#Odes de Ricardo Reis

[thefeathercollective]

we're 99.9% sure that portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa was plural.

okay uh disclaimer. we're not a psychology or literature expert by any means. we rarely even read poetry. we only heard of this guy in high school literature class and the thought stuck with us and then we found plausible evidence lmao. also, as a plural system ourselves, we're clearly biased.

and a considerable amount of this post will be sourced from wikipedia. and this is the first time we've made a post like this. please don't come after us I'm just writing this for fun lmao

huge ramble ahead!

who even was that man

Fernando António Nogueira Pessoa (Portuguese: [fɨɾˈnɐ̃du pɨˈsoɐ]; 13 June 1888 – 30 November 1935) was a Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic, translator, publisher, and philosopher, described as one of the most significant literary figures of the 20th century and one of the greatest poets in the Portuguese language. He also wrote in and translated from English and French.

yeah that's who the man was. but what really sparked our interest in him during class and made us wonder if he was plural were his...

✨heteronyms✨

y'know pseudonyms? when someone writes under a different name than their own for whatever reason? these are similar, but the catch is that the different names have different personalities, supposed appearances, philosophies, all that shit.

the term was coined by Pessoa himself, and his heteronyms were written as if they were real people. they had detailed careers, histories, etc. he had at least 70, although I vaguely remember some other source estimating it at around 100.

"but eva, these could just be OCs or something!",

he had 3 main ones though, being Alberto Caeiro (known for interpreting the world as-is, without greater meaning or anything, like some sorta anti-poet), Álvaro de Campos (a naval engineer who even had multiple phases in his philosophy) and Ricardo Reis (who wrote with a lot of structure and rationality, and was very pessimistic).

I predict someone typing. to that, I begin my endless copy-paste + ramble about all the things that make us think the heteronyms were headmates.

I'll throw in a section of a letter Pessoa wrote to some other poet (bolding the parts I find relevant because I don't love walls of text lmao)

How do I write in the name of these three? Caeiro, through sheer and unexpected inspiration, without knowing or even suspecting that I'm going to write in his name. Ricardo Reis, after an abstract meditation, which suddenly takes concrete shape in an ode. Campos, when I feel a sudden impulse to write and don't know what. (My semi-heteronym Bernardo Soares, who in many ways resembles Álvaro de Campos, always appears when I'm sleepy or drowsy, so that my qualities of inhibition and rational thought are suspended; his prose is an endless reverie. He's a semi-heteronym because his personality, although not my own, doesn't differ from my own but is a mere mutilation of it. He's me without my rationalism and emotions. His prose is the same as mine, except for certain formal restraint that reason imposes on my own writing, and his Portuguese is exactly the same – whereas Caeiro writes bad Portuguese, Campos writes it reasonably well but with mistakes such as "me myself" instead of "I myself", etc.., and Reis writes better than I, but with a purism I find excessive…)

so not only does he describe writing Caeiro completely unexpectedly, he also gives the same sort of opinion about his heteronyms' writings that we've seen (and experienced) plural folks give about their headmates' typing or drawing styles.

hell, "writes better than I but with a purism I find excessive" is exactly my opinion of lynn when he does our assignments lmao

the semi-heteronym surfacing when Pessoa is sleepy could be some sorta dissociative state that lets a headmate come through, be it straight-up fronting or passive influence... but I'm probably forcing it too much here.

uhhh here's something on the heteronym thing from some guy called richard zenish. I bolded some parts again

For each of his 'voices', Pessoa conceived a highly distinctive poetic idiom and technique, a complex biography, a context of literary influence and polemics and, most arrestingly of all, subtle interrelations and reciprocities of awareness. [...] Pessoa was often unsure who was writing when he wrote, and it's curious that the very first item among the more than 25,000 pieces that make up his archives in the National Library of Lisbon bears the heading A. de C. (?) or B. de D. (or something else).

"okay.... they could still be characters though"

the heteronyms were aware of and sometimes interacted between themselves. wikipedia's list of Pessoa's heteronyms even has the man himself as a heteronym and pupil of Alberto Caeiro, although I don't feel like going after the source for that bit.

dear hypothetical person I'm quoting here, you're entitled to your opinion. but how about we take, say... a more DID/OSDD-y approach to things? because there's things that hint that Fernando Pessoa's plurality could be traumagenic and/or disordered too.

When Pessoa was five, his father, Joaquim de Seabra Pessôa, died of tuberculosis and less than seven months later his younger brother Jorge, aged one, also died (2 January 1889).

(written by himself about himself:) Nothing had ever obliged him to do anything. He had spent his childhood alone. He never joined any group. He never pursued a course of study. He never belonged to a crowd. The circumstances of his life were marked by that strange but rather common phenomenon – perhaps, in fact, it's true for all lives – of being tailored to the image and likeness of his instincts, which tended towards inertia and withdrawal.

