Popular poetry

It is not Madeiran folklore that we intend to deal with here; we hope to say something about this interesting subject in the Supplement to this work, drawing for that purpose on the studies carried out among us by Dr Eduardo Antonino Pestana. Nor do we wish at present to refer to the narratives in verse of which Dr Álvaro Rodrigues de Azevedo made a large collection, publishing the precious anthology entitled ‘Ballad Collection of the Madeira Archipelago’ (Romanceiro do Archipelago da Madeira). On this occasion the point of view we adopt in writing this short article is a very narrow one.

When an extraordinary event stirs the soul of the people and drives it to give noisy expression to the feelings that possess it, the spontaneous, rough poetic inspiration of the common people at once makes itself felt. Artless lyres then appear, singing in laboured laments or lashing out in fiery songs of indignation at the events that provoked this passion and at the circumstances that gave it weight and prominence in the heated minds of the crowds. This has been observed here more than once, but it showed itself in a truly remarkable way at the time of the so-called Plague of the Lazareto (‘quarantine hospital’), to which we have already alluded on p. 224 of volume II and on p. 77 of this volume. Popular poetry – simple, artless and incorrect, but spontaneous, vehement and passionate – poured out in a profusion of compositions which, printed as small pamphlets and loose sheets, were bought and eagerly read by people of every social class. The fever of poetic inspiration set many imaginations alight, and the fertility of these verse productions was truly astonishing: the presses could not keep up with the multitude of poems written at that time.

We give below a list of some of these compositions, which was kindly supplied to us: Farça do Lazareto, 13 pp.; Sonho dum Machiqueiro, 9 pp.; Auto da Peste, 16 pp.; O dr. Rego no Inferno, 8 pp.; O Dedo da Providencia, 8 pp.; A Peste no Funchal (versos do Feiticeiro), 7 pp.; A Peste Balbinica; A Peste no Funchal; A Panelinha da Peste e um medroso; Os Primos do dr. Rego; O dr. Rego enforcado; Confissões do dr. Rego; Os Pestilenciais no Funchal; A Despedida; Canção da Peste; Má Peste dê nos Pestes; Farças e Farçantes, 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th parts; O Bicho desapareceu; Viva o dia 7 de Janeiro de 1906; O Ultimo Suspiro; Assalto ao Lazareto; A Peste no Funchal no dia 7 de Janeiro de 1906; Partida, etc. etc.

As generally happens, the people, carried away and deceived by vile profiteers, committed the most deplorable excesses at this sad juncture. These excesses are eloquently reflected in the productions listed above, in which the unruliness of the language matches the excesses committed.

Prose pamphlets were also widely popular, and the campaigns in the periodical press, with rare and honourable exceptions, matched these excesses of the fervent popular lyre in both quantity and quality.