Book, New poems 2 (Vinicius)[LS]

In 1938, Vinicius de Moraes published his fourth book under the title Novos Poems. The use of the adjective was not by chance, as there was indeed a change of direction: after a mystical-religious phase, the verses now showed varied rhythms, had vivacity, observed everyday life. In 1959, Vinicius would recover the old title in a volume that brought together poems written between 1949 and 1956: New poems (II). But the changes concerned more life than work. In a brief observation of the poet's biography, we record that, during the years in which he wrote the verses collected there, Vinicius saw, in 1950, his father die; the following year, he married for the second time; had two daughters; It was also in 1953 that he went to Paris as second secretary of the Brazilian embassy, ​​remaining there for four years, when he was transferred to Montevideo; As if all this wasn't enough, it was in 1956 that he met Tom Jobim. As for the poems, they confirm the main lines of force in Vinicius' writing: the erotic-affective theme, the presence of everyday life and Rio de Janeiro, as well as the frequency of the sonnet and the ballad, the musicality, the alternation between metrification and the free verse. But there is also a new inclination towards the foreign landscape, as well as a deepening of the social and political disposition, as can be seen in the famous “O operário em construction”. Only now - more than five decades after its appearance - New poems (II) is being published again as an independent volume. The edition opens with a notebook of images that reproduces versions prior to those that the poet fixed, as well as photos related to the period covered by the work. At the end, the reader will find an afterword written by Ivan Marques and, in the “Archive” section, a comprehensive essay by Eduardo Portela on the poetics of Vinicius de Moraes.