The Lusiads (Penguin Classics) - Softcover

The Lusiads - the national epic of Portugal - relates the story of a people who, in little more than a century, carried their flag and their faith from Brazil to Japan and established a new conception of empire - one based upon mastery of the ocean routes.

Luis de Camoes (1524?-1580) lived a life full of love and adventure on three continents. His experiences are vividly woven into his poetry, which drew its formal inspiration from Virgil, Ovid, Petrarch and other poets, both classical and modern. A conceptualizing artist, Camoes possessed an extraordinary ability to forge his thought and experience into verses at once crystalline and compelling, accounting for his status as one of the foremost poets in the European tradition. While The Lusiads (1572), his epic poem celebrating Portugal's maritime exploits, brought him immediate and enduring renown (there are more than fifteen translations of the work into English), his equally splendorous lyric poetry may hold more appeal for today's reader.