(written by a schoolfellow:) For one of his age, he thought much and deeply and in a letter to me once complained of "spiritual and material encumbrances of most especial adverseness". He took no part in athletic sports of any kind and I think his spare time was spent on reading. We generally considered that he worked far too much and that he would ruin his health by so doing.

so childhood trauma, check...? at the very least this stuff doesn't sound very good for a child's mental health.

Pessoa's earliest heteronym, at the age of six, was Chevalier de Pas. Other childhood heteronyms included Dr. Pancrácio and David Merrick, followed by Charles Robert Anon, a young Englishman who became Pessoa's alter ego.

"I can remember what I believe was my first heteronym, or rather, my first nonexistent acquaintance — a certain Chevalier de Pas — through whom I wrote letters to myself when I was six years old, and whose not entirely hazy figure still has a claim on the part of my affections that borders on nostalgia. I have a less vivid memory of another figure . . . who was a kind of rival to the Chevalier de Pas. Such things occur to all children ? Undoubtedly — or perhaps. But I lived them so intensely that I live them still; their memory is so strong that I have to remind myself that they weren’t real."

oh I just found some spiritual stuff too

the appearance of the first heteronym was after his family members died so that's one thing... and like, that's not just one childhood heteronym but at least four. and well, to me they sound a bit too vivid for your average imaginary friend.

Pessoa's interest in spiritualism was truly awakened in the second half of 1915, while translating theosophist books. This was further deepened in the end of March 1916, when he suddenly started having experiences where he believed he became a medium, having experimented with automatic writing. [...] Besides automatic writing, Pessoa stated also that he had "astral" or "etherial visions" and was able to see "magnetic auras" similar to radiographic images. [...] Mediumship exerted a strong influence in Pessoa's writings, who felt "sometimes suddenly being owned by something else" or having a "very curious sensation" in the right arm, which was "lifted into the air" without his will. Looking in the mirror, Pessoa saw several times what appeared to be the heteronyms: his "face fading out" and being replaced by the one of "a bearded man", or another one, four men in total.

........

man, this wikipedia article is extensive and full of stuff that supports our silly little theory, huh.

yeah, so he attributed it to spiritual reasons which is fair and valid, but... "owned by something else" all of a sudden? the thing with the right arm sounding a lot like partial possession in tulpamancy? seeing his heteronyms' faces in the mirror?

yeahhhh.

(I'm guessing the magnetic aura thing could be some sorta derealization, contributing to the he-was-a-dissociative-system hypothesis, but that's yet another stretch on my part.)

(plus, spiritual plurality is a thing.)

oh! this thing he wrote sounds a lot like it too.

"This tendency to create around me another world . . . began in me as a young adult, when a witty remark that was completely out of keeping with who I am or think I am would sometimes and for some unknown reason occur to me, and I would immediately, spontaneously say it as if it came from some friend of mine whose name I would invent, along with biographical details, and whose figure — physiognomy, stature, dress and gestures — I would immediately see before me."

let's just do a quick google..

am I biased? yes, very much so. but y'know. you can see I have my reasons.

to see if any people with more qualifications than we have think the same about Fernando Pessoa possibly being plural lmao.

...oh, yes. contrary to what we thought a couple years ago when we had that class about the guy, other people have indeed thought the same. and written about it.

keywords "fernando pessoa mpd" give us:

this paper from 2012 (in portuguese) that... well, I *think* it claims he had mpd but it's very convoluted and abstract about it

this little... forum post? from 2009 that quotes a dead link :v

this one seems kinda cool. it regards Pessoa's positive approach to his heteronym-having as a creative condion called Pessoa Syndrome, and later mentions some Multiple Personality Order (not disorder). don't love some of its wording about mental disorders and madness... it's good to see someone consider healthy multiplicity as a thing that exists, though. it also claims Pessoa became someone with multiple personalities through his heteronymic writing, which is yet another possible origin I hadn't considered before for some fucking reason.

this one cites a dissociative process

this one straight up calls it "subject plurality"!

conclusion ig. I'm pretending to be organized here.

other keywords (like "fernando pessoa dissociative") provide some more results :0 but I've been writing this post for far too long now and would rather not read through more odd wording lmao

it really surprises me that wikipedia doesn't mention the possibility at all from what I've read and ctrl+F'ed. I thought we were being a conspiracy theorist about it but then I found even more stuff to back us up, including other people's analyses. so that's nice.

and I think this kind of thing, of plurals of the past, should be talked about more in the community. it's really interesting to say the least.

