Álvaro de Campos
Encyclopedia
Álvaro de Campos was one of the poet Fernando Pessoa
's various heteronym
s, widely known by his powerful and wraithful writing style. Campos' works may be split in three phases: the decadentist
phase, the futuristic
phase and the decadent (sad) phase. He chose Marinetti and Whitman
as masters, showing some similitarities with their works, mainly in the second phase: hymns like "Ode Triunfal" and "Ode Marítima" praise the power of the rising technology, the strength of the machines, the dark side of the industrial civilization, and an enigmatic love for the machines. The first phase (marked by the poem «Opiário» shared some of its pessimism with Pessoa's friend Mário de Sá-Carneiro
, one of his co-workers in Orpheu magazine. In the last phase, Pessoa drops the mask, and reveals through Campos all the emptiness and nostalgy that grew during his last years of life. He lived in Barrow-in-Furness
, Cumbria
, England
for a time where he studied Ship Engineering (of which Pessoa wrote a poem about) and later, in 1922, he lived in Newcastle-on-Tyne (currently Newcastle upon Tyne
).
I always want to be the thing I feel kinship with...
To feel everything in every way,
To hold all opinions,
To be sincere contradicting oneself every minute...
I'll always be nothing.
I can't want to be something.
I have in me all the dreams of the world nevertheless.
"The Tobacco Shop"
Álvaro de Campos is undoubtedly Pessoa's greatest heteronym. 'Campos,' as Zenith notes, 'was the most substantial of Pessoa's heteronyms and the one closest to his true heart and person...he was in many ways a larger-than-life version of his creator.' Of the three heteronyms he is the one who feels the strongest; his motto was 'to feel everything in every way.' 'The best way to travel,' he wrote, 'is to feel.'
Campos manifests two contrary impulses: on the one hand: a feverish desire to be everything and everyone, declaring that 'in every corner of my soul stands an altar to a different god.' The second impulse is toward a state of isolation and a sense of nothingness.
Of the first of these impulses: Campos is possessed of the Whitmanian desire to 'contain multitudes'. Critics have noted how 'Whitman's influence is apparent in part in the sheer vitality of these poems, in the zest for experience which they express.' Indeed Campos has in many respects outdone his precursor in 'containing multitudes': it seems that the entire cosmos is not enough for him to 'contain'. After chanting all the places, all the ports, all the sights he's seen.... 'Of all this,' he remarks, 'which is so much, is nothing next to what I want.'
Campos' poems represent the apotheosis of Pessoan anguish. His poems reflect an existentially anguished search for meaning. His poems are at once nostalgic, self-ironic; here despair, terror, the self questioning of the poet are laid bare. The poems as a critic remarks, evoke an 'atmosphere of unreality' this state is created 'by insistence on denial, negativity, absence, loss.'
One of the poet's constant preoccupations is that of identity: he does not know who he is. The problem, it seems, is not that he doesn't know what to be; on the contrary: he wants to be too much, everything; short of achieving this he despairs. Unlike Caeiro, who asks nothing of life, he asks too much. In his poetic meditation 'Tobacco Shop' he asks:
How should I know what I'll be, I who don't know what I am?
Be what I think? But I think of being so many things!
Campos can be manic-depressive, exultant, violent, dynamic; he quests for nowhere and everywhere at once. His is an agonized doubt at the wasting of life—at life, everything. For a critic he is 'par excellence the poet appalled by the emptiness of his own existence, lethargic, lacking in will-power, seeking inspiration, or at all events finding it, in semi-conscious states, in the twilight world between waking and sleeping, in dreams and in drunkenness'.
Fernando Pessoa
Fernando Pessoa, born Fernando António Nogueira de Seabra Pessoa , was a Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic and translator described as one of the most significant literary figures of the 20th century and one of the greatest poets in the Portuguese language.-Early years in Durban:On 13 July...
's various heteronym
Heteronym (literature)
The literary concept of heteronym, invented by Portuguese writer and poet Fernando Pessoa, refers to one or more imaginary character created by a writer to write in different styles...
s, widely known by his powerful and wraithful writing style. Campos' works may be split in three phases: the decadentist
Decadentism
Decadentism was an Italian artistic style based mainly on the Decadent movement in the arts in France and England around the end of the 19th century. The main authors associated with decadentism were Antonio Fogazzaro, Italo Svevo, Giovanni Pascoli and Gabriele D'Annunzio...
phase, the futuristic
Futurism (art)
Futurism was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy in the early 20th century. It emphasized and glorified themes associated with contemporary concepts of the future, including speed, technology, youth and violence, and objects such as the car, the airplane and the industrial city...
phase and the decadent (sad) phase. He chose Marinetti and Whitman
Walt Whitman
Walter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse...
as masters, showing some similitarities with their works, mainly in the second phase: hymns like "Ode Triunfal" and "Ode Marítima" praise the power of the rising technology, the strength of the machines, the dark side of the industrial civilization, and an enigmatic love for the machines. The first phase (marked by the poem «Opiário» shared some of its pessimism with Pessoa's friend Mário de Sá-Carneiro
Mário de Sá-Carneiro
Mário de Sá-Carneiro was a Portuguese poet and writer. He is one of the most well known of the "Geração D'Orpheu".-Life:...
, one of his co-workers in Orpheu magazine. In the last phase, Pessoa drops the mask, and reveals through Campos all the emptiness and nostalgy that grew during his last years of life. He lived in Barrow-in-Furness
Barrow-in-Furness
Barrow-in-Furness is an industrial town and seaport which forms about half the territory of the wider Borough of Barrow-in-Furness in the county of Cumbria, England. It lies north of Liverpool, northwest of Manchester and southwest from the county town of Carlisle...
, Cumbria
Cumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
for a time where he studied Ship Engineering (of which Pessoa wrote a poem about) and later, in 1922, he lived in Newcastle-on-Tyne (currently Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
).
I always want to be the thing I feel kinship with...
To feel everything in every way,
To hold all opinions,
To be sincere contradicting oneself every minute...
Critical overview
I'm nothing.I'll always be nothing.
I can't want to be something.
I have in me all the dreams of the world nevertheless.
"The Tobacco Shop"
Álvaro de Campos is undoubtedly Pessoa's greatest heteronym. 'Campos,' as Zenith notes, 'was the most substantial of Pessoa's heteronyms and the one closest to his true heart and person...he was in many ways a larger-than-life version of his creator.' Of the three heteronyms he is the one who feels the strongest; his motto was 'to feel everything in every way.' 'The best way to travel,' he wrote, 'is to feel.'
Campos manifests two contrary impulses: on the one hand: a feverish desire to be everything and everyone, declaring that 'in every corner of my soul stands an altar to a different god.' The second impulse is toward a state of isolation and a sense of nothingness.
Of the first of these impulses: Campos is possessed of the Whitmanian desire to 'contain multitudes'. Critics have noted how 'Whitman's influence is apparent in part in the sheer vitality of these poems, in the zest for experience which they express.' Indeed Campos has in many respects outdone his precursor in 'containing multitudes': it seems that the entire cosmos is not enough for him to 'contain'. After chanting all the places, all the ports, all the sights he's seen.... 'Of all this,' he remarks, 'which is so much, is nothing next to what I want.'
Campos' poems represent the apotheosis of Pessoan anguish. His poems reflect an existentially anguished search for meaning. His poems are at once nostalgic, self-ironic; here despair, terror, the self questioning of the poet are laid bare. The poems as a critic remarks, evoke an 'atmosphere of unreality' this state is created 'by insistence on denial, negativity, absence, loss.'
One of the poet's constant preoccupations is that of identity: he does not know who he is. The problem, it seems, is not that he doesn't know what to be; on the contrary: he wants to be too much, everything; short of achieving this he despairs. Unlike Caeiro, who asks nothing of life, he asks too much. In his poetic meditation 'Tobacco Shop' he asks:
How should I know what I'll be, I who don't know what I am?
Be what I think? But I think of being so many things!
Campos can be manic-depressive, exultant, violent, dynamic; he quests for nowhere and everywhere at once. His is an agonized doubt at the wasting of life—at life, everything. For a critic he is 'par excellence the poet appalled by the emptiness of his own existence, lethargic, lacking in will-power, seeking inspiration, or at all events finding it, in semi-conscious states, in the twilight world between waking and sleeping, in dreams and in drunkenness'.