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Article Nº 0745 Arts, literature and historiography Vol. I · pp. 428–429 2 min read

Camões

Entry on Luís de Camões's reference to Madeira in stanza 5 of Canto V of Os Lusíadas (1572), with a prose paraphrase and a note on the 1934 pamphlet 'Camões e a Madeira' by one of the Elucidário's authors.

Camões
As is well known, our great epic poet refers to Madeira in his immortal poem Os Lusíadas (The Lusiads). This fine and laudatory reference is contained in the following lines, which form the 5th stanza of Canto V: ‘We passed the great island of Madeira,which is so called from its abundant woods;the first of those that we settled,more celebrated for its name than for its fame;yet, though it is the last in the world,none of those that Venus loves surpasses it;rather, were it hers, she would forgetCyprus, Guido, Paphos and Cythera.’ (Passamos a grande ilha da Madeira,Que do muito arvoredo assi se chama;Das que nós povoámos a primeira,Mais celebre por nome, que por fama;Mas nem por ser do mundo a derradeira,Se lhe avantajam quantas Venus ama;Antes, sendo esta sua, se esquecera,De Cypro, Guido, Paphos e Cythera.)

Various educational works give the following paraphrase of this stanza:

We passed the great island called Madeira from the many trees it has, the first that we colonised, and one better known by its name than by great deeds performed there; but although it is the last in the world, it is not inferior to all the islands that Venus loved; on the contrary, if Venus possessed it, she would forsake for it the islands of Cyprus, Guido, Paphos and Cythera.’ As Os Lusíadas was published in 1572, Luís de Camões’s reference to Madeira was made about 150 years after the colonisation of Madeira began.

One of the authors of this Elucidário Madeirense dealt with the subject at length in the pamphlet Camões e a Madeira, published in 1934, which covered the following points:

  1. 1. the interpretation of the well-known stanza 50 of Canto V, and particularly of lines 41 and 51
  2. 2. the controversy between Dr José Maria Rodrigues and Admiral Gago Coutinho over the single or double route described by Camões from Lisbon to the Cape Verde islands
  3. 3. the hypothetical location or geographical position of the so-called Isle of Love (Ilha dos Amores)
  4. 4. the supposed or real criticisms the poet directed at the illustrious Madeirans Luís and Martim Gonçalves da Câmara.

In this article

Time

Years mentioned · 02

  1. Os Lusíadas, containing Camões's reference to Madeira, was published.

  2. The pamphlet 'Camões e a Madeira' by one of the Elucidário's authors was published.

Place

Places mentioned · 04
Map: Africa (2)
  1. Cape Verde

    Destination of the route from Lisbon debated by Rodrigues and Gago Coutinho.

  2. Isle of Love

    The poetic Isle of Love of Os Lusíadas, whose hypothetical location is discussed in the pamphlet.

  3. Lisbon

    Portugal. Starting point of the voyage route described by Camões.

People

People mentioned · 05
  1. Luís de Camões

    Portugal's great epic poet, whose Os Lusíadas (1572) praises Madeira in Canto V; he is the subject of this entry.

  2. Gago Coutinho

    Portuguese admiral who argued with José Maria Rodrigues over the route described by Camões from Lisbon to Cape Verde.

  3. José Maria Rodrigues

    Scholar who debated with Admiral Gago Coutinho whether Camões described one or two routes from Lisbon to Cape Verde.

  4. Luís Gonçalves da Câmara1518–1575

    Illustrious Madeiran allegedly censured by Camões in his poetry, a question treated in the pamphlet 'Camões e a Madeira'.

  5. Martim Gonçalves da Câmara

    Illustrious Madeiran allegedly censured by Camões, discussed in the 1934 pamphlet 'Camões e a Madeira'.

Related

Referenced here · 1
Shared people · 7
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