...

how does one even end a post like this one.

uhh thanks for reading!!

#eva.headmate #pluralgang #plurality #plural community #plural system

[janecherie]

If for every thing there is a god, Why then is there no god of me? Why am I myself not it? It's in me that god comes alive because I feel I see the outside world clearly— Things, men, soulless.

Odes de Ricardo Reis

#poetry #fernando pessoa #academia #dark academia #art #writing #poems and quotes #literature #words

[empessoa]

14-2-1933

― Odes de Ricardo Reis . Fernando Pessoa. (Notas de João Gaspar Simões e Luiz de Montalvor.) Lisboa: Ática, 1946 (imp.1994). 

#citação #poema #Para ser grande #sê inteiro #ricardo reis #fernando pessoa

[maryflorlovyblog]

Uns, com os olhos postos no passado,

Vêem o que não vêem; outros, fitos

Os mesmos olhos no futuro, vêem

O que não pode ver-se.

Porque tão longe ir pôr o que está perto —

A segurança nossa? Este é o dia,

Esta é a hora, este o momento, isto

É quem somos, e é tudo.

Perene flui a interminável hora

Que nos confessa nulos. No mesmo hausto

Em que vivemos, morreremos. Colhe

O dia, porque és ele.

28-8-1933

Odes de Ricardo Reis . Fernando Pessoa. (Notas de João Gaspar Simões e Luiz de Montalvor.) Lisboa: Ática, 1946 (imp.1994). 

 - 154.

#maryflor #positividade #citações #gratidão #espiritualidade #my love #bom dia #pazeequilibrio #natureza #flores #boa noite #sentimentos #lobos

[piece-of-my-heart2]

Quero ignorado, e calmo Por ignorado, e próprio Por calmo, encher meus dias De não querer mais deles.

Aos que a riqueza toca O ouro irrita a pele. Aos que a fama bafeja Embacia-se a vida.

Aos que a felicidade É sol, virá a noite. Mas ao que nada espera Tudo que vem é grato.

Odes de Ricardo Reis . Fernando Pessoa

[newordlr]

"Para ser grande, sê inteiro: nada

Teu exagera ou exclui.

Sê todo em cada coisa. Põe quanto és

No mínimo que fazes."

Odes de Ricardo Reis, Fernando Pessoa

[absenceisaformofwinter]

"Colhamos flores.

Molhemos leves

As nossas mãos

Nos rios calmos,

Para aprendermos

Calma também.

Girassóis sempre

Fitando o sol,

Da vida iremos

Tranqüilos, tendo

Nem o remorso

De ter vivido".

Ricardo Reis. Odes

"Let's pick up flowers.

Let's wet our hands lightly

In calm rivers,

To learn

Calmness too.

Sunflowers always

Staring at the sun,

In life we will go

Tranquil, having

Not even the remorse

Of having lived".

Ricardo Reis. Odes

#poetry #galician poetry #Ricardo Reis #fernando pessoa #ricardo reis = fernando pessoa

[arepo-txt]

Sim, sei bem Que nunca serei alguém. Sei de sobra Que nunca terei uma obra. Sei, enfim, Que nunca saberei de mim. Sim, mas agora, Enquanto dura esta hora, Este luar, estes ramos, Esta paz em que estamos, Deixem-me crer O que nunca poderei ser. - Ricardo Reis (Heterônimo de Fernando Pessoa) em Odes de Ricardo Reis

[amor-barato]

Não queiras, Lídia, edificar no espaço Que figuras futuro, ou prometer-te Amanhã. Cumpre-te hoje, não esperando.         Tu mesma és tua vida. Não te destines, que não és futura. Quem sabe se, entre a taça que esvazias, E ela de novo enchida, não te a sorte         Interpõe o abismo?

Ricardo Reis – Odes XVII

#ricardo reis #fernando pessoa #poema #literatura portuguesa #odes

[outspokensake]

Cada coisa a seu tempo tem seu tempo.

Não florescem no Inverno os arvoredos,

Nem pela Primavera

Têm branco frio os campos.

À noite, que entra, não pertence, Lídia,

O mesmo ardor que o dia nos pedia.

Com mais sossego amemos

A nossa incerta vida.

À lareira, cansados não da obra

Mas porque a hora é a hora dos cansaços,

Não puxemos a voz

Acima de um segredo,

E casuais, interrompidas sejam

Nossas palavras de reminiscência

(Não para mais nos serve

A negra ida do sol).

Pouco a pouco o passado recordemos

E as histórias contadas no passado

Agora duas vezes

Histórias, que nos falem

Das flores que na nossa infância ida

Com outra consciência nós colhíamos

E sob uma outra espécie

De olhar lançado ao mundo.

