beatrice e Fiat Lux (1863)
• Odes Modernas (1865)
• Bom Senso e Bom Gosto (1865)
• Portugal perante a Revolução de Espanha (1868)
• Considerações sobre a Filosofia da História Literária Portuguesa (1872)
• A Poesia na Actualidade (1881)
• Sonetos Completos (1886)
• A Filosofia da Natureza dos Naturistas (1886)
• Raios de Extinta Luz (1892)

Historical period in literature: 

Modern literature, period from Romanticism to Symbolism

 

The three dimensions and essential themes

The work of Antero de Quental has three dimensions: 

- social – in which he analyzes society, seeks to find the causes of its decline and proposes solutions based on the utopian socialism of Proudhon; 

- philosophical – under the predominant influence of Hegel for whom the idea is the ultimate goal to reach;

- and poetic that deals with the Love and the Reason, sources of harmony in the individual and on the society; the night, dreams and death, the pessimism of returning to emptiness.

The essential themes of his poetry are God, Love, Justice, Fraternity, Death, Loneliness and Emptiness.

 

Consulted sources:  

Portal da Literatura Portuguesa
infopédia_AnteroQuental 
lithis