History of Spanish and Portuguese Literature (Vol 2 of 2)Bouterwek, Friedrich
History
History of Spanish and Portuguese Literature (Vol 2 of 2)
Bouterwek, Friedrich
Portuguese literature -- History and criticism; Spanish literature -- History and criticism
The comparatively correct style of poetry introduced into Portuguese
literature by Saa de Miranda, and the still more coldly correct style
of Antonio de Ferreira, though favoured by that portion of the polite
world which valued a reputation for learning, were but little esteemed
by the great bulk of the public. The poets of this sect may fairly
be said to constitute a classical school, without thereby admitting
them to an equal rank with the incorrect men of genius whose irregular
effusions could scarcely fail to possess more poetic character, than
other works which are now to be noticed; such, for example, as the
poems of Andrade Caminha, who formed himself entirely on the model
of Ferreira. The efforts made by the poets of this classic school to
attain the correctness of the ancients seem to have checked their
powers of fancy, and it may be presumed that imaginations which were so
easily repressed, could not be very creative and energetic. Those who,
like some modern German writers would, in defiance of every rule of
language, render genius the measure of classic excellence, must find a
new term to designate that poetry, the greatest merit of which is the
elegant perfection and pure rounding of poetic forms after the example
of the ancients. This, which is in other respects an inferior style
of poetry, is nevertheless held in consideration by all cultivated
nations. To reject it as altogether worthless would indeed be very
unjust, since it serves to shew how judgment, talent, and taste, can by
the study of ancient models, produce, even without the aid of genius,
a certain kind of poetic beauty, which is not unmeritorious, though it
frequently presents scarcely a shadow of that pure and sublime beauty
which is the offspring of real genius. Poetry of this kind is therefore
styled classical, merely in reference to a certain degree of affinity
which its forms bear to the classical forms of Greek and Roman art.
ANDRADE CAMINHA.
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