Antero de Quental
Antero de Quental was a prominent Portuguese poet, essayist, and socialist born in 1842 in Ponta Delgada, Azores. A distinguished student at the University of Coimbra, he became a leading figure in student activism, advocating for reforms against the university's conservative policies. Quental's literary contributions began early, with his first volume of poetry, "Sonetos de Anthero de Quental," published in 1861, and he later released "Odes modernas" in 1865, which sparked significant discussions on Portuguese poetry and realism. After obtaining a law degree, he chose not to pursue a legal career, instead engaging deeply with socialist thought and helping to establish worker associations and relevant publications. Quental was instrumental in organizing the Democratic Conferences aimed at modernizing Portugal's societal and political landscape. Despite his literary and political achievements, he faced personal struggles, including depression and health issues, which ultimately led to his tragic suicide in 1891. Quental's legacy remains marked by his contributions to literature and his advocacy for social reform in Portugal.
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Subject Terms
Antero de Quental
Poet
- Born: April 18, 1842
- Birthplace: Ponta Delgada, Azores, Portugal
- Died: September 11, 1891
- Place of death: Ponta Delgada, Azores, Portugal
Biography
Antero de Quental was born in Ponta Delgada, on the Azores Islands of Portugal, in 1842. He attended grammar school in the Azores before becoming a distinguished student at the University of Coimbra, where he studied law. He was a leading voice among a group of students who denounced the university’s intellectual and political conservatism, and he and other students took on the university’s administration, demanding institutional reforms in university policies. Quental protested through words, writing such pamphlets as the “Manifesto dos estudantes da Universidade de Coimbra à opinião illustrada do país,” a student manifesto concerning the “enlightened opinion” of Portugal, in the early 1860’s.
Quental had begun writing poetry at a young age, and while in college he published many poems and essays in such university literary journals as Fósforo and Prelúdios literários. His writings in this period included arguments in favor of expanded rights and educational opportunities for women. Quental’s first volume of poetry, Sonetos de Anthero de Quental, appeared in 1861. In 1865, he published the collection Odes modernas, which became a key publication in debates over the changing forms of Portuguese poetry and Portuguese realism both immediately upon its appearance and during subsequent decades.
Quental finished his law degree in 1864 but decided not to pursue a legal career. Instead, he learned typography and traveled to Paris in 1866 to work. After working and studying at the Collège de France, Quental returned to Lisbon in 1868. He then traveled throughout the United States and Canada for the next year while studying socialist texts and continuing to write. In 1870, the writer began devoting himself to socialist causes, and he helped found worker associations and published relevant pamphlets. Later, he managed the journal República—Jornal da democracia Portuguesa and coedited the journal Pensamento social.
Quental was one of the key organizers of the Conferências Democráticas (Democratic Conferences), or the Conferências do Casino (Conferences of Casino), formed in 1871 and aimed at advancing Portugal’s economy, politics, and society to bring the nation in line with the progressiveness of other European nations. Quental is remembered for one of his presentations at the conferences, published as Causas das decadencia dos povos peninsulares nos ultimos tres seculos (1871), an analysis of the decline of the Iberian people during the last three centuries. Quental also took on the Catholic church; these and other criticisms of religious institutions led the Portuguese government to shut down the building in which the conference was held. Quental and other conference attendees were outraged by what they considered an attack on their freedoms.
Quental continued to write throughout the years. Primaveras românticas, versos dos vinte anos (1872) featured poems by a youthful Quental; Considerações sobre a philosophia da história litterária portugueza (1872), an analysis of Portuguese literary history, was considered by its author to be his best writing until the 1880’s. Quental returned to the island of his birth in 1873 and, in a state of depression, kept to himself, although he did establish a journal called Revista Occidental during this period. In 1876, he sought treatments for his mental and physical illnesses in Portugal and Paris but the treatments were unsuccessful. He did, however, begin a three-year relationship with the baroness of Saillière while in Paris. He moved to the small, quiet village of Vila do Conde in 1881 with his two adopted daughters; his friend, Germano Meireles, had died in 1878, leaving his four-year-old Albertina and two-year-old Beatriz in Quental’s care. In subsequent years, friends convinced Quental to publish a complete collection of his nearly one hundred sonnets, and Os sonetos completos de Anthero de Quental, which reads like an autobiography in verse, was published in 1886. Quentel continued to struggle with physical illnesses, including a painful spinal disease, and deep depression. He killed himself on September 11, 1891.