Antero de Quental

1842–1891

Antero de Quental (1842–1891) was a Portuguese poet and philosopher from Ponta Delgada in the Azores. As a student in Coimbra he led the “Coimbra Question”, a literary quarrel that renewed Portuguese literature, and he was a founder of the Portuguese socialist movement.

His Sonetos (1886) are among the masterpieces of Portuguese poetry, philosophical and deeply pessimistic in their search for meaning. He suffered from depression and took his own life in Ponta Delgada in 1891.

Best-known poems

All poems (56)

A 13

B 1

C 1

D 2

E 6

H 2

I 5

J 1

L 3

M 5

N 6

O 4

P 1

R 1

S 2

U 1

V 2

Poets of the same era

João de Deus 1830–1896 Castro Alves 1847–1871 Cruz e Sousa 1861–1898 Fagundes Varela 1841–1875 Cesário Verde 1855–1886 Francisca Júlia 1871–1920 Camilo Pessanha 1867–1926 Machado de Assis 1839–1908