The directory «Plots»

Barbosa Jorge
(1902—1971)

African poet, who expressed in Portuguese the cultural isolation and the tragic nature of life on the drought-stricken Cape Verdean islands. In delicately phrased verse that became a model for later poets, he often praised the stoic endurance of a people caught in an inhospitable, forgotten land. Born in Cidade da Praia, Barbosa worked as a customs and municipal official in Cabo Verde while simultaneously pursuing a distinguished literary career. With his first poetry collection, «Arquipélago» (1935), he introduced a new and distinctive Cabo Verdean poetry, no longer imitative of European forms. The following year, Barbosa joined with the writers Manuel and João Lopes and Baltasar Lopes da Silva to found the pioneering Cabo Verdean literary journal «Claridade». Barbosa's later verse collection, «Caderno de um Ilhéu» (1956), was awarded the first Prémio de Poesia Camilo Pessanha by the Agência do Ultramar.

Cabo Verde, 2003, Jorge Barbosa