"O Dos Castelos": Portugal As Pessoa's "Staring Face" of Europe
O Dos Castelos, a poem of the great Portuguese writer, Fernando António Nogueira Pessoa, was published in Mensagem (1934). It inspired his good friend, Portuguese modernist José Sobral de Alameda Negreiros, to draw his own version of Europe, a map not limited by geographic reality but corresponding to the symbolic persona taking shape in the poem, according to Portugal, the "Staring Face" of Europe (May 27, 2015), Big Think. The poem emphasizes Portugal's significance within Europe. The message is one of the nation's importance as the herald of a new world, according to Sentir Português (June 21, 2015).
O Dos Castelos That of the Castles
A Europa jaz, posta nos cotovelos: Europe rests, leaning on its elbows:
De Oriente a Ocidente jaz, fitando, From East to West, it rests, staring,
E toldam-lhe românticos cabelos And romantic hair falls over
Olhos gregos, lembrando. Greek eyes, remembering.
O cotovelo esquerdo é recuado; The left elbow is held at bay;
O direito é em ângulo disposto. The right one, at an angle, inclined.
Aquele diz Itália onde é pousado; The former, where it lies, says Italy;
Este diz Inglaterra onde, afastado, The latter, England, where, resigned,
A mão sustenta, em que se apoia o rosto. Its hand is raised, and holds its face in kind.
Fita, com olhar sphyngico e fatal, It stares with Sphinx-like eyes, and is fatal,
O Ocidente, futuro do passado. The West, future of all that's behind.
O rosto com que fita é Portugal. The face with which it stares is Portugal.
Message by Fernando Pessoa, translation by Martin Earl and Margarida Vale de Gato
The seven castles in the Portuguese coat-of-arms represent walled towns which were conquered from the Moors in medieval times, according to João Manuel Mimoso, Inverso (January 13, 2004). Thus, the field of castles pertains to the materiality in the country. This first poem in Mensagem begins with a brief description of the map of Europe and of Portugal's geographic position in it. According to the mythic origin of the continent, Europe is a woman whose Greek eyes remind us of one of the cultural origins of the Portuguese nation.
"As often happens in Pessoa's best work, a final twist makes us review the simplicity we had laid out in our minds. Europe is staring out west to the future of the past and . . . the staring face is Portugal! A double meaning is intended: on one side, this is a clear reference to the fact that Portugal has, in the past, sought its destiny in the sea and, consequently, spearheaded the European expansion overseas; but, on the other hand, the mention of the future means that the saga is not over yet and that the future of Europe still awaits out west.
"According to Fernando Pessoa's belief, Portugal will, one day, again show the way and that prophecy is the message itself."
Europe (From Geographic Guide)
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