Poetry and composition: Considerations about one of the João Cabral de Melo Neto’s “theses”

Abstract

Mostly known for his poetry work, João Cabral de Melo Neto (1920-1999) is also, author of a valuable work of criticism, which, since its first collection in 1997, has awaken interest and has also contributed to a better comprehension of his literary project. Out of the ‘theses” – as the author himself referred to some those works- the first three deserve some highlighting: “Considerações sobre o poeta dormindo” (1941), “Joan Miró” (1950) and “Poesia e composição” (1952). Thus, the purpose of this article is, to present some considerations on the critical thoughts developed by Cabral in the text “Poesia e composição”, highlighting the original concepts of “easy poets” and “difficult poets” developed by the author in order to contribute to the discussion about this subject. The works of Lima (2002), Carvalho (2009), Siscar (2018) and Pessôa (2019) support this article.