E assim, Lídia, à lareira, como estando,

Deuses lares, ali na eternidade

Como quem compõe roupas

O outrora compúnhamos

Nesse desassossego que o descanso

Nos traz às vidas quando só pensamos

Naquilo que já fomos,

E há só noite lá fora.

.

30-7-1914

Odes de Ricardo Reis. Fernando Pessoa. (Notas de João Gaspar Simões e Luiz de Montalvor.) Lisboa: Ática, 1946 (imp.1994), p. 38.

[impetuosatempestade]

Estás Só

Estás só. Ninguém o sabe. Cala e finge.

Mas finge sem fingimento.

Nada 'speres que em ti já não exista,

Cada um consigo é triste.

Tens sol se há sol, ramos se ramos buscas,

Sorte se a sorte é dada.

-Ricardo Reis, in "Odes"

Heterónimo de Fernando Pessoa

#impetuosatempestade

[soliteire]

Sim, sei bem

Sim, sei bem

Que nunca serei alguém.

    Sei de sobra

Que nunca terei uma obra.

    Sei, enfim,

Que nunca saberei de mim.

    Sim, mas agora,

Enquanto dura esta hora,

    Este luar, estes ramos,

Esta paz em que estamos,

    Deixem-me me crer

O que nunca poderei ser.

8-7-1931 Odes de Ricardo Reis. Fernando Pessoa. (Notas de João Gaspar Simões e Luiz de Montalvor.) Lisboa: Ática, 1946 (imp.1994).  - 133.

[desanuviando]

Mestre, são plácidas

Todas as horas

Que nós perdemos,

Se no perdê-las,

Qual numa jarra,

Nós pomos flores.

Não há tristezas

Nem alegrias

Na nossa vida.

Assim saibamos,

Sábios incautos,

Não a viver,

Mas decorrê-la,

Tranquilos, plácidos,

Lendo as crianças

Por nossas mestras,

E os olhos cheios

De Natureza...

À beira-rio,

À beira-estrada,

Conforme calha,

Sempre no mesmo

Leve descanso

De estar vivendo.

O tempo passa,

Não nos diz nada.

Envelhecemos.

Saibamos, quase

Maliciosos,

Sentir-nos ir.

Não vale a pena

Fazer um gesto.

Não se resiste

Ao deus atroz

Que os próprios filhos

Devora sempre.

Colhamos flores.

Molhemos leves

As nossas mãos

Nos rios calmos,

Para aprendermos

Calma também.

Girassóis sempre

Fitando o sol,

Da vida iremos

Tranquilos, tendo

Nem o remorso

De ter vivido.

Odes, "Ricardo Reis"

Fernando Pessoa.

imagem: Carl Tomsen (1847-1912)

[empessoa]

Não quero as oferendas

Não quero as oferendas Com que fingis, sinceros, Dar-me os dons que me dais. Dais-me o que perderei, Chorando-o, duas vezes, Por vosso e meu, perdido.

Antes mo prometais Sem mo dardes, que a perda Será mais na esperança Que na recordação.

Não terei mais desgosto Que o contínuo da vida, Vendo que com os dias Tarda o que espera, e é nada.

2-9-1923

•  Odes de Ricardo Reis . Fernando Pessoa. (Notas de João Gaspar Simões e Luiz de Montalvor.) Lisboa: Ática, 1946 (imp.1994).

#Poema #Não quero as oferendas #Ricardo Reis #Fernando Pessoa

[hotelboanova]

Para ser grande, sê inteiro: nada

Teu exagera ou exclui.

Sê todo em cada coisa. Põe quanto és

No mínimo que fazes.

Assim em cada lago a lua toda

Brilha, porque alta vive.

Odes de Ricardo Reis - heterônimo de Fernando Pessoa - 1946

#Ricardo Reis #Fernando Pessoa

[lusitanglory]

Segue o teu destino

Segue o teu destino,

Rega as tuas plantas,

Ama as tuas rosas.

O resto é a sombra

De árvores alheias.

A realidade

Sempre é mais ou menos

Do que nós queremos.

Só nós somos sempre

Iguais a nós-próprios.

Suave é viver só.

Grande e nobre é sempre

Viver simplesmente.

Deixa a dor nas aras

Como ex-voto aos deuses.

Vê de longe a vida.

Nunca a interrogues.

Ela nada pode

Dizer-te. A resposta

Está além dos deuses.

Mas serenamente

Imita o Olimpo

No teu coração.

Os deuses são deuses

Porque não se pensam.

FERNANDO PESSOA, in Odes de Ricardo Reis (Notas de João Gaspar Simões e Luiz de Montalvor.) [Lisboa: Ática, 1946 (imp.1994)].