Maria Helena da Rocha Pereira reading Sophia

a metacritic exercise

Abstract

From the academic work by Maria Helena da Rocha Pereira there are many studies on classical receptions in the Portuguese poetry from different periods, special attention being payed to the poetic work by contemporary authors, such as Eugénio de Andrade, Manuel Alegre, Miguel Torga and — at least since 1981, with the study «Motivos clássicos na poesia portuguesa contemporânea: o mito de Orfeu e Eurídice» (collect in 1988 as part of the volume Novos Ensaios sobre Temas Clássicos na Poesia Portuguesa) — Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, to whom the Coimbra’s professor dedicates at least four essays: «Paisagem real e paisagem espiritual em alguns poetas portugueses contemporâneos», «The classical heritage in contemporary Portuguese poetry: a few examples» and especially «A luz da Grécia» (all collected in 2003 in the volume Portugal e a Herança Clássica e Outros Textos). In her interpretation, regarding her informative insight and overwhelming knowledge, Maria Helena da Rocha Pereira imposed in the work of these poets a reading topic that went central in the Portuguese literary critic, to which the development of the classical receptions subject in the academic research had no less importance. As it is, mentioning another work from the critic about the same theme (as the investigation took by José Ribeiro Ferreira, Fernando J. B. Martinho, Eduardo Lourenço or Federico Bertolazzi), in this paper I submit to inquiry the analytic methods used by Rocha Pereira as reader of the work of Sophia, dealing with conclusions reached on the classical influences in her poetry and how it shaped the interpretation of the Portuguese poetry in the second half of the 20th century.