JOÃO CABRAL DE MELO NETO

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João Cabral was born on January 9, 1920, in Recife, where the river Capibaribe flows through the center of the city. Among his cousins were Manuel Bandeira and Gilberto Freyre. The family’s wealth came from sugar-cane plantations. He spent his childhood in the mills of Poço do Aleixo, Pacoval and Dois Irmãos.

             

He was a poet in the strictest sense. He claimed that poetry is construction and composition. He always rejected the confessional art and sentimentalisms. He believed in reason more than emotion – which did not prevent his verses from being moving. “To me the interior world is a source of torment, a nuisance”, he said towards the end of his life. 

 

O cão sem plumas is dedicated to Joaquim Cardoso, “Capibaribe poet” and notorious structural engineer, having worked, for example, on some of Oscar Niemeyer’s major projects. The admiration says a lot about João Cabral, who was also influenced by the modern and precise architecture of Le Corbusier.

 

Due to his diplomatic career, João Cabral spent most of his life abroad: Barcelona, Seville, Marseille, Madrid, Geneva, Berne, Dakar, Quito, Tegucigalpa, Porto. His poems were especially influenced by Spain, above all by Seville. He became a friend of the painter Joan Miró, about whom he wrote an important essay, and of poet and artist Joan Brossa.

He had a life full of awards and honors. He was decorated in various countries. He was a member of the Pernambuco and Brazilian Academies of Letters, but was always a reticent poet, uninterested in promotions, publicity and interviews.