Ferreira (Francisco António)

He began as a typesetter, and his only formal qualification was the primary-school examination. Although he himself regretted the gaps in a broader and more solid education, it is nonetheless certain that in journalism he made up for this original lack with the exuberance of an exceptional talent, with a superficial and fleeting reading of some contemporary prose writers and poets, and with a light study of a few textbooks. In various newspapers, and notably in the Diário do Commercio (‘Commercial Daily’), of which he was principal editor for some years, he revealed his remarkable literary aptitude and his marked qualities as a journalist. The characteristic feature of his writing, to which he always gave an unmistakable note, was biting irony, scathing satire and irreverent mockery. In it, wit, talent, art, literary flavour, perfect metre and pointed phrasing amply redeemed the excesses of thought and the not always pure or praiseworthy intentions of their author. His impulsive, fickle and restless temperament sometimes led him into regrettable excesses, which he was the first to acknowledge once reflection and calm replaced the enthusiasms of his combative and ardent nature. In the gazetilha (satirical verse column in a newspaper) Francisco António may be said to have been unsurpassed, and in another setting he would have won well-deserved fame. It is a pity that some of these literary gems have not been collected in a volume.

Francisco António Ferreira was born in Funchal on 25 November 1870, the son of Francisco António Ferreira and Dona Maria Cândida Ferreira, and died in this city on 24 October 1912. He held the post of copying clerk of the District General Council (Junta Geral do Distrito) and used to sign his poems with the pseudonym Campos Verde.