1 Manuel Carneiro de Sousa Bandeira was born in Recife (Pernambuco), Brazil, in 1886. His poetry embodies the ideals of the “modernista” movement advanced by the “Semana de Arte Moderna” which was celebrated in São Paulo in February, 1922. Significant collections of his verse, such as Carnaval (1919), O Ritmo Dissoluto and Libertinagem (1924) made a vital contribution to Brazil's new poetry and led Mario de Andrade, another great poet, to acclaim Bandeira as the “Saint John the Baptist” of Brazilian “modernismo”. In 1940, the poet was elected a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters and his collected works were published in 1958.

2 Bandeira, “Itinerario de Pasárgada”, 1957. All quotations are extracted from this essay unless otherwise stated.

3 Valéry, “Memoires d'un poéme”, Varíete V.

4 Bandeira's critics have discussed the poet's statement at length and generally agree that “minor” here refers to Bandeira's strict adherence to shorter lyric forms. The term should not be accepted as meaning “inferior”.

5 While reading Prudhomme, the poet was attracted to the study of French Prosody.

6 See his little known Versificação em lingua Portuguêsa (Separata da Enciclopedia Delta Larousse. Editôra Delta S. A.) (n. d.)

7 Vid. Mercure de France, April 16, 1912.

8 Vid. Heated discussion in Correio de Minas between Bandeira and the critic, Machado Sobrinho, over the use of Hiatus in a poem by Mario Mendes Campos.

9 Sempre fui mais sensível ao desenho do que à pintura”.

10 Paul Eugène Grindel, who as Paul Éluard, was to make a name for himself in France as poet, editor, and publisher in contact with chief exponents of French Dadaism and Surrealism.

11 Today the wife of Salvador Dalí.

12 Charles Picker was less fortunate than his companions and died of consumption in his twenties.

13 200 copies of A Cinza das Horas were published at the cost of 300,000 reis.

14 João Ribeiro, O Imparcial, December 15, 1919.

15 Ribeiro Couto, O Gato Cinzento.

16 Sèrgio Corazzini, a leading poet of the “Crepuscolari” group (1887-1907), died of consumption in Rome at 20 years of age. A poet of considerable promise, he is best remembered for his sad poems of renunciation, scepticism, and futility. Bandeira was naturally attracted to this group of poets on account of his own poverty and ill-health; these affinities create a mutual feeling and understanding. “Crepuscolari” (poetry) was the name given by C. A. Borgese in 1911 to the decadent verse which follows the splendors of D'Annunzio's poetry. Sèrgio Corazzini and Guido Gozzano are the two most important figures of the group. Both attempt to reconstruct the humble things of everyday life in terms of art. Humility, candor and nostalgia for the past are the main characteristics of “Crepuscolarismo”.

17 Vid. Correspondence with Mario de Andrade in Política e Letras, Rio de Janeiro, July, 1948.