“I know of places where there are stones that talk to me”: A. M. Pires Cabral’s Arado through the lens of Ecocriticism

Authors

  • Isabel Maria Fernandes Alves University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37536/ECOZONA.2012.3.2.479

Keywords:

poetry, place, poetic of attentiveness, A. M. Pires Cabral, Portuguese rural experience, environmental consciousness, ethical response, A.M. Pires Cabral, poesia portuguesa, lugar, poética de la atención, pastoril, conciencia ambiental

Abstract

A.M. Pires Cabral (b. 1941) is a Portuguese poet, novelist, essayist, and translator. His first book of poetry Somewhere in the Northeast (1974), condenses the originality of his poetic achievement: the meeting between classic form and rural experience. Stemming from the fact that his poetry is based on a specific place and on an instance of attention to ordinary people and objects is a vision which underlines the involvement of the human destiny with the landscape we inhabit. This paper concentrates on the way A. M. Pires Cabral’s poetry has been an example of attentiveness to and of human conversation with the non-human world. Its uniqueness stems from the relationship to a remote and rural Portuguese region. If isolation defines the place, Pires Cabral’s poetry builds a sense of inclusion and communion between physical place, people, and animals, that is, a sense of belonging. The article analyses A. M. Pires Cabral’s Plow (2009), a book in which his poetic engagement with the natural world promotes new insights into the potential role of poetry, generating a greater environmental awareness and calling for new visions and new responsibility.

 

Resumen

 

A. M. Pires Cabral (n. 1941) es un poeta portugués, novelista, ensayista y traductor. Su primer libro de poesía, Algún lugar en el noreste (1974), condensa la originalidad de su logro poético: la unión entre la forma clásica y la experiencia rural. De hecho, su poesía se basa en un lugar específico y en un ejemplo de atención a la gente común y a los objetos como resultado de una visión que pone de relieve la participación del destino humano con el paisaje que habita. Este trabajo se concentra en cómo la poesía de A. M. Pires Cabral ha sido un ejemplo de atención y de conversación humana con el mundo no humano. Su singularidad se debe a la relación con una región portuguesa remota y rural. Pero si el aislamiento define el lugar, la poesía de Pires Cabral construye un sentido de inclusión y de comunión entre el lugar físico, las personas y los animales, es decir, un sentido de pertenencia. El artículo analiza Arado (2009), obra de A. M. Pires Cabral, un libro en el que su compromiso poético con el mundo natural promueve nuevos conocimientos sobre el papel potencial de la poesía, lo que genera una mayor conciencia ambiental, pidiendo nuevas visiones y nuevas responsabilidades.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Isabel Maria Fernandes Alves, University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD)

Isabel Maria Fernandes Alves is assistant professor of Anglo-American Studies at the Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro. For the past few years, her research focuses on the intersections between literature and the environment. She has published essays on Willa Cather, Sarah Orne Jewett, Ruth Suckow, Barbara Kingsolver, and has also been writing about comparative literature. Her current research interests include nature writing and ecocriticism.

Additional Files

Published

2012-10-15

Issue

Section

General Section 3.2 (Autumn 2012)