History of Spanish and Portuguese Literature (Vol 2 of 2)

Note 314 — CHAP. III. HISTORY OF PORTUGUESE POETRY AND ELOQUENCE, FROM THE LATTER YEARS OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY UNTIL TOWARDS THE CLOSE OF THE SEVENTEENTH.

Thomasina Ross translation

The following octave, which forms the commencement of Bahia’s Polyphemus, may be quoted as the last specimen of this monstrous style. These lines were afterwards parodied:—

Donde Neptuno cõ grilhões de argento Prende o robusto pé do Lilibeo, Que ao Ceo dá gosto, á terra dá tormento, Gloria de Jove, inferno de Tyfeo: Entre hum campo, que tem no monte assento, Colosso o monte, o campo Colysseo, Cerra hum penhasco huma caverna fria, Donde a noite naõ sahe, nem entre o dia.

Return to CHAP. III. HISTORY OF PORTUGUESE POETRY AND ELOQUENCE, FROM THE LATTER YEARS OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY UNTIL TOWARDS THE CLOSE OF THE SEVENTEENTH.