Florbela Espanca

1894–1930

Florbela Espanca (1894–1930) was a Portuguese poet from Vila Viçosa in the Alentejo, one of the first women to study law at the University of Lisbon. She is regarded as one of the greatest Portuguese sonnet writers.

Her passionate, often anguished sonnets about love, longing and the self appeared in Livro de Mágoas (1919), Livro de Sóror Saudade (1923) and the posthumous Charneca em Flor (1931). Little recognised in her lifetime, she died in Matosinhos on her thirty-sixth birthday.

Best-known poems

All poems (87)

A 16

C 7

D 6

E 8

F 3

H 2

I 2

L 3

M 4

N 4

O 6

P 7

Q 1

R 4

S 7

T 4

V 3

Poets of the same era

Auta de Souza 1876–1901 Fernando Pessoa 1888–1935 Francisca Júlia 1871–1920 Augusto dos Anjos 1884–1914 Camilo Pessanha 1867–1926 Alphonsus de Guimaraens 1870–1921