Authors

Portuguese · 1894–1930

Florbela Espanca

Florbela Espanca was a Portuguese poet whose passionate, formally perfect sonnets — collected in Livro de Máguas (1919), Soror Saudade (1923), and Charneca em Flor (1930, posth.) — established her as one of the most important voices in twentieth-century Portuguese poetry. Her frank treatment of female desire and subjectivity was controversial in her time; she was largely ignored by the male literary establishment. She died by suicide on her thirty-sixth birthday. Her reputation grew steadily after her death and she is now considered one of Portugal's greatest